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cozythingz · 5 years

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Review: Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead (Book 6 in the Vampire Academy Series)

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS (except for the TL;DR at the bottom)

You can read a spoiler-free version of this review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2784397160

Warning: Lot of swearing in my ranty book-review below.

Rating: 1 star.

LITERALLY FUCK ROSE. I am so fucking pissed off with how she turned out. But before I get into that rant, let's try and look at the book from a rational and positive view, shall we?

If you look at the book for what it is without thinking about the characters, it's actually a pretty good book. A lot of things were predictable as other reviewers have pointed out, but I still enjoyed reading it aside from the frequent bursts of anger.

In the beginning, we see that Rose is imprisoned; the result of being the main suspect in a murder case for the Moroi Queen. My problem with the ending of the last book and the beginning of this one is the fact that I've watched too many crime shows. It's completely ridiculous how Richelle made the investigators for this case so incompetent. I read this part of the book weeks ago so I can't really name any specifics, but it just wasn't believable at all from what I know of modern investigation practices. I have no idea why Moroi are so terrible at this when most human investigators would be able to figure this one out very quickly. Even if Tasha was wearing gloves when she staked the queen, there would be other DNA in the room, I'm sure. And that's just 1 thing I can think of with 0 real experience with murder investigations.

The book is basically about both Rose and Lissa trying to figure out who REALLY killed the queen. Meanwhile Rose also has a second task: Find Lissa's half brother/sister. Lissa is trying to cope with the growing fame she doesn't want and Rose is trying to sort out her love triangle once and for all. I liked all the characters in the book, except for Rose.

Traitors to the crown are executed, but here we see Rose complaining about captivity and being more concerned about the cell she's locked into and what's going to happen at her trial to care about the very real possibility of being executed. Yes, all these dumb trivial things she was thinking about totally take precedence over being executed.

Rose's friends didn't tell her the plan to break her out of prison because she would indirectly tip off the guardians watching her that something was going to happen. I really don't think so lmao. It seemed like just a cover up to add to the "mystery" and "twists" in this book. I tried to find an exact quote but I couldn't find one.

Some of the time stretches in the book seem kind of off, and some basic human needs are completely ignored in this book. Yes, you can totally go 12+ hours without needing to pee (maybe more, I can't remember) and not stopping/using any bathrooms in all that time.

We never find out why the queen screamed at Rose in Book 2? 3? (I can’t remember) for being in a relationship with Adrian (when she actually wasn’t at the time). As far as I'm concerned, she had no real reason to treat Rose that way and then suddenly do a 180. I was expecting the last couple of books in this series to be about how Rose and Lissa would avoid her control.

When Lissa was attacked, Rose was watching through the bond. But I find it very hard to believe that Lissa would be able to watch the fight so intensely while trying to retreat with her life.

At some point in this book, I stopped understanding why Rose would want to be a guardian at all. As soon as she is assigned, she is bound to that person for life, or until she is reassigned. She can’t go anywhere without the person she’s assigned to. She can’t go off on grand quests like she has done literally since the beginning of "high school" at the Academy. She’s always talking about wanting to do something, and that she can’t sit around and do nothing but that’s literally what she’ll be doing for a living. Even if she’s with Lissa, she has to keep her in a safe location so….

When Sydney was being interrogated, Lissa and her friends were somehow allowed to be in the room while they were doing that. Even if they weren't suspected at all of helping Rose (which ISN'T the case), there's no way anyone would be allowed to stay and watch this unfold. Once again, in the real world, everyone is privately interrogated. This is very unrealistic.

And cue the rant about how much I hate Rose Hathaway.

I really, really liked Rose in the first 3 books. She was a really cool and badass character who had a great moral compass. And all of that started to go out the window in books 4 and 5. And then completely flew out the window in book 6. I spent most of this book angry about having to read about such a self-centered know-it-all who doesn't give a shit about what she does to other people as long as she gets her way. Here are a few examples:

In this book, Rose doesn't respond the same way as she has in the other books. She is CONSTANTLY saying "Aren't you going to ask me??" whenever someone is praised. Her desperate seek for praise and validation is TOTALLY PATHETIC WTF??? She never needed any of this before. She didn't have to beg for attention like this before?? It makes her seem like she’s 13 years old with a huge ego for her age. I’m not a strong person like Rose is, but I’d hate myself if I ever acted that childish. For me, this part of the book was the first time that Rose officially crossed the line from likable, confident character, to annoying, arrogant character.

So, Rose can take down a Strigoi no problem, but a 15-year-old girl with no fighting experience manages to land some hits on her??? Really?? This should be a walk in the park. Rose just keeps getting more and more pathetic. After she won that fight, I would have been like, we’re leaving. Now. I wouldn’t stay a second longer in that place, no matter what the reason for the fight was. And then, later on, Rose doesn’t want to hurt her feelings? This bitch fought dirty and pulled her by the hair. I wouldn’t have given a shit about her feelings if I were Rose.

WHY did Rose tell Victor and his brother what they wanted to know in the dream?? Victor hasn’t told her exactly why he wants the info, and he hasn’t threatened her or anything. But she’s suddenly opening her big mouth and answering their questions. The smart thing to do would be to keep her mouth shut and keep it that way, no matter what they say. For all she knows, they could want to know who the murderer was for BAD reasons since they have a brilliant track record. AND THEN SHE LITERALLY TELLS THEM ABOUT THE NOTE WTF. She was only supposed to tell people about that that she trusted completely. Rose is a fucking idiot.

Another note I wrote about how stupid Rose was later in the book: Once again, Rose is a fucking idiot trusting Victor with all this info. He hasn’t sacrificed anything and she has sacrificed all the info they have. STUPID.

Rose suddenly decides that she wants to get Lissa the throne properly, not just a vote on the Council and didn’t even think about what her best friend wants?? Lissa doesn’t want to be queen, so why tf are you trying to make her? Like hello? You know how much she loathes all this by checking in through the bond. Get over what you think for once, and think about someone else for a fucking change, jesus fucking christ.

AND NOW FOR THE GRAND FINALE!!! There is one type of person I hate even more than arrogant people, and that’s cheaters. Rose has 100% turned into someone I absolutely despise. How could you do that to someone who loves you? You fucking show some self-restraint and break up with Adrian before you fuck around with another guy. What a horrible thing to do to another human being just because you’re so fucking selfish. And to make matters worse, they decided to get a little too close when Adrian was around. LIKE HELLO??? How could you forget that he was right there??? Are you fucking stupid? You stay the hell away from each other until she can break up with Adrian. WTF. God, I feel so fucking bad for Adrian.

I have to say, the most satisfying (yet still angry) part of the book was when Adrian confronted Rose about what she did to him.

"Let's face it: sleeping with another guy in a hotel room was pretty much cheating if you had a boyfriend. It didn't matter if that guy was the love of your life or not." Exactly, you selfish piece of shit.

"'No, no--stop. I really do NOT want to hear about the great revelation you had about how you guys were always meant to be together or whatever it was.'" Preach Adrian. Why did Rose think it was a good idea to make this all about her and what she thought? Literally shut the fuck up Rose.

"'I loved you!' he yelled. He jumped up out of his chair so quickly I never saw it coming. 'I loved you, and you destroyed me. You took my heart and ripped it up. You might as well have staked me! I. Loved. You. And you used me the whole time.'" I've never been cheated on before but I really, really feel this.

AND THEN!!!! "You destroy my life and then feed me inspirational philosophy." OH MY GOD ROSE. You must think you're SO high and mighty don't you?? You think you're SO great for never thinking of yourself as being a "victim". You think you know everything because you've been through a lot in 1 year. HONEY YOU ARE 18 YEARS OLD. You don't know shit, so stop acting like you're the wisest fucking person on the planet.

I seriously can't explain how angry I am about how shitty Rose turned out. I thought I'd love this series, but it turns out I only liked the first 3 books.

TL;DR: -I loved Rose in the first 3 books, but now Rose is a pathetic, self-centered know-it-all and I fucking hate her guts -I enjoyed the book, aside from having to read about Rose. -Watch enough crime shows, and you'll understand how laughable the investigations in this book are. -Very clear cover-ups to add to the "mystery" and "twists" in this book -Time stretches are off and basic human needs are ignored -We never find out why the queen screamed at Rose in Book 4. There was no reason for it. -I've completely lost my understanding of why Rose still wants to be a guardian after reading all about her nature in this book.

#book #books #reading #richelle mead #vampire academy #last sacrifice #read #ya fiction #ya #young adult #young adult book #young adult books #young adult fiction #ya book #ya books

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preserving-ferretbrain · 5 years

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Educating Vitae

by Shim

Monday, 18 January 2016

In which choices are explored, people do things they know to be bad, blood is unhelpfully like sex, and there are altogether too many types of vampire.~

I must apologise firstly for the title, and secondly for not incorporating any song titles from Meat Loaf into this article. I already spent too long writing it.

So, only six years late, I finally finished reading Vampire Academy.

It’s quite fun. I originally wrote "really fun", but reflection on the social plot has made me a bit less enthusiastic.

The following will contain enormous amounts of spoilers, including big plot-type revelations. I should also point out that the book includes self-harm, and I will briefly mention it but not go into detail.

On Protagonists and Viewpoints

So the book is a little ambiguous about its nature. Let me cite some of the back blurb here.

Lissa Dragomir is a mortal vampire. She must be protected at all times from the fiercest and most dangerous vampires of all - the ones who will never die. Rose Hathaway is Lissa's best friend - and her bodyguard. Now, after two years of illicit freedom, they've been dragged back inside the iron gates of St. Vladimir's Academy. The girls must survive a world of forbidden romances, a ruthless social scene and terrifying night-time rituals. But above all, they must never let their guard down, lest the immortal vampires take Lissa - forever...

Huh. I don’t think I’ve seen a single night-time ritual. How misleading.

But never mind that! The point is, in this blurb and the early stages of the book, it’s not entirely clear who’s the protagonist (as discussed originally in

The Text Factor: Halloween Special: Girl Books for Girls

). The description kicks off with Lissa, and she’s the vampire, and the one affected by most of the weird events of the book. However, our viewpoint character is always Rose.

I wondered for a while whether this was going to be a dual-protagonist book with a single viewpoint character; due to blood bond shenanigans, Rose sporadically ends up in Lissa’s mind, which is a handy way to convey key information. That would have been interesting.

As the story progressed, though, I increasingly got the feeling that Lissa is more of a plot point (albeit a nicely characterised one) than a protagonist in her own right. Her early interactions with Christian, and her special status, suggest that her experiences might be the main focus of the book, with Rose there for support, observation and a bit of romance on the side. However, it soon becomes clear that Rose’s experiences are going to be much more narratively important than Lissa’s.

Introduction to the Vampire

There’s quite a lot of vampire stuff to introduce, especially for those of us not familiar with it. I’ve not idea how closely it fits folklorific ideas of vampires. However, the broad-strokes picture we get of how vampire society works seems to fit together in its own rather bizarre way. The relationship between moroi

[1]

, dhampir

[2]

and humans is clearly unhealthy, particularly their utterly hypocritical view of the people they depend on for blood.

However, Mead is careful to weave in some explanations for this. Not only are the ‘feeders’ providing food, which tends to dehumanise them; they do so willingly and eagerly, because of the intoxicating nature of vampiric saliva, making them into addicts. Society doesn’t respect addicts, so it’s easier to accept this situation. Moreover, Rose calls out the hypocrisy in the situation explicitly, while still allowing shades of it to slip into her own attitudes and words. Knowing something’s morally dubious isn’t an easy route to resolving it, after all.

They were well cared for and given all the comforts they could need. But at the heart of it, they were drug users, addicts to Moroi saliva and the rush it offered with each bite. The Moroi - and guardians - looked down on this dependency, even though the Moroi couldn't have survived otherwise unless they took blood by force. Hypocrisy at its finest.

This trait of allowing grey complexities into Rose’s voice is one of the things that pleased me about the book. Rose is quite perceptive about wrongs, injustices and ambiguities, but Mead hasn’t written her as some righteous, crusading heroine. In fact, the book is riddled with her weaknesses. You might even argue that one of the themes of the book (and, I suspect, the series) is morality, boundaries of acceptability, and the strength and opportunity to make moral choices. Let’s see if I can make a case for that.

Choices and Morality

One of the first things that happens in the book is a feeding; Rose’s vampire, Lissa, needs blood from her. This introduces the intoxication aspect, but it’s only later that we learn how unacceptable – dirty, perverted, unthinkable – this is in vampire society. However, it’s a decision they made to keep Lissa alive, and one that’s left Rose with a mild addiction.

Soon after they return to school, Rose walks into a classroom to find two high-status kids tormenting a poor kid, magically blowing his papers around the room. In many books this would be a teaching point, where Rose or Lissa stepped in to deliver justice and demonstrate their righteousness. Here, nobody does a thing.

My instincts urged me to do something, maybe go smack one of the air users. But I couldn’t pick a fight with everyone who annoyed me, and certainly not a group of royals – especially when Lissa needed to stay off their radar. So I could only give them a look of disgust as I walked to my desk.

And then the narrative moves on to another part of the plot. Although Lissa is technically high-status, and both were once socially powerful, the school has moved on in their absence. Now, the rumours about their escape – and soon about a series of associated events – greatly complicate their attempts to blend back in.

Similarly, Rose frequently does things that aren’t particularly nice, or good, or sensible. As the story is told from her viewpoint, we even hear her acknowledging these issues. She still does them, though. It’s very human.

Some tiny, tiny part of me was starting to feel sorry for Christian. It was only a tiny part, though, and very easy to ignore...

And later on:

"...between stealing [her boyfriend] and spreading those stories about her parents, you guys really picked the best ways to make her suffer. Nice work." The smallest pang of guilt lurched inside of her. "I still think you're lying." "I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a lair. That's your department. And Rose's." "We don't-" "Exaggerate stories about people's families? Say that you hate me? Pretend to be friends with people you think are stupid? Date a guy you don't like?"

All of the above accusations are, of course, entirely accurate.

A feud erupts between Rose, Lissa and another girl called Mia, apparently at Mia’s instigation. Still, both sides are determined to utterly crush their rival and exact painful revenge, which means immense suffering for both parties as their most private secrets are turned into playground gossip by the other side. It’s mutually-assured destruction, basically.

Another important decision involves Lissa’s vampiric powers. We learn early on that Lissa has some compulsion abilities, and gradually discover that she can influence both humans and vampires, which is highly unusual. When their social standing is destroyed by revelations of blood sharing, a furious Lissa resolves to use those abilities to forcibly change people’s opinions of them, catching them one by one and altering their feelings by magic. This does indeed allow them to gradually regain acceptability in the school, but Rose is deeply uncomfortable about it, with good reason.

Finally, there’s Natalie. Poor Natalie.

Natalie is the daughter of a powerful vampire, Dashikov, and she just wants to be loved. Throughout the book, she seeks social validation, but it’s made clear that above all, she wants her father’s affection, and doesn’t quite get enough. This poisonous little worm is enough to turn her into a pawn for him, and his total carelessness about her really reinforced how unpleasant he is. From spying on her friends for his sake, she’s eventually pushed into leaving mutilated animals around in an attempt to make Lissa reveal her healing powers.

Finally, when her father is captured, she takes the ultimate step of becoming a Strigoi, murdering one of the teachers to gain the power to break him out. It fails, and her death is another trivial loss in his quest for power. Once again, out come those Themes I mentioned.

Natalie breaks the bounds of friendship in the hopes of winning validation from her father, and what she’s prepared to do for his sake pushes her into the final betrayal of her friends and her entire species. Although apparently happy, she doesn’t have the willpower to withstand his influence and refrain from doing wrong on his behalf. Dashikov betrayed his duties as a father by turning Natalie into a pawn for his own sake, and manipulating her love to force her into immoral acts. This contrasts with Dimitri, who as a child defeated his vampiric father to defend his mother, and now bursts in to help Rose defeat her one-time friend.

Although Natalie was only ever a minor character, looking back, you can see hints of what’s going on in the way she casually teases out information and hangs around Lissa. I did feel genuinely sorry for her, and I was sorry to see she just got killed off at the climax. On the other hand, stories where the bad guys just hang around indefinitely can drag.

Knowing what’s best for you

It strikes me that throughout the book, I don’t think Lissa ever actually asks Rose for anything. Partly this is perhaps just habitual expectation that Rose will be there, but I feel that part of it is that Rose projects her own ideas about what Lissa needs onto her charge. The mental bond that lets her literally see through Lissa’s eyes and experience her thoughts surely doesn’t help. We never see Lissa’s side at first hand.

This is shown up most flagrantly when she intervenes to block what she sees as an unhealthy friendship blooming between high-status Lissa and the local brooding loner, Christian, whose parents were killed after going rogue and hunting other vampires. Lissa finds his company soothing and there’s a sympathetic spark between them.

Rose, who is unusually bound up in social games for a contemporary heroine, is horrified at the thought of Lissa associating with this outcast, and repeatedly takes her to task. Between her prejudice and his rather erratic behaviour, things spiral until Rose intervenes, actively lying to Christian to separate them. Naturally, both Lissa and Christian think the other party has wronged them, and things become progressively worse. She does become guilty, though, and eventually she’s forced to admit that she was in the wrong.

Nonetheless, Lissa’s story throughout the book is one of having her best interests decided and controlled by other people. Her escape from the school turns out to have been at Rose’s instigation and with no warning; they’re forcibly returned to the school; Rose patrols her friendships and tries to dictate her social interactions; and eventually, Dashikov steps in to capture her in the hopes of curing his terminal illness. Even this he tries to frame as being good for her, providing an escape from the problems caused by her unique magical abilities.

The problems are, essentially, mental illness. For some reason not yet explained, Lissa's abilities not only lead to her mental bond with Rose, but also to extremely distressing mental episodes. Her coping mechanism for this is the self-harm I mentioned above, and there are a couple of explicit scenes, including first-person perspective courtesy of Rose's bond. Her eventual hospitalisation after a particularly bad episode causes yet more social waves, but also kicks us over from the social plot to the Dashikov plot that seems likely to be the overarching arc of the series.

Interestingly, I don’t think Christian ever does this. One of the things that seems to make him a suitable friend is that he’s fully prepared to leave Lissa alone. In their first encounter he simply extends a tenuous offer of conversation, making no attempt to force it, and he gives her plenty of space. When Rose tells him that Lissa doesn’t actually want him around, he immediately pulls back (causing both plenty of grief).

He does approximately set someone on fire to end a spiteful conversation about Lissa and Rose, but in fairness it’s purely a distraction and he doesn’t really get a chance to ask whether they’d like any help. Although he also clearly thinks it’s really funny. It's sort of reminiscent of the earlier scene with the boy being bullied, only this time the observer does decide to step in and face the consequences.

Since neither Jacob nor Ralf would have set Ralf on fire, it sort of made the culprit obvious. The fact that Christian was laughing hysterically sort of gave it away too.

Coming back to my point, though, I do think his willingness to just let her be herself – tied in to his own solitude and need to just be himself – is a strong point in his favour. When he realises she’s been self-harming, he twigs immediately, says nothing, and just exudes a kind of supportiveness that Lissa finds very comforting. He’s also smart enough to realise she’s been mesmerising everyone to restore their social standing, which is another point in his favour. Admittedly, he thinks it’s hot, rather than an alarming abuse of a power she shouldn’t even have, but then he is a teenager, and she is canonically doing nothing harmful with it, so the narrative’s always going to be on her side.

What I’m saying is, basically, I liked Christian as a character. I thought he was a well-constructed love interest, even though we mostly only see him in brief glimpses through Lissa’s eyes, as he doesn’t let his guard down as much around Rose. To some extent he comes across as the conscience of the story, reminding Rose and Lissa of their moral failings.

In fact (if I can be astonishingly pseud for a moment) you could almost posit him as a jester; his outsider status, total lack of social power and uncaring badass lonerism means he can speak truth to power (and set people on fire) with impunity, having very little to lose. He's also positioned to observe the other students without much personal involvement, and thus to comment on them.

I found Dimitri appealing as well. Mead did a good job of building the connections between him and Rose – they have similar mindsets, a strong sense of dedication, they feel somewhat isolated, and they’re very physical people. In both cases, they bring an outsider perspective that gives rise to mild contempt for some aspects of vampiric society; a sort of flipside to Christian's status as scion of a family fallen to the strigoi.

Yet they’re not entirely the same. There are clear differences in upbringing: she was raised by the school and indoctrinated from birth to become a model guardian like her mother; he was raised in a tight-knit community of blood-donors. Age also creates a distinction: I can see Rose eventually maturing into a more measured person, though probably still less reserved than Dimitri.

The older lover thing is a trope, and being a trope it isn’t quite as problematic as a 17-24 relationship would seem to me in real life. Rose has also been surviving in the real world for two years, so she’s a bit more savvy than her years. I was pleased that Dimitri, and to some extent Rose, recognised and tried to deal with these issues. As well as the simple age barrier, school rules, and his pastoral responsibility towards her, there are some professional complications.

One odd observation: given how Dimitri is presented as a consummate professional, he completely misses a massive and glaring clue that something suspicious is going on, and the narrative skips right over it.

"Well, it was a hell of a lot better than the last one they tried" "Last one?" "Yeah. In Chicago. With the pack of psi-hounds." "This was the first time we found you. In Portland." "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." "Maybe," he said dismissively. I could tell by his face he didn't believe that.

It's not very clear to me whether this is supposed to mean "he decided Rose was making it up" or "he was deeply suspicious and pretending not to be". Either way, nothing seems to suggest that anyone actually follows up on this obviously suspicious point, even though it ties strongly into the conclusion of the story.

Changing Minds

It’s maybe worth noting that this offers one of the more accurate portrayals of manipulation and social dynamics I remember seeing. Everyone involved is aware that what they’re dealing with is say-so, rumour and gossip, and quite harmful gossip at that, but they nevertheless either spread it or at least allow it to influence their behaviour. First Lissa, and then Rose, know the other’s desire for revenge is excessive, but they don’t seriously intervene and eventually both are committed to destroying Mia (we never get to see Mia’s side, sadly).

This isn’t just about bitchy girls, either. The boys in the story don’t come out too well. Several are happy to spread damaging lies about girls to get some attention, or even to be bribed with sex. There’s petty bullying, and Lissa and Rose are regularly targets of leering remarks and speculation on their relationship. Even the nicer named boys, Mason and Christian, are hot-tempered and use violence to defend Rose and Lissa from bullying. Only Dimitri, Rose’s smoking-hot combat instructor, escapes most of this – and as a 24-year old, he’s presumably matured more than the others, though he does have one aggressive confrontation with a student.

The school principal is interesting in the little we see of her. Rose views her quite clearly as despotic and arbitrary, but I don’t think the text quite supports that. She is quite harsh with Rose and Lissa, but then she has very good reason: they have committed a serious breach of rules by running away for two full years, causing enormous trouble and worry for a lot of other people. They also appear to be habitual troublemakers (lots of illegal parties and midnight escapades) and smashed up another student’s bedroom before leaving. Of course she’s going to be strict.

Moreover, this isn’t just normal school strictness; the vampires face the very real threat of strigoi hunting them down. In the absence of a very good explanation, which the girls don’t dare to give, severe punishment is inevitable and appropriate. She does intend to expel Rose before Dimitri intervenes, but then again, she’s prepared to change her mind when he agrees to take her in hand. I thought she was pretty well-done as a character.

Social Protagonists

On that social games point – my observation (from an admittedly limited subset of reading) is that the majority of protagonists in contemporary literature, particularly literature aimed at younger people, don’t really dabble in social politics. Many are bookish nerds, particularly on the more fantastical end of the literary spectrum. Many others are simply everyteenagers; they’re averagely attractive (at least in theory), averagely clever, have an average number of friends, and so on. I can only remember seeing high-status people in more literary books, or that high-society flavour of romance a la Jilly Cooper. Historical novels seem much readier to star nobles and the socially-influential, possibly because those are the bits of history that sound most fun.

As such, it was interesting to see a story whose protagonists were enthusiastic participants in the social scene. I was a little disappointed to realise that that was going to be strictly past tense; I suppose it does make sense for things to have changed in their absence, including their own feelings. Mostly, though, I imagine the narrative called for them to have to make new friends and not have very much support, because most of this volume is about that social uncertainty, and how it leaves them vulnerable.

Oh Sole Mia

Mia was actually the aspect of the book that I thought was weakest. I liked the fact that there was an apparently-arbitrary rivalry between these girls, and was quite sympathetic to Mia. Truth be told, I still am. We learn that her family are very low-status and she’s managed to work her way into more influential circles – another example of boundary-crossing, as this seems to be viewed in much the same way as social climbing in 1950s Britain, but seems quite reasonable to me.

Later it’s revealed that the reason for the feud is her appalling treatment by Lissa’s deceased brother, which Lissa is naturally reluctant to believe (as quoted above). Again, the brother made bad choices and harmed Mia both personally and socially in the process. However, Lissa loved and had faith in her brother, and it's difficult for her to accept that he was not only in the wrong, but actively wronged someone else. The fact that she's currently in a serious feud with Mia naturally makes that even harder.

I felt like both sides were being realistically angry and vindictive, but both were also understandable and sympathetic in their motivations. Although Mia technically starts the feud, she's clearly on the defensive from the start, responding to what seems an invasion of her social territory from someone she hates both as a royal and as the sister of her horrible ex.

Later on, though, the authorial voice turns violently against Mia. She becomes increasingly desperate in the face of the nobility closing ranks against her (which is quite understandable), and resorts to trying to get Rose’s help after a fall-out between her and Lissa. This is a sort of unpardonable sin in narrative terms, trying to create a betrayal between friends, and she’s quite explicitly painted as dangerous and ruthless. Of course, this is all in Rose’s voice, but it also felt fairly clear that this was the reality.

Worse is to come, though; it turns out that Mia spread rumours by offering sexual favours to a couple of bragging lads, while in a steady relationship with someone she’s apparently devoted to. This is the point where the narrative switches from nasty-but-somewhat-understandable to, it seemed to me, depicting her as genuinely obsessive and (in Rose’s words) “well into sociopath territory”. It’s not the actions specifically, so much as how far she’s willing to push boundaries in pursuit of revenge. Rose, on the other hand, is the Sexy Spice half of the Rose-Lissa pair, but the text is careful to emphasise early on that she hasn’t had sex, despite all the kissing and “semi-nakedness” that’s brought up regularly.

The problem is, though, that this leaves us with an antagonist who is flat-chested (highlighted very early on), short, relatively unpopular (until she started dating Lissa’s royal ex, apparently), working-class, and promiscuous, who is also portrayed as nasty and sociopathic. I feel like the conflation of those things is a bit unnecessary – I’d rather hoped to see the end of Bad Common Girl when I stopped reading Enid Blyton. She’s left to contrast with a conventionally-attractive, athletic, popular, high-status party-girl heroine who’s conveniently balanced between “sexy” and “virgin”.

This increasing vilification of Mia helpfully means that Rose and Lissa never have to really reconsider their own actions or question their consciences. In fact, the final flare of this plot in the book involves Mia making yet more bitchy remarks while Lissa is in hospital, and Rose punching her in the face. The uberplot kicks off while she's under lock and key, awaiting punishment. Narratively, Mia is placed firmly in the wrong, and I think that's a shame.

Weirdly, in some ways I actually felt more sympathetic to Mia than to Rose. She’s got plenty of issues, but she had been very badly treated by Lissa’s brother, and had fought had to overcome the major social disadvantages of her background in a prejudiced society, only to have that stripped away by the sudden return of Lissa and Rose.

To a large extent I also felt she was treated badly by the narrative, with Mead making an apparently conscious decision to make her a nasty piece of work and piling sexual condemnation on top of that. I’d have liked to see an antagonist who was just someone whose interests constantly clash with the protagonist, and I feel that would have worked well, given how Rose is constantly presented as flawed.

The Sex Talk

Awkwardly, I think the book is framing a lot of the social stuff around sex. I don’t know much about the sociology or literary issues here, so apologies for the aspects I will undoubtedly miss. Essentially, there’s a slightly weird thing where blood is sometimes a sort of metaphor for sex, except there’s also sex. You know?

People who provide blood to vampires are popularly called “blood whores”, which seems to be completely acceptable terminology – the only alternative, “feeders”, isn’t much better. I’m a bit surprised there doesn’t seem to be a single official or neutral term in use, even if teenagers don’t use it. The characters conflate these with the dhampir communities who raise children, creating an impression that non-guardian dhampirs (mostly women) are basically just sources of blood or sex or both for moroi. It’s not entirely clear how accurate this is in the setting.

The entire blood-sharing issue, which is the cause of Lissa and Rose’s fall from grace, is explicitly depicted as both “dirty” and strongly associated with kinky sex. The rumours spread about them claim that Rose has been sleeping around while allowing vampire boys to drink her blood - which is, predictably, treated as only being icky on her side, because sexism.

I mean, it makes some sense. I can see that in a world where “people you feed on” is an actual thing, then taboos would quite likely arise on also having sex with those people, and that all sorts of baggage would build around this.

The awkwardness here is that half their social redemption comes from proving (well, getting those same accusers to declare) that it’s all lies and Rose never actually had sex with anybody, let alone allowed them to drink her blood (the issue of Lissa is allowed to drop). The second half comes from revealing that, while Rose hasn’t been having sex, Mia has, which makes her the slutty one, so ner ner na ner ner. More or less.

It’s all fairly believable behaviour-wise... no, wait. The responses of the teenagers to these various bits of gossip and scandal are sadly believable, though Mia’s behaviour specifically was pretty hard to credit as plausible. At the same time I found it uncomfortable, because these attitudes were also bundled with Mia being quite clearly the spiteful antagonist and also presented as somewhat unstable, and the fact that she specifically uses sex as a lever to get boys to lie on her behalf.

Broadly speaking, you end up with a situation where Our Heroine is vindicated and approved because she wasn’t having sex, whereas Our Antagonist is condemned because she was having sex. This is, bizarrely, true even though Rose and Lissa actually were doing the blood-sharing that’s the biggest part of the taboo, whereas Mia just had sex.

It’s also a bit strange that as far as I can tell, the two boys who spread vicious lies about Rose in exchange for sex are perfectly happy to admit it and don’t seem to expect any consequences. Sexual mores are messed up, but in my experience flagrant lying tends to cause social backlash – and more so considering that the targets of the lies, Lissa and Rose, were social bigshots whose popularity is now restored. As far as I can tell, they agree to come clean under threats from one of Rose’s friends, but I didn’t find it entirely convincing. It felt a bit like the writer just needed to wrap this arc up now to start introducing the series plot.

It wasn’t a huge problem for me or anything, but this Rose-vs-Mia arc is the biggest arc of the book (it’s a series, so the main plot only just gets a look in), so it seemed a shame it had this awkward aspect to it. I feel like just dropping the sex aspect and having the scandal built purely around blood-sharing would have been both neater and stronger, as well as less problematic. As it was I didn’t feel like this arc was very well written.

The end bit

I feel like I should have some kind of conclusion here, but I don't really. I'm not sure whether I'll read any more of the series; I thought some of what it was doing was quite interesting, but I've noticed how much hmming and hawing I'm doing here, especially over poor Mia. The fact that I'm even thinking "poor Mia" is perhaps an indication that this series isn't for me.

I must also confess that I've got limited tolerance for plots along the lines of "you alone have the one special magic long thought lost or legendary, which will be the key to saving the universe".

On the other hand, I liked the bits of it that weren't about Mia, and maybe with the uberplot kicking off, that won't be much of an issue? I dunno. I've got plenty more to read right now. But perhaps, as with

Fallen

, now that I've worked out what the series is doing I've got what I need.

[1]

“Vampires” who are, as far as I can tell, essentially human wizards who drink blood but not in a bad way you guys, and also don’t like sunlight. They don’t seem to be superhuman other than some elemental magic.

[2]

Half-vampires who are basically Buffy as far as I can tell, but get brought up to be fanatically loyal to their vampiric masters and dedicate themselves to either protecting moroi from attack by the strigoi

[3]

, or being “blood whores” because… why not, as far as I can tell. Maybe it’s hard to get social security numbers when your parent was a vampire? Your dad, I mean. Dhampirs are basically all the bastard offspring of horny male moroi who wanted to get some curvy human female action, because moroi are always pale, thin and flat-chested.

Canonically, the dhampirs do all this to ensure the survival of their species, which is to say, their hybrid. Given the reality of dhampir life, I’m not sure why. Basically this seems to boil down to accepting a brutal life of either dedicating yourself to being elite bodyguards for feeble moroi and under constant risk of death, or being junkie blood sources for moroi and at constant risk of abuse, or breeding the next generation of dhampirs – in order to ensure that you can have descendants who have the same kind of lives.)

[3]

Vampires who are canonically evil because they kill their victims, although I get the feeling they’re mostly bad because they feed on moroi specifically to be honest. Also their bite turns people into more strigoi. They’re presented as being incarnations of predatory evil, but from the one strigoi we meet in the book, they come across as a mixture of Character In Goth Makeup and

Character In Evil Voice

. Basically these seem to be the Buffy Vampires of the setting – basically just like they always were, except faster, stronger, more metal, cooler and probably sexier.Themes:

Books

Young Adult / Children

Horror

Text Factor Halloween Special

Romance

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Bill

at 17:25 on 2016-01-18

The girls must survive a world of forbidden romances, a ruthless social scene and terrifying night-time rituals. But above all, they must never let their guard down, lest the immortal vampires take Lissa - forever...

Two out of three ain't bad

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Shim

at 18:31 on 2016-01-18

Two out of three ain't bad

I... how did I miss that? *facepalm*

Also I just realised this cover is different to mine (probably the US edition?) and although it's the exact same photo, mine is very pale with black hair and red lips (classically vampiric), whereas the above is pinkish with... brown hair, I think?

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Robinson L

at 15:00 on 2016-05-24I checked this one and its sequels out, along with

Fallen

and

The Morganville Vampires

after the TeXt Factor Halloween special. I read the final book, book 6, a year or two ago, and I recently started listening to the spin-off

Bloodlines

series on audiobook. So, I obviously liked it—quite fun on the whole, with occasional forays into really fun. I'd put the series somewhere above

Fallen

, but below

The Morganville Vampires

in terms of my enjoyment/appreciation.

(I also encouraged one of my sisters to read the first book, and while she enjoyed it, she loathed Lissa and all the Moroi, because she considered them useless in their dependence upon the dhampir guardians.)

I broadly agree with your case for the themes the book explores, and I'd definitely say it carries over to the rest of the series—and the first two spin-off books, at least. Interestingly enough, despite dealing with these fairly weighty issues in a moderately intelligent manner, the books still come across to me as light beach reading; I still haven't worked out whether I think that works towards their favor or against it.

Book 2—where my sister bailed on the series—is a downgrade in quality from the first, as there's less stuff going on through most of it. However, it rallies at the end with an exciting climax, and one which redress one of my major disappointments with the climax to the first.

Book 3 is a return to form, and a solid addition to the series.

Book 4 is, in my opinion, the best of the lot: here we see Rose's internal struggle at its most intense, and Rose herself at her very lowest point in the series. I said the books feel like beach reading, but there was a point about two thirds of the way through the fourth book which got me right in the heart, and I was impressed with the depth of emotional reaction Mead managed to evoke. Plus, the Lissa subplot was pretty cool, and the resolution was both awesome and unexpected.

Book 5 like Book 3, is a really solid addition to the series, though it feels like a bit of a downgrade coming off the high of Book 4. Still, it's got a lot going for it, and while the big plot points themselves aren't to surprising, I wasn't expecting when or how they would play out.

Book 6 was a little disappointing, not because it did anything really bad, just that it wasn't quite as exciting as I would have liked from the final installment. While I like that the climax doesn't revolve around a big fight with an Arc Villain for the series, I could have done with something a

little

more epic. Plus, the villain turned out to be a very likable character I'd pegged early on as being either a villain or a victim, because they didn't fit into any other story slot. Just when I was beginning to think this was just a cool supporting character, it's revealed that person was a villain after all. Sigh.

I agree with you about Natalie, poor thing.

As I recall, the school principal is, indeed, a strict but ultimately reasonable authority figure throughout the series, whom Rose misreads because Rose's and Lissa's behavior often brings out the “strict” part of her character. Actually, that's a bit of a running theme in the series.

From what I remember of the first book, Mia does degenerate from understandable antagonist to Designated Villain, part of which involves her engaging in sex to influence someone else's behavior—rather than for love, in contrast to both Rose and Lissa* over the course of the books—and that's not good. It's probably no big spoiler to reveal that Mia is rehabilitated later in the series, but as I recall, it's a case of a reformed villain rather than both sides admitting they shared the blame equally.

*I think Lissa slept with her then-boyfriend—Mia's current boyfriend—before the events of the book because she was young and horny, which is still more “legitimate” than sleeping with someone because so they'll help you out in your evil scheme.

I also felt like the series as a whole has a disappointing lack of follow-through regarding some of the more unpleasant aspects of Moroi society. The hypocrisy over feeders (I think that

the common parlance “neutral” term) is brought up at times, but nobody ever really tries to do anything to resolve it, so the overall message comes across as a helpless shrug, “too bad, what'cha gonna do?”

Furthermore, the books never really acknowledge how immensely f*cking scary the Moroi's compulsion magic is, and how, in a more realistic universe, even well meaning people like Lissa would probably wind up using it for much more destructive purposes than undermining their rivals' popularity; kind of like a miniature version of the One Ring. (One character in the

Bloodlines

novels is suitably freaked by it, but this is explicitly depicted as part of their irrational distrust of Moroi and magic in general. Not once so far have we seen how easily compulsion could be abused to disastrous effect. I know Robert Jordan had a lot of flaws as a writer, but his characters knew to treat that kind of power with the respect and suspicion it deserves.)

The Moroi's institutional aristocracy and monarchy (even if it's a constitutional monarchy) also strikes me as pretty disturbing, but no one even suggests there might be something wrong with that one.

I think Mead does a better job of keeping Rose's faults and flaws as a character foregrounded, even with Rose providing first person narration the whole time, while still keeping her a likable character. One of the fascinating things in the later books is the way Rose gets into relationships which we know because of narrative convention are never going to work out, and which she has some misgivings over, but which she talks herself into anyway, sometimes multiple times, and the boy in question is so enamored of her that he keeps holding out the hope she'll commit to him for real. It's very unfair of Rose, and depicted as such, but also as completely understandable given what she's going though. It's like a total deconstruction of the Evil Girlfriend Who Toys With Innocent Boys' Emotions archetype, without ever hitting you over the head with what it's doing. (Indeed, I could be prepared to believe Richelle Mead didn't set out to explode this stereotype at all, and just happened to do so in the course of writing about a young woman caught up in an Epic Tragic Romance trying as best she can to navigate a swathe of feelings and emotions which she doesn't fully understand.)

The older lover thing is a trope, and being a trope it isn’t quite as problematic as a 17-24 relationship would seem to me in real life.

Me too—although on the other hand, one of the best matched couples I know got together at ages 17 and 30, and they're still going strong 8 years later. Funny old world.

On a tangential note, it's really weird to consider that I'm now several years older than Dimitri in the books. The way he acts, I guess I always tend to think of him as being in his early 30s, rather than early 20s.

I must also confess that I've got limited tolerance for plots along the lines of "you alone have the one special magic long thought lost or legendary, which will be the key to saving the universe".

For what it's worth, we meet a couple of other spirit users over the course of the series. Also, while Lissa's magic is, indeed, critical to the plot, it is not the key to saving the universe, as that's not really what the books are about.

We learn a lot more about Strigoi in later books, too, and they do indeed come across a lot like Buffy-esque Vampires: pretty much the same personalities, and they seem to have some sort of feelings for other people, and yet still somehow evil and uncaring, and the juxtaposition of the two is about as awkward as you would expect. (I fantasized while reading those sections that the Moroi and the Guardians might just be mistaken, and Strigoi, while alien and with very different priorities, might not be actually evil and uncaring. No such luck, sadly.)

If you do decide you want to continue reading the series, don't get attached to the psi-hounds. They get dropped so completely in later books that I was shocked to see them when the film version of the first book came out, as I'd literally forgotten they existed.

#Ferretbrain #Vampire Academy #Shim #Young Adult

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sydneysageivashkov · 7 years

Text

Buried With Our Past (4/4)

Sydney and Adrian have had five years of peace, living happily ever after with their adopted son and extended family.

And then a spirit experiment goes very wrong, and Sydney wakes up in Russia, seven years earlier. The Alchemists might think they control her, but Sydney’s got a family to reunite.

Parts 1, 2, 3 | AO3

Jill startled as a tray was dropped on to the table next to her with a large clatter. She looked up to see Eddie sitting down beside her.

“So, you’ve been mysteriously absent from Adrian’s room over the past week,” said Eddie. “And Rose’s. And Lissa’s, and -”

Jill snorted, and Eddie looked very pleased with himself. “I get the picture,” she said. “I haven’t had a fight with Adrian or anything. It’s just…” She paused, then nodded in the direction of the table where Rose, Lissa and Christian were eating with Avery. “Avery Lazar’s a spirit user. She almost got Lissa killed last time. We have a plan to deal with her, but we still need to wait a bit to get all the supplies.”

“So you’re – what? Back up?” asked Eddie. Jill stole one of his fries and he whacked at her hand with the flat of his knife. She grinned up at him, and it felt so achingly like it used to that she could have kissed him.

“Yeah,” she said instead, because kissing him would definitely go against the relationship spoilers rule. “I can use the bond to tell if Adrian’s being compelled, and since I’m not hanging out with them, Avery doesn’t know to compel me.”

“It’s a good plan,” said Eddie, nodding to himself. “And you’ve definitely got a way to stop her?”

“Not definitely, but I trust Sydney to come through for us,” said Jill. “She’s never let us down before.”

“So will we finally get to meet the mysterious Sydney?” asked Eddie. “I mean, Rose has met her, and I know she’s a human, but somehow you’ve all been pretty elusive about her.”

Jill smiled sadly. “It’s not just romantic relationships that fall under the spoilers rule, you know.”

“You know that Rose has been trying to work out your future ever since you guys came back? She’s got, like, the cork board with all these dates and names pinned to it like in a detective movie,” said Eddie. “Some of her theories sounds pretty reasonable. Other stuff seems like reaching.”

Jill laughed. She hadn’t know, but knowing Rose, it wasn’t a surprise, either. “I hope you’re not using this as a way to get spoilers out of me.”

“I would never,” said Eddie, trying to look indignant.

They sat silently for a few minutes. Jill watched over her friends with Avery as subtly as she could, and she could tell that Eddie was doing the same. Well, doing much better at it, to be honest. Guardians were actually trained in surveillance.

“With Rose’s cork board,” said Eddie at last, “she has this one theory.” He turned to look at her. Jill looked down at her food. “About you and me.”

Jill looked back up. “You know I can’t say either way.”

“Look, I know why you and Adrian decided not to say anything. I get your reasoning,” said Eddie. “But it’s pretty obvious to everyone that Lissa and Christian stayed together in your future, and that hasn’t affected them at all. If anything, it’s made them more sickeningly sweet than ever.”

“What are you trying to say?” asked Jill.

“Well, I’ve already worked out that we were together in the future,” said Eddie. “And we worked, right?” Jill nodded, hesitantly, and he continued. “So I was wondering if we should just – try. I know I’m not the Eddie you had a few months ago, but I wasn’t really expecting to be in a relationship with a long-lost Dragomir princess, so I figure we’re kind of even there.” Jill couldn’t help a giggle bubbling out, and Eddie smiled at her. “If it works, then we’ve got a few extra years we didn’t have in your future.”

Jill sat for a moment, wondering. Eddie was right. If he knew about their future relationship, then the development of their relationship had already been disrupted, not to mention the fact that she was a different Jill to the one he had initially fallen in love with in her timeline.

But what if she lost him? What if Eddie wasn’t ready yet, and this ended badly, and she lost him forever? She wasn’t sure if she could bear it.

Eddie was looking at her, as firm and steadfast as he always was. Slowly, she leant forwards and kissed him on the cheek. “I’d like that.”

Sydney tapped at the table anxiously at the table as she waited for Mrs Terwilliger to pick up her phone. It was the Amberwood lunch hour, so Mrs Terwilliger should be available. Sydney, meanwhile, didn’t have nearly so much free time. She had managed to get away from the rest of their family by claiming she was going for a coffee run, but it would only be matter of time before someone started wondering why she was taking so long. Abruptly, the ringing cut off as the line picked up.

“Jaclyn Terwilliger speaking,” said the voice at the other end. Sydney’s heart ached at the sound of her old teacher’s voice.

“Mrs Terwilliger, my name is Sydney Sage, and I need some advice on spells relating to vampire magic,” said Sydney, trying to make herself sound as professional as possible.

“I’m sorry?” said Mrs Terwilliger.

“I was wondering if you knew of any spells that could prevent a vampire from using their magic,” explained Sydney. “I know there are spells that can prevent a vampire from wielding their magic on oneself, but I wanted to know if there are any ways to cut off the magic at its source, as it were.”

“That’s not what I meant,” said Mrs Terwilliger. “I quite understood your inquiry. I would rather know who you are and how you came by my number.” Her voice was sharp. Sydney just barely kept herself from sighing.

“My name is Sydney Sage,” she repeated. “As for how I got your number, I had a magical accident and ended up seven years in the past. I know your number because you gave it to me a few months from now.” There was silence on the other end. Sydney continued, a tinge of desperation entering her voice, “You have six cats. You work at Amberwood Prep as a history teacher, and you have a boy named Trey Juarez in your class, who’s brighter than he lets on a lot of the time. You’re a part of the Stelle, and so was your sister before she became too interested in dark magic and you drove her off.”

There was so much more she knew about Mrs Terwilliger that she could mention. Mrs Terwilliger had been one of the great shaping influences of Sydney’s life. “I should hope that your beliefs are your beliefs,” she had once told Sydney, and it had taken a long time, and a lot of work with her and Adrian and everyone else Sydney loved for that to become true.

But Mrs Terwilliger cut her off. “You’re telling the truth,” she said slowly. “I wasn’t aware of any spells that could cause time travel.”

Sydney winced. “It wasn’t exactly human magic.”

There was a pause on the other end. “I imagine this is why you would like to cut off a vampire’s magic? To prevent this from happening again?”

“No, actually,” said Sydney. “I trust the person who did it. It’s for a rogue spirit user.” She explained the situation with Avery Lazar briefly.

“I’m not certain of any such spells,” said Mrs Terwilliger, when Sydney finished. “I will do my research tonight. I can email you any spells I find,” she offered.

“No!” exclaimed Sydney. “No,” she repeated, more calmly. “I can’t – well, I just can’t have any evidence of my magic available. Call me back and I’ll write the spell down.”

“If you’re certain,” said Mrs Terwilliger. “Are you safe, Miss Sage? Do you need help?”

“I’m as safe as I can be,” said Sydney. “I’ll be able to get out of here soon. Only a few more days,” she finished, largely to herself.

There was the familiar sound of the Amberwood bell on the other end of the phone. “Unfortunately, duty calls,” said Mrs Terwilliger, sounding genuinely disappointed to cut the call short. Sydney wasn’t surprised. This was probably the most interesting and confounding thing that had happened to Mrs Terwilliger in a long time.

“It’s fine, Mrs Terwilliger,” she said, and hesitated. “Keep an eye out for Trey, please? His family is… bad, and I don’t think I’ll be in a position to help him this time around.”

“I will do my best,” said Mrs Terwilliger. “I’ll let you know my findings as soon as I can.”

“Soooo,” said a voice behind Adrian, and he almost groaned. He turned to face Avery Lazar, who was watching him with one hand on her waist and her hip popped out. “I always heard that Adrian Ivashkov was the life of every party. What happened, man?”

Adrian could feel the tingle of compulsion, the will that was not his own pushing him towards parties. He pushed back at it with spirit. Avery’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. She’d been like this since the start, but seemed to have put Adrian’s and Lissa’s resistance down to their spirit use and had taken it as a challenge.

It was especially awful, because without the compulsion and trying-to-kill-innocent-people thing, Avery Lazar was just the kind of person who would have been up twenty-one-year-old Adrian’s alley. She wouldn’t necessarily have been a good influence on him, but he would have liked her genuinely, without the compulsion. But in her quest for power, she’d left behind everything that could make her a likable person and replaced it with compulsion.

“Unfortunately,” said Adrian, drawing the word out, “I’ve got to be a role model to Lissa. Aunt Tatiana wants me to be the ‘positive counterbalance’ to Christian.”

Avery laughed, clear and bright. Adrian tried not to grit his teeth. “Man, how’d you convince her you’re a good influence?”

“No idea,” said Adrian. “Half the school still thinks I’m dating Rose.”

“Oh, yeah, I heard that,” said Avery. Her grin was all teeth. “Heard some sophomores saying you two had eloped.”

“I do love Vegas,” said Adrian, which was probably the only honest thing he was going to say for the entire conversation. Vegas held some fond memories: Sydney looking beautiful in her dress, bouquet in hands, rings on her fingers. “But alas, elopement is not on the cards for Rose and I.” After all, he was happily married (ironically, because of an elopement), and she was hopelessly in love with a Russian warlord, who was either dead or an undead mobster. You know, normal relationship obstacles.

“She doesn’t seem to like me that much,” noted Avery. Adrian only just managed to bite back a comment about how nobody there liked her.

“Rose is very possessive of what she considers hers,” explained Adrian, because it was a better reason than any of the real ones.

“So she does like you?” asked Avery, cocking her head. Adrian wondered if she was now planning how best to get rid of Rose.

“She’s more possessive of Lissa than of me,” said Adrian. “They’ve been best friends since they were kids, and Rose is in line to be her guardian.” Honestly, that wouldn’t extend Rose’s life expectancy in Avery’s mind, but he had faith in Rose’s abilities to punch her way out of any situation.

“Yeah, aren’t they bonded?” asked Avery. “Like in the stories?” Avery was very good at faking curiousity: she had cocked her head ever so slightly and widened her eyes a little. Adrian nodded and she sighed longingly. “I wish I could have that. Simon’s okay, but it’d be pretty great to have my best friend as my bonded guardian.”

Unbelievable. She was effectively saying that her brother and guardian just weren’t good enough. Rose and Lissa were still finding a way to balance out the bond so that Lissa had her privacy and they both had their sanity. Adrian and Jill had spent a long time working out how to maintain their privacy and keep Adrian’s vices from affecting Jill. Most of the time, they didn’t even bother trying to balance out the bond; they just blocked it with medication. If Avery actually cared about either of her bondmates, she would know all of that, and wouldn’t be making that comment, even as a cover.

“Yeah, well, it’s not all of a bed of roses,” said Adrian, trying to keep the edge out of his voice.

“I see what you did there,” said Avery with a smirk. Adrian blinked. He hadn’t even noticed. “Come on, let’s go find Lissa and see if we can spring her from her disapproving keeper.”

“Sorry, I can’t,” said Adrian, pushing back against the compulsion. “Got a – thing. Got a thing. And Lissa’s got an exam coming up, so she won’t do anything either.”

Avery frowned minutely before it was wiped away by an easy smile. “All good. Let me know when you’re finally willing to let loose,” she said, with a flirty flip of her hair and a quick pulse of compulsion.

Not likely. “Will do.”

The house was silent. It was close to one in the morning, and the rest of Sydney’s family was sleeping. She slid out of her bed, casting a spell to keep her movements silent.

Her father’s office was well-organised and when it came to most subjects, it was simple to find the relevant files. Sydney knew that her task wouldn’t be so easy.

She closed the door behind her before she turned the computer on. She turned the brightness down to its lowest possible setting to be safe. She started clicking through all the folders that seemed like they would usually be considered irrelevant.

It took forty minutes, located on a hard drive that she found hidden behind the book shelf, amidst a folder filled with bureaucratic but Proper Alchemist things. Sydney guessed that her father was banking on anyone searching through the hard drive to dismiss it after only a few of the bureaucratic files. But there it was: evidence of her father’s illegal smuggling of vampire blood and saliva to the Warriors of the Light. There was even enough mentions of all his co-conspirators to bring them down with him. There was evidence of monetary transactions, of the Moroi that they were taking blood from (Sydney’s heart ached when she saw Clarence’s name amongst them), and interaction with the Warriors. It was enough.

She set about printing paper copies of the files. Sydney would take the hard drive with her, too, but it wouldn’t hurt to have physical copies in addition to the digital files. She felt tears pricking at her eyes. After a month and a half of living under the Alchemists’ thumb once more, she was so, so close to freedom.

“Sydney?”

Sydney whirled around to see her father standing in the doorway. He was staring at her, face uncomprehending but suspicious. “What are you doing?”

Sydney decided to go on the offensive. “What are you doing?” she demanded, brandishing some of the printed pages at him. “You’re selling vampire blood! That goes against everything the Alchemists stand for!”

Jared narrowed his eyes at her and stepped forwards. “How did you know about this?” Sydney opened her mouth to deny it, but he pushed on. “It’s after midnight. You crept in here after we were all asleep. You didn’t just stumble on it. You came looking for it.”

Sydney set her jaw. “I did know about it,” she said. She stepped forward, glaring at her father. “A month and a half ago, I woke up in the past. I woke up living under the Alchemists with no way out. But I knew I just had to get back here and get evidence of your dealings and I could use that to go free.”

“Woke up in the past?” repeated Jared, and scoffed. “Impossible.”

“Possible, with the help of magic,” said Sydney forcefully. “That’s right. Magic. Spirit magic, to be precise. This is how it’s going to work, Dad,” she said, almost spitting out the last word. “I’m going to wake up tomorrow morning. I’m going to say goodbye to Mum and Carly and Zoe – not forever, just until the next time I see them, because I will see them again. I’m going to disappear from the Alchemists radar, and you are going to keep me off the Alchemists’ radar, or I’ll bust you and all my friends.” She smirked bitterly at him. “We’ll both go to re-education, but I guarantee that I can escape re-education. Can you say the same?”

“No one can escape re-education,” said Jared. “You’re putting yourself on the path there, though, with this casual talk of Moroi magic and threatening a direct superior.”

That’s how he saw himself: as a direct superior. Not her father – a superior. It summed up Jared Sage pretty well.

“I can escape re-education. I’ve done it before,” she said, and smirked as her father’s eyes widened. “Thank you, though, for the worst four months of my life. I never got the chance to say that in the other timeline. You really won Father of the Year award that year.”

“Whatever I did, I would have done to save your soul,” said Jared, loftily.

“Save my soul? Do you know what they do in re-education?” she demanded. Angry tears stung at her eyes, and she balled her fists, willing them back. If she cried, he would dismiss her as an overly-emotional teenage girl. She wasn’t a girl, though. She was a woman grown who hadn’t needed her father in years, a woman who finally understood the many ways Jared Sage had failed her.

She was a mother, and she couldn’t understand how any parent could do to their child what her father had done to her.

“First they keep you in darkness for days,” she continued. “No food. No clothes. Just a voice talking at you about how you sinned. And when you finally pass that stage – and that took me three weeks – you move on to the actual ‘re-education’.” She took a step forward. “It’s all propaganda. If you talk back, if you point out the flaws in their logic, if you do anything but parrot back the Alchemist party line, you get sent away. They make you sick for hours. They turn everyone in there – all of the victims – against each other and encourage them to report infractions so that you have no support system. And that’s only for the minor things. If you talk back too much, they send you for re-inking, and you come back a zombie.”

“Better that than allowing you to stray from the light,” said Jared. His tone was full of self-righteousness and Sydney wanted to scream.

“The light? You raised me to follow orders no matter the morality behind them. You taught me not to think for myself; to let the Alchemists think for me. Every time the tattoo gets touched up, you get compelled to follow their orders. It’s disgusting,” snarled Sydney. “They take away our agency without a second thought. At least the Moroi see compulsion as a taboo! You talk as if they’re evil creatures of the night but at least they respect my free will!”

Her voice had risen to a shout. In the hallway, behind Jared, she could see her sisters’ heads peeking out from their rooms, and at the end was her mother, staring in horror.

“That’s not even going into how awful you are as a father,” she continued. “Your comments caused me to have an eating disorder for years so I could be as thin as a Moroi. Guess what, Dad? I’m not a Moroi. I’m human! You brought Keith Darnell into our house and -” She broke off, seeing Carly’s eyes widen and her head shake. Sydney reigned in her fury. If Carly didn’t want what he did known, then Sydney wouldn’t betray her because she was angry. “- And you loved him more than you ever did us. You’d happily send me to re-education, to have everything that makes me me dug out and replaced by Alchemist propaganda.

“I’m done with you, and I’m done with the Alchemists,” said Sydney, voice deadly quiet. “I have enough information to put you through everything I just described. You keep me off their radar, I won’t give them what I know. You keep Zoe and Carly out, and I won’t give them what I know. Do we understand each other?”

Jared was staring at her. She met his eyes with a steady gaze. She would not be backing down. She would not blink first.

At last, Jared nodded. “Understood.”

The Academy’s van was crowded. Adrian wasn’t entirely sure how Lissa had convinced the new headmaster and Alberta that she had to go to Missoula on such short notice, and that Adrian, Christian, Jill, and Eddie all had to be part of the group, but she’d managed it somehow. He suspected that mild compulsion may have been involved.

“Is everything ready?” asked Rose in an undertone, sliding in next to Adrian.

Adrian nodded. “Sydney’s going to meet us there. Just find a way to get us away from the guardians and we’ll be fine.” He was so, so close to seeing Sydney again.

Rose nodded. “That, I can do.”

“Rose,” he said, and faltered. She looked at him steadily. “Thank you for getting Sydney home early.”

Rose softened, some of the hardened guardian persona giving way to his friend. “It was the least I could do,” she replied. “You, Jill, Sydney – you always seem really sad. If getting Sydney back to the US and out of danger a little sooner could help, then there wasn’t much of a choice.”

He spent most of the drive sitting in silence. His thoughts were ahead, with the woman that was waiting for them in Missoula. There had been phone calls, and even a few dream visits when he had managed to convince her that he wasn’t using too much spirit. But this was going to be real.

The only one who had any idea of exactly what he was feeling was Jill, but she was seated in the row behind him, talking quietly with Eddie. He hoped that everything worked out there. Jill and Eddie had been a good match in the last timeline, and he couldn’t see why they wouldn’t be now.

Since Rose and Eddie were both the same age as the rest of the teenagers, they were quickly placed on near guard duty by the other guardians. It was convenient, as they were the only ones amongst the guardians who knew the true reasons behind the trip, and it would be harder to slip near guards than far guards. Adrian followed the others into a store, and as if on an unspoken cue, Christian immediately started talking to Avery loudly and Lissa used the distraction to slip something into Adrian’s hand. She flashed him a quick wink before she went to join her boyfriend and Avery.

“Get Sydney. We’ll meet you downstairs,” said Rose, under her breath, before she also left. Adrian opened his hand to find a silver ring. He could sense a notice-me-not compulsion on it and he slipped it on, hurrying out of the store.

He found Sydney in the bookstore. She hadn’t noticed him yet. She was reading the blurb of a thick book with a photo of the Colosseum on the front, her eyebrows knit together as she concentrated. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Sydney looked up, eyes flicking around nervously, as if she had realised she was being watched. Her eyes landed on him, and her mouth opened a little. She placed the book back on the shelf and approached.

Her hand rested on his cheek, trembling a little. Her eyes were shining with tears. “You’re here,” she whispered. “You’re really here.”

He pulled her into a hug. She rested her head on his shoulder, and her chest shook under his hands. “In the flesh, Sage,” he said. “I’m not leaving you ever again.”

She smiled, a few, stray tears running down her face. “I’m pretty sure that would be physically impossible.”

“Nope,” he said. “Screw physics. I’m not going anywhere.” She laughed, the sound bubbling out of her almost hysterically.

“We’re free,” she said, like she couldn’t quite believe it. “I almost forgot what it was like.”

He leant down and kissed her, softly. Her lips felt warm and familiar under his, the way she wound one hand through his hair. He had missed this, missed her, like a missing limb. It felt like coming home.

She pulled away and rested her forehead against his. “Where are the others?” she asked.

Sydney Sage-Ivashkov: always on track, even in a situation like this. “Downstairs, in the carpark,” he said. “They should be slipping the guardians as we speak.”

She took another deep breath. “We should go to them,” she said regretfully, pulling away.

Adrian sighed. “You’re right, as always.” She took his hand and smiled.

“As always.”

The carpark was still empty when they arrived, so they leant against the Academy’s van and talked about the past two months.

“So I yelled at him about awful he and the Alchemists are, and blackmailed him into letting me go,” finished Sydney. She grinned up at him, and Adrian felt his breath hitch. “We’re free.”

Adrian leant down to kiss her, but before he could, the doors opened and the others spilled out. Avery looked confused, but not worried. That would probably change soon.

“You guys here?” called Rose, looking round the carpark. Sydney pushed herself off the van and tugged Adrian behind her, stepping out into view. Jill broke out of the group and ran towards them. Sydney let go of Adrian’s hand to meet Jill halfway. The two crashed into each other and clung on, crying and laughing.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Jill said, so quietly Adrian almost didn’t catch it. “I’m missed you so much.”

Sydney was crying. “I missed you, too, Jill.”

“What’s going on?” asked Avery. She looked suspicious, like she had finally caught on to the fact that she was missing something big.

Sydney let go of Jill and dug through her handbag. She pulled out a package wrapped in plain, white cloth. “I’m guessing that’s Avery?” she asked Jill, who nodded.

“Who are you?” demanded Avery.

Sydney held the package up. “I’m Sydney Ivashkov. I hear you’ve been moving in on my husband,” she said. Avery gaped, and Sydney started chanting. Adrian didn’t understand it, but he’d been around Sydney long enough to recognise Latin when he heard it.

Avery, who apparently was also capable of recognising threatening Latin chanting when she heard it, tried to back up, but Rose grabbed hold of her and held her in place.

“I’ve got her, Sydney,” she said. Sydney flashed her a grin as she finished the chanting, as she unwrapped the package. The mixture inside lifted itself up and floated to Avery, showering over her.

Besides Lissa, Adrian was the only person in the group who could see exactly what was happening. Avery’s aura shimmered, cycling through all the colours of the rainbow. The gold that Avery had been hiding burst into view, as did the dark shadows that Adrian usually associated with Rose. Even two bondmates apparently could not keep up with the amount of spirit darkness. The rainbow that had been flowing through Avery’s aura suddenly coalesced into a solid barrier around her aura.

“It’s done,” he confirmed to the others.

“Let go of me,” snarled Avery. Adrian could see the spirit welling up in her aura, could see her trying to force her will on to the others, but it hit the rainbow barrier and rebounded inwards. Avery’s eyes widened, panic setting in. “What have you done to me?”

“Ensured that you aren’t going to hurt anybody ever again,” said Lissa, stepping forwards.

“Moroi magic is intrinsic,” explained Sydney. “I can’t stop you from using it entirely. But I could create a barrier between you and other people.” Avery glowered at her.

And then the door burst open. Avery’s guardian, Simon, came marching through.

“I thought she was meant to be cut off from everyone else!” exclaimed Jill. Rose and Eddie were already walking forward to engage Simon.

“This spell was designed to cut Strigoi off from compulsion. It’s never been used on someone with a bond before,” said Sydney. “I guess we shouldn’t be surprised there were side effects.”

Rose and Eddie had reached Simon. Simon swung a fist at Rose, which she dodged and caught his hand. “Trying to attack Moroi,” mocked Rose, tutting. “That’s not very guardian-like.” Simon grunted and pulled his hand from Rose’s grip, just in time to block an attack from Eddie.

Rose and Eddie were making ground on Simon when Rose blanched, face growing pale. Eddie glanced over at Rose, worried, giving Simon an opportunity to land a solid hit on Eddie that left Eddie staggering. Simon began to walk towards them again.

The doors opened, and Adrian saw the Academy’s guardians enter the car park, Alberta at their hand. They took in the situation in a few seconds, and went after Simon.

But Rose beat them to it. She swung a leg around, knocking Simon’s out from under him. He fell and she followed him to the ground, holding him down. “You aren’t ever going to hurt Lissa,” she hissed at him.

Alberta reached the two and Rose handed Simon over to her. “We have to get out of here,” she said. “Right now. They’re coming.”

Adrian would have asked who ‘they’ were, but there was only one reason Rose would have stumbled in that fight, only one reason she would be as pale as she was. Alberta, however, didn’t know about Rose’s early warning system and stopped to ask what she meant.

Honestly, even if Alberta had given orders to evacuate immediately, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. They would have had a few extra seconds at most. Because as soon as Alberta had finished asking, a cold voice spoke up behind Adrian, all the more chilling for its familiarity.

“Hello, Roza.”

Sydney had seen Strigoi before. She had even felt Strigoi fangs at her throat, certain she was about to die. Seeing a Strigoi she knew shouldn’t have made so much of a difference.

Dimitri’s skin was deathly pale, looking chalky under his dark brown hair. The red in his eyes made her want to throw up.

Once, she had stood beside him and listened as he pretended to be a Strigoi. That, in itself, had been awful. But seeing the real deal? It was unimaginably worse. She could barely imagine how Rose must have felt, the first time she saw him.

“I told you I’d come for you when you stepped outside the Academy’s gates,” said Dimitri. Rose pushed her way past the other guardians, placing herself between Dimitri and all of the Moroi. “And yet, here you are.”

Rose looked him in the eye, and then punched him in the face. It was enough to spur everyone into action: the guardians moved forwards, engaging the three Strigoi that Dimitri had brought with him.

Sydney grabbed Christian’s arm. “We need to subdue him before someone kills him,” she said. “I’m going to throw a fireball at him. Make it surround him, okay?” Christian nodded, and she summoned the flame to her hand. She kept it in a small, tight ball, and threw it at Dimitri’s feet, careful to avoid Rose. Both of them startled as the flames grew rapidly into an inferno, and suddenly Eddie was there, dragging Rose back. Christian waved his hand, and the fire surrounded Dimitri.

“Cover me!” shouted Lissa, drawing a stake from her bag. She didn’t look at all capable of taking on a Strigoi, let alone Dimitri, but the look in her eyes was determined.

Rose and Eddie fell back to Lissa’s side, guarding her against any Strigoi. Dimitri seemed too distracted by the flames to even notice the princess approaching, until she had grasped the stake with both hands and plunged it into his chest.

Well, sort of. The stake didn’t go the entire way in. Lissa gritted her teeth and threw her entire weight behind the stake, inching it in a little further. Dimitri struggling against the stake and the flames made her job that much harder.

Sydney knew when Lissa succeeded because the room flooded with light. She felt the spirit magic flow, the feeling of life and love and laughter bursting outwards. Sydney had seen a Strigoi be restored once before. Dimitri’s restoration was no less beautiful than Sonya’s had been.

As the light receded, Sydney had to blink several times in order to see again. Dimitri was on the ground, his head in Lissa’s lap, Rose holding his hand like it was a life line. And Dimitri was weeping.

Strigoi and guardians, however, were hard to distract. A miracle had just taken place, but the fighting restarted quickly enough. One Strigoi was staked, then a second. Eddie staked the third as he tried to approach his former boss.

“What just happened?” asked one guardian. From what Sydney could tell, she appeared to be the leader of the guardians. She went to approach Dimitri, Rose and Lissa, but Jill threw herself between them.

“He’s a dhampir!” exclaimed Jill. “Lissa turned D – Guardian Belikov back into a dhampir.”

“It’s true,” said Adrian, joining her. “I felt the spirit Lissa was wielding. It worked. Belikov’s a dhampir.”

“That’s impossible,” scoffed another guardian.

“I can run some tests,” Sydney offered, slipping back into her role of professional Alchemist.

The leader focused on her. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

“That’s not important,” said Adrian, immediately. From the way the guardian’s face slackened a little, Sydney could tell that Adrian had used some mild compulsion on her. “What is important, Guardian Petrov, is that a miracle just happened. Lissa just restored a Strigoi to life. Spirit can save people from being a Strigoi! Imagine what could be done with this.”

“If you can prove he really is a dhampir,” said Guardian Petrov. She glanced at Dimitri, hope entering her expression.

“Take him back to the Academy,” said Christian. “If he gets through the wards, then he’s not a Strigoi, right?”

“Right,” said Adrian. “There’s your proof.”

“We can’t take him back to the Academy!” exclaimed one guardian, horrified. “There are children there.”

“He’s harmless!” snapped Adrian. “Well, as harmless as a trained guardian can be. There’s no Strigoi left.”

Guardian Petrov looked at Dimitri again. Sydney wasn’t sure if he, Lissa or Rose had heard any part of the conversation that was going on above them. Rose and Lissa were murmuring to Dimitri in soothing tones, their words too quiet to make out.

“We’ll take him back to Saint Vladimir’s,” she decided. “There are cells we can hold him in until we decide if he’s safe.” She looked at another guardian. “Call the school. Send back up. We can’t transport him with the students.”

Adrian slid away from the ensuing conversation and came to stand before her. “I should go back with them until we can convince them that Dimitri’s a dhampir.”

Sydney nodded. “I know. They need you.”

It wasn’t safe to kiss, not with so many unknown quantities around, but Adrian risked placing a hand on her cheek. “I’ll come for you as soon as I can,” he promised.

Jill approached. Her hand was twined with Eddie’s, but she let go to throw her arms around Sydney. “It’s not fair that you have to leave again so soon,” said Jill into Sydney’s hair.

“It’ll be fine soon enough, Jill,” said Sydney, brushing Jill’s hair down. She squeezed Jill once and let go to look at Eddie.

“Did you come back, too?” she asked, uncertainly. Jill and Adrian hadn’t mentioned it, and surely Eddie would have wanted to speak with her before now. But he and Jill had been holding hands…

“No,” said Eddie, shaking his head and rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry. I know we were close in your future.”

“I’m going to hug you anyway,” Sydney decided.

“I’m always up for a hug,” agreed Eddie. Sydney wrapped her arms around Eddie and leant her head against his shoulder. Eddie was the closest thing she had ever had to a brother, and she had missed him desperately.

But time was running short, so she let go of Eddie to look back to Adrian. “I love you,” she whispered, blinking back tears.

“I love you, too,” said Adrian. She took his hand and stared at him, drinking him in for as long as she dared.

The arguments were dying down, though, and she reluctantly pulled away, walking away before anyone could notice her.

News of a restored Strigoi spread throughout the Moroi world in a matter of days.

Two days after Dimitri was restored, three high-ranking guardians and another two magical researchers arrived at Saint Vladimir’s to investigate. With them, came the queen.

“You told me this would happen,” she told Adrian, quietly. “I did not fully believe you until the news came.”

“What do people think back at court?” he asked. “A lot of people were convinced it was a trick last time.”

“It’s the same now,” said Aunt Tatiana. She looked very tired. “Others believe it. They think of Vasilisa as some kind of goddess: the princess from a dying family, working miracles that could save our species.”

“They’re not wrong,” said Adrian. “We were getting lose to finding a vaccine last time. If we ever succeed, then it’s only a matter of time before the Strigoi die out.”

Tatiana stood and looked at her stone-faced guardian. “Take us to Belikov,” she ordered.

Dimitri wasn’t in the Academy’s holding cells at that moment. It was early in the Moroi night, or early morning for the human world. The sun had risen only an hour ago, and he was sitting at a picnic table near the guardians’ quarters. Lissa sat on one side of him and Rose on the other, with half a dozen of the school’s guardians watching him intently.

Adrian still wasn’t sure what had happened in Russia, either time, but evidently Rose had changed enough that Dimitri was not as violently opposed to seeing her as he had been last time round. Adrian had barely seen Rose or Lissa since they had returned from Missoula. Any free time they had had been spent fighting to convince others that Dimitri was no longer a Strigoi and to get him released from custody.

Tatiana swept towards the three, and several guardians followed her. Adrian rolled his eyes at them as he and Aunt Tatiana sat down across the table from the princess and guardians. Somehow, Tatiana was capable of making even the picnic table look like a throne. Lissa and Dimitri both bowed their heads.

“You’re not here to yell at me again, are you?” asked Rose, looking at Tatiana dubiously. After a belated paused, she added, “Uh, Your Majesty.”

“Rose!” admonished Lissa and Dimitri in unison. Rose ducked her head but Adrian spotted the smile as she did so. She had probably been playing dumb on purpose, he thought – trying to break the tension.

“Indeed not, Miss Hathaway,” said Tatiana, not even bothering to conceal her amusement. “I came to talk to Mr Belikov. If you have been truly restored, then it could change our entire world, so I wished to make my own judgements.” Rose bristled a little at Dimitri being addressed as ‘Mr Belikov’ rather than as ‘Guardian Belikov’, but was quelled by a sharp look from Lissa.

Dimitri bowed his head. “I am at your command, Your Majesty.”

“Then we shall begin,” said Tatiana, and started her interrogation.

It took another three weeks for Adrian to meet Sydney at their decided place in Maine.

“Are you ready for this?” he asked her. He didn’t think he was.

“I don’t think we can start living our life together unless we do this,” she replied. “We need to put the other timeline to rest.”

He nodded and pulled her into a hug. She clung on to him tightly, burying her face in his shoulder. They stood for several long moments before she let go.

“Here,” said Sydney, handing him a charmed necklace. She put one on herself and spoke a few words in Latin. The spell was meant to turn them invisible to anyone who didn’t know they were there. He had a lot of faith in Sydney’s abilities, but it was a little nerve-wracking when he couldn’t actually see if the spell had worked or not.

Their old house was still being lived in by the people they had bought it off, so they made their way through to the back garden as silently as they could. There was a large tree in the corner of the yard. It didn’t have the tree house that it’d had in their time, but it was the only place they thought of as Declan’s that they could get to.

Sydney knelt at the foot of the tree and placed her hand on it. “I love you,” she whispered. “I love how you’d say that every movie that wasn’t animated was boring, I love how you still hadn’t gotten your tongue around ‘Ivashkov’, I love how -” Her voice cracked. Adrian knelt beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. She took a deep breath, wiping away a tear. “I love how you always want a cuddle and insist on a story before bed.” She stopped again, crying in earnest now. Adrian wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“I don’t know if you’ll ever exist in this timeline,” he said to the tree, to the life they had once built, to Declan, “but I’m always going to love you. You will always be my first child, no matter what happens in this life.”

Sydney was still sniffling when she took the small plant of rosemary from her bag. She made a shallow depression in the earth with her hands and placed the rosemary in it, pushing the dirt back into place. “For remembrance,” she said. “You’ll always be in our hearts.”

Adrian placed his hand on the rosemary plant, feeling the spirit surge through him. The plant grew in size, purple flowers blooming on it.

“Goodbye, Declan,” he said. Sydney ran her hands along the plant before she let Adrian pull her to her feet.

They returned to the car. Sydney pulled away from the curb and they drove in silence.

“Do you think it ever gets easier?” she asked, at last.

“I don’t know, Sage,” he said, honestly. “But at least we aren’t dealing with it alone anymore.”

Sydney opened the door to find a crowd of faces peering back at her. Their friends had turned out in force for Sydney and Adrian’s second (primarily for legal reasons, because they had never stopped considering themselves married) wedding. Rose grinned gleefully and pulled Sydney into a hug. Most of the others streamed past, greeting Sydney as they went – so far in this timeline, they largely knew Adrian rather than Sydney. She received a quick hug from Eddie as he passed. Only Jill remained on their doorstep, talking into her phone.

“Yes, I know I snuck out of Court – yes, I had a very good reason, and I have Eddie and Rose and Dimitri with me, what do you think is going to happen? – Mum, I am actually twenty-one, remember, I can make my own decisions,” Jill was saying. Sydney tried not to laugh at Jill, who barely looked her biological age of fifteen years. Jill looked up and smiled brilliantly at Sydney. “Gotta go! Sorry,” she said into her phone, then hung up before her mother could argue.

“You snuck out of Court?” inquired Sydney, nodding at the phone Jill was putting in her pocket.

“Do you really think anyone would have let me out?” asked Jill. “Especially my mother! She keeps forgetting that I’m not fourteen.”

“You certainly look the part,” teased Sydney, and Jill laughed, throwing her arms around Sydney.

“I’m so glad I get to be part of this one!” exclaimed Jill. “I was still stranded in Amberwood last time.”

“No Alchemists hunting us this time, so it definitely passes the bar the other timeline set,” said Sydney. “And I’ve got everyone here this time.”

Jill followed Sydney into the main part of the house. Adrian and Sydney had ended up where it had begun for them: they were living on the outskirts of Palm Springs. There was little to no chance of Strigoi attacks, and only one Alchemist to be worried about, and Sydney had more than enough blackmail on Keith.

Sydney’s sisters and mother were sitting on the couch in the living room, looking mildly shell-shocked by the deluge of dhampirs and Moroi who had entered. They were tentatively beginning to accept Adrian, but this was something else. Adrian pulled out of Lissa’s hug, grinning around the room. Sydney’s heart seemed too big for her chest. Almost everyone she loved was in this room.

“Mrs Terwilliger’s here!” said Jill, voice surprised. Sydney glanced at where Mrs Terwilliger was sitting on the love seat, peering at the newcomers like they were science experiments.

“I met up with her when we moved here,” explained Sydney. “I’m spending a lot of time at Spencer’s and I’ve been slowly but steadily befriending Trey. I’m still working on a way to get Angeline out of the Keepers, but I’ll get there eventually.”

“I have no doubt,” said Jill. Eddie reappeared at Jill’s side, sliding an arm around her waist. Sydney smiled. She was glad that they were working out in spite of the time travel shenanigans.

“I hope you’re treating Jill well, Castile,” she said, with mock sternness.

Jill rolled her eyes. “No. You’re not allowed to threaten him. This isn’t how the Melrose family works!”

Eddie looked bewildered. “Melrose family…?”

Adrian approached, kissing Sydney quickly on her forehead. “I believe I heard something about a Melrose family reunion?” he asked, looking at Jill.

Jill snorted. “Oh, man, there’s a lot of fake family incest going on in this house,” she said with a grin. “Imagine if Micah or someone had caught one of us!”

Eddie still looked lost, so Sydney took pity on him. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to my sisters,” she said to him. “You’re pretty much the most normal person here. We’ll ease them into this.”

“Hey, I’m normal!” objected Jill.

“You’re a magic-wielding, time-travelling, long lost princess of a dying line,” deadpanned Adrian. “You’re practically a comic book character.” Jill frowned, but shrugged acceptingly.

“Be nice,” chided Sydney, even as she felt a smile tugging at her lips.

“Always am,” said Adrian, leaning down to kiss Sydney quickly. Rose wolf-whistled loudly across the room, and Dimitri tried to shush her without avail.

It wasn’t where she had expected to be six months ago. It wasn’t the house she had wanted or the life she had built, and the child she had raised was gone. But standing in this room, with so many of her loved ones surrounding her, Sydney was pretty sure there were worse lives she could have lived.

#sydrian #bloodlines #vampire academy #fic #ff.net is playing up ughh #now that this monster is done I can move on to gremma appreciation stuff!#also uni work

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our-legacy-rp-blog · 7 years

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MONI has been accepted for the character ISOLDA ARUNDEL

We absolutely love your take on Isolda, she should be an excellent addition to the RP. She is such an interesting character, and you certaintly captured that. Welcome to OL, and be sure you fill out the checklist HERE.

OOC name & pronouns: Moni, she/her Age: 25 Timezone: CST

Character’s name: Isolda Aruden FC choice: Candice Patton Position request: N/A

Birthday: May 10; Taurus.

Earth Sign; Taurus sign is know to be practical, patient, and thinkers. Slow and study wins the race, but once she finds something that catches her eye, there is no stopping her from finding the answer. While her sister is more of the extroverted bull, Izzy is the introverted bull who watches, waits, and then charges. She likes to look at all situations first before she goes forward with her plans.

Wand: 10 ½; Beech; Unicorn Tail Hair.

Patronus: Not everyone can produce a patronus and I’m one of those Harry Potter fans who doesn’t believe everyone should be able to produce one. When I read through Isolda’s Past part, I realized she could be a smart wizard but still not be able to master how to produce a patronus just yet. The problem is that she hasn’t fully maintained a positive memory strong enough for her to fully produce one. Along with her worries and change of heart she is having currently with her mother, it’s still hard for her to fully produce something longer than three seconds. This is something only her sister knows about to a certain extent.

Boggart: Izzy’s boggart takes the form of her sister and mother being tortured and dying. When she first encountered a boggart at her house, it had been her trapped in small spaces. She was afraid that she would not be able to figure out how to get out of a space like that and that she failed to solve something. Yet when she was in Hogwarts, the form of the Boggart started to change. While encountering one at school, many people thought that it might be a werewolf or another magical monster. However, when it came out to the image of her mother and sister slowly dying, she realized that though she might have her differences with her mother and her ideals, her mother and especially her sister still meant so much to her that if she ever lost them, she was not sure how she would live on.

HEADCANONS:

Izzy has taken a strong interest in history and research during her time at Hogwarts. In her sixth year, she has been granted special permission to explore rare books that Hogwarts would receive along with access to the restricted section even though she is not a seventh year. She keeps multiple notebooks with different topics she is looking into. For those she doesn’t want her mother or sister to know about, she labels them something else to throw them off.

As a stress reliever, Izzy bakes. Baking is full of precision, patience, and skill. She loves looking up different recipes and techniques to help improve her skill and taste palette. Her favorite thing to bake is bread because you have to pay attention to how much of each ingredient you put into your creation. She had once joked with her mother that if school didn’t work out, she would open a bakery in Diagon Alley. Her mother, with little to no shock to Izzy, was not amused with this comment but deep down she was sure her mother could agree that she could make a mean banana bread.

As twins, Izzy always felt like the closest person in her life was Lissa. Lissa was her complete opposite but they complimented each other well. Izzy was afraid that once they got into Hogwarts, they wouldn’t have a close bond anymore. Her theory was proven wrong just a few months into their first year. Though their house brought out their best, and sometimes worst, qualities, Izzy felt just as close to her sister than ever before. There are just certain things Izzy feels it’s best to keep to herself rather than tell her sister. Other than that, Lissa is the only person Izzy feels comfortable talking to freely.

Before going to Hogwarts, Izzy was gifted with a cat to keep her company while her and her sister shared an owl for mail. Izzy had found over the years that she was more of a dog person than a cat person but her tabby cat, Neptune, has grown on her over the years. Neptune has a way of comforting Izzy when she doens’t realize she needs to calm down or concentrate. He doesn’t get in her way or bother her all that much but he will make his presence known when he wants to. According to Izzy, Neptune might be mixed with something else other than 100% cat. He is too smart sometimes she feels but like her sister points out to her, she could be over thinking things.

HISTORY:

The Arundel family wanted for nothing in the wake of the Second Wizarding War. With many families decimated, their lines broken or simply killed off, the Arundels rose to the top of pureblood wizarding society like a predator on its prey. They’d always been an aspiring family, making connections where they could and intermarrying where possible, but there never seemed to get the recognition and status that they desired - they could never reach the highest positions in the Ministry of Magic, they could never secure alliances with the top families. But when many pure families sunk away with shame at the end of the war, the Arundel’s rose to the top: Ellise Arundel was perfectly placed in the Ministry to become Vice Minister of Magic, second only to Lowell Tegus. Securing the spot during his election, Ellise became the one Arundel to succeed where others hadn’t. Their pride kept them from boasting, but the family was happy - and so was Ellise. From then on, they held their heads high at gatherings and parties, but most importantly, they remembered who their friends were now that their fortunes had turned around.

Already married and with two twin daughters, Ellise was a busy woman with strategy on the mind and not a lot of time to spare for others. She tried to be there for her daughters, but the truth was that her job was everything: as Vice Minister, she was working with Minister Tegus in those early days to reform ancient laws, arrest werewolves, and establish calm among a people who were terrified. Ellise hardly saw the twins for several years back then, lost as she was in her work. A strong-headed woman with a vision for the future, Ellise became partners with Tegus to help restore the wizarding world to its original glory: something that they hadn’t experienced for many years. Popular among the members of several Departments for always sparing them the time to talk, listen, or answer questions, Ellise helped to bring support to Tegus’ campaign - as well as to humanise his cold approach to the werewolf issue. In office, Ellise was Tegus’ essential right hand in everything he did: she helped coordinate aurors from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but she also helped to bury those who had died during the London Riot with dignity.

Izzy was always the quieter of the twins - the more likely to be in her sister’s shadow or to follow her lead. Lissa never took advantage of that, nor did she push Izzy to be someone she wasn’t: Lissa was instead loud enough and bold enough for the two of them. Izzy was cautious where her sister was rash; she was contemplative where her sister was talkative. Izzy was a child who thought about what she wanted to say before she said it - and even then, she’d think about the ramifications of those words. It was less about hurting someone’s feelings than protecting her own: Izzy knew the weight of words and the effect they could have. She saw it first hand when she and her sister would spend a few hours in their mother’s office sometimes, playing in the corner while Ellise went about her meetings and planning. Izzy loved her mother, but the force of her determination was both an awe-inspiring and terrifying thing to her. Growing up around such a strong woman who used words to convince the wizarding world that the problem was under control when Izzy, sitting in her mother’s office and hearing of the werewolf attacks and protests, knew those words were lies.

Groomed, trained, and pampered, Izzy and her sister spent their time learning how to be the best pureblood women that they could be. Given theoretical lessons on magical history and magic itself, Izzy found that she enjoyed pouring herself into knowledge more than the social aspect of her world. It was a distraction from what was going on around her, but Izzy enjoyed researching the history behind everything that was happening in the wizarding world, looking for pieces of the puzzle. In her mind, it was as though she could assemble all the separate parts and find the thing that they had in common - the one thing that would undo all of the trouble in the world. Reluctantly, Izzy was pulled out of her world of papers and books to socialise, her sister whispering names and titles in her ear at parties, the two of them smiling nicely.

Hogwarts came with a warning from Ellise: watch what you say and who you say it to. Izzy had never been one to spill secrets, so her mother had nothing to fear from her. The twins were separated into different houses, which became the first time that Izzy had to really fend for herself. Ravenclaw changed Izzy from being a closed off girl into someone interested in collaborative work, researching, and group projects. She was far from being the leader of any of these things, but she enjoyed the feeling of putting minds together to work toward a whole. For so long, the only mind that she’d connected with had been her sister’s, but now Izzy had a whole house full of smart people willing to put their effort toward learning - and she realised that she wasn’t out of place at all.

Izzy is a smart, logical, and problem-solving girl who thrives on filling her mind with dates, facts, and small tidbits. She’s perpetually searching for a bigger picture - something that all her knowledge can build to - and she often gets disheartened because she can’t quite get there. Though Izzy was raised to believe in her mother’s cause, that werewolves are monsters who need to be caged, it’s only within the last few months that Izzy’s faith has begun to waver. For the first time in her life, she has doubts: what if her mother is wrong? What if there is a better way to handle the werewolves? Izzy doesn’t dare speak out to her family and especially not her sister, all of who believe so strongly in what they’re doing. Keeping secrets isn’t hard for Izzy, but it does weigh on her mind a lot, especially when she has to keep up appearances as a hard and fast supporter of her mother’s agenda.

NOW:

After her O.W.L.S, Izzy received an O in History, showing her strength in History of Magic. Research had become one of her strongest skills over the years making her a tutor for those in her year and younger who needed help with their projects or reports. She had been brought in by her head of house and Professor Binns (still mysteriously teaching History of Magic and floating around like he never died in the first place) to talk about her place outside of Hogwarts. They encouraged her to possibly take a research internship during the summer before her last year in America. All she had to do was figure out what area she wanted to concentrate on. Wanting to write to her mother about the opportunity, she knew her mother wouldn’t be the biggest fan of this career choice. Ellise would want her daughters to take respectable jobs and well respected jobs. Izzy knew her sister would want to follow in their mother’s footsteps and it was suppose to be what she wanted too. After all, her mother was the one who was able to accomplish what all the other Arundel’s weren’t able to do: get the recognition and status they deserved.

With all the events happening during her sixth year, Izzy is starting to realize she wants to do more to look into the laws that her mother helped enforce. Were the supernatural creatures her mother and the Ministry, a now close friend of the family, the monster they claimed them to be? Izzy could be like her sister and believe everything that was told to them. Izzy, however, was all about the facts. And the more she kept looking into the history, documents, and anything she was able to get her hands on, the more she began to realize that maybe what everything her mother and the Minister preached wasn’t 100% true. Now close to the end of her sixth year, Izzy realizes that there are a lot of decisions she has to make and secrets she needs to keep to herself. Even though she is close to her sister, she knows if she voices her opinions about her future and her current opinion, she might lose the ones she loves the most.

#accepted

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princess--cynthia · 7 years

Text

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Participant(s): Cynthia, @deintegro / Robin

Words: 4,358

Type: C-Support

Summary: Finding Cynthia as she tends to some secretly-obtained injuries after their last battle, the two figure out where they stand with each other.

“Ugh. Stupid arrows.” Cynthia winced as she pulled the bandages tight, prodding the wound to make sure it’d closed properly and sighing as she finally pulled her shirt back down to cover it up. It hadn’t been bad enough to warrant a healing staff, but the bleeding needed to stop anyway - and she hadn’t wanted to worry her family over it. They thought she’d escaped the last few battles unscathed, and she’d like to keep that illusion if possible.

That was when she got up and turned to the door of her tent, ready to leave before stopping in her tracks when she saw Robin in the way, shuffling nervously. “Um. How much did you see?”

The tactician averted his gaze as the awkward silence only continued to grow. Sleep had a habit of evading Robin, and tonight - even following the Shepherd’s intense encounter with a band of brigands earlier in the day - was no different. In an attempt to lure sleep into his clutches, the young man took to walking about the encampment to still his mind. He had been making his way about the perimeter of the Shepherd’s small cluster of tents when he overheard a pained hiss. “Through the small opening of your tent…,” he began, his dark eyes trained on a non-existent point at the other end of the camp, “it appeared as if you were tending to something.” Robin sighed inwardly and closed his eyes for a moment before facing the young pegasus rider. A grave expression had settled on his features. “You’re injured aren’t you?” he said at last. It was more of a statement than a question but he wanted to hear what Cynthia had to say for himself.

“Yeah.” She mumbled, slightly ashamed with herself as she stared hollowly at her feet. Her father was basically guaranteed to find out about it now that Robin had, and she resigned herself to the fate. “It’s nothing big. An arrow hit me in the side, broke the skin but my armor stopped it from getting in too far. I didn’t want anyone to worry. Got to keep up the invincible hero look, right?”

Robin’s expression softened considerably as the truth tumbled from Cynthia’s lips. Poisonous thoughts nagged him at the back of his mind, berating him for having failed to produce plans that better defended the Shepherds aerial units. Even if the girl’s armor spared her organs, the sheer force of impact could have knocked her off her mount and tumbling down toward a grizzly death. A thick knot of regret manifested in the tactician’s throat. An apology would not undo the damage. “I didn’t want anyone to worry. Got to keep up the invincible hero look, right?” Robin understood that sentiment all too well. Needing to keep up appearances. To be strong. To be ever competent. He was merely a pitiable amnesiac that Chrom and Lissa happened to stumble upon in an open field. If he couldn’t be a good tactician, then what purpose could he possibly have at their side. “Still…,while I am no healer, I do know that if not properly treated we risk having your wound become infected,” Robin cautioned quietly. “Suddenly falling ill would be cause for more concern, wouldn’t it?”

“I know what I’m doing.” Cynthia insisted, trying to convince him to move past it and leave it alone. “Trust me, none of us need to be coddled. Brady taught me enough on how to keep them clean, it’s not going to get infected.”

That was something she’d started to notice since she came back - everyone introducing themselves as so-and-so’s daughter or son. The shepherds thought about them as kids - hells, she’d probably been fighting longer than her mother had at this point. She’d certainly gone through worse situations that virtually everyone that hadn’t come back with her.

So why did they keep coddling them?

“We can take care of ourselves.”

“We can take care of ourselves.” Robin could have sworn that he could detect a note of frustration in Cynthia’s voice and found himself unconsciously taking a couple steps back. Was he coming off as too patronizing? Another thick silence settled in the air, the only interruption came from the distant chirping of crickets that were scattered about the field in with that encampment had been pitched. “I’m sorry Cynthia,” Robin said earnestly tucking a stray lock of white hair behind his ear, “I didn’t mean to smother you…it’s just that-A-Ah, no. I apologize.” He thought it best to hold his tongue and keep his reasons to himself. To him, each of the Shepherds were precious and very dear to him. As his only family, his only bond to this world, the thought of losing anyone was simply too much to bare…be it to the arms of death or by his own actions pushing them away. They were everything and the fear of loss was very real. Even so, to present his fears as a counter to Cynthia’s frustrations did sit to well with the pale youth. She was right however, these children, these time travelers, were very capable of taking care of themselves. It was quite likely that they were better suited to handle this crisis than even Robin himself, who had only recently came of age. These “children” were tempered by the demands of a life of war and turmoil. “Then if only to assuage my concerns,” Robin began as he slipped one of his hands into the pocket of his robes, “I ask that you take a vulnerary at the very least.” Robin felt the blood rushing to his ears when his probing fingers found his pockets to be empty. He patted down his sides a few times for good measure and let out a nervous laugh. “I seem to be without any doses on my person, so if you will accompany me to the repository tent we can get you one. You, will have my silence of course.”

“…I don’t think that’s an argument I’m likely to win.” Cynthia sighed, stuffing her hands in her pockets and sullenly standing up to follow him, bad-temperedly kicking a rock into the air from the floor of the tent as she did so. There wasn’t much that could phase her anymore - not unless she was relaxed - but something about how he’d reacted to her words told her that he’d read between the lines a little too well.

Maybe Lucina was right. Maybe once everything was over, they should just up and leave. They weren’t going to understand what they’d been through, not really. Not unless everything really did go to hell a second time, and if that happened Cynthia wasn’t sure if she’d be able to live with herself.

“It’s not smothering. It’s just…respect.” Cynthia ground her heel into the floor, trying to find the words. “I don’t even mean for my hero stuff, although that’d be nice and everyone should totally worship me, because I’m awesome. But, in general - I don’t think you lot realize what it was like for us.”

“A little acknowledgement of that would be nice, you know?”

Robin couldn’t help but to feel a bit relieved when the Pegasus rider offered little resistance to his request. He watched as Cynthia rose to her feet and while she seemed a little cross, kicking a stray pebble away with the tip of her boot, it appeared that she would comply without making a fuss. “Thank-you Cynthia,” he said. The youth tucked his hands into his pockets and turned on his heel, making his way to the repository tent. Most of the Shepherds had already turned in for the evening, leaving the encampment in a state of quiet tranquility. Such a state was uncanny for a group of soldiers marching toward the ugly reality of war, but Robin had learned to cherish these moments. The silence. The faint glow of dying embers in extinguished fire pits. The cool evening air against his warm skin. He inhaled deeply. It was not often that he could breathe so mindfully, the stresses of war and of his commitments often left him running by routine. It was a mechanical existence. The repository tent was situated deeper in the camp. With night patrols concentrated on the perimeter of the encampment, the tactician didn’t anticipate crossing paths with anyone. Upon arriving at their destination, Cynthia decided to break the silence, “It’s not smothering. It’s just…respect.” she said. Robin could hear the caked earth crunch beneath her heel as she spoke, “I don’t even mean for my hero stuff, although that’d be nice and everyone should totally worship me, because I’m awesome. But, in general - I don’t think you lot realize what it was like for us. A little acknowledgement of that would be nice, you know?””

He froze for a moment with one hand on the tent entrance flap. This was the first time he had heard any of the “children” speak so candidly. To date, many of the interactions between those of the future and those of the present have been tearful reunions and attempts at bonding. He never realized that it was possible for either party to harbour feelings of frustration. "You’re right,“ he said solemnly, passing his thumb over the harsh canvas fabric, "none of us could possibly understand what you’ve endured.” Robin parted the tent flap, making a small opening for the two to pass through and waited for the girl to enter. “You know, physiologically, you and I only differ in age by one to two years at most, and yet we are perceived quite differently.”

“I guess being introduced as someone else’s kid rather than as a person does that.” Cynthia sighed, trying to figure out a way to explain what she was feeling. She’ll admit that there was a difference between being friendly and being good with people - she was the first, not the second. The second needed her to understand other people, and while she was certainly better at that than her, say, sister was she was still far from being good at it. Empathetic wasn’t the same as good with people. She wished she was good with people. If she was, she’d be able to explain what was wrong with her when they treated her like this. At least the man had given her a way out of the conversation in the only way she felt comfortable enough doing - changing the subject into embarrassing the person interrogating her. "Apparently you don’t perceive me differently enough from the rest to worry about knocking before coming into my tent.” Cynthia said with a fake smirk, trying to get some kind of reaction out of him that would change the subject as quickly as possible. “What, were you hoping to get a quick look? If that was the case, sorry that I wasn’t sitting facing the tent entrance, but after living in a camp with Inigo most of my life I’ve learned not to face the door while my top’s off.”

“Going after me is pretty risky. Father might kill you if he found out.” Cynthia continued trying to change the subject, probably going a bit heavy on the fake grin. She was pretty good at her fake grins, at least - years of practice made them hard to tell apart from her real ones unless you really knew her. “Miiiight want to reconsider it next time.”Robin was preoccupied with hunting down for a box labelled as one that would house some of the company’s store of vulneraries when the conversation took a sudden, unforeseen turn. "Apparently you don’t perceive me differently enough from the rest to worry about knocking before coming into my tent.”

The tactician stopped mid search and shook his head not quite believing his ears, “I’m sorry but I beg your pardon?” he asked quietly as he resumed his search on the next shelf. There was no denying that the girl was clever. He had left the conversation with a giant opening and she sunk her teeth right in. Now it was Robin who found himself at the end of the proverbial blade with Cynthia grasping the hilt. “What, were you hoping to get a quick look?” she went on, evidently enjoying the change of fortunes, “If that was the case, sorry that I wasn’t sitting facing the tent entrance, but after living in a camp with Inigo most of my life I’ve learned not to face the door while my top’s off.” The youth pressed his lips together into a thin line and offered no response to Cynthia’s teasing. The pegasus rider knew full well that he happened to be in the area when she let out a pained hiss that drew him to her tent. At least, he thought she knew anyway. He fought to regain his composure and focus by scanning the labels more intensely but his ears were glowing in a deep, most betraying shade of red. He must have went over the same set of containers over ten times before his eyes finally landed on the pinewood box with the word “vulnerary” painted on its side. Robin rose up onto the balls of his feet and reached up to grab the box sitting on the uppermost shelf. The tiny glass vials contained within the box tinkled softly with the tactician’s movements. He gently opened the lid of the container, fished out a vulnerary, closed the container, and then replaced it on the shelf. The girl went on in a sing-song voice about how Chrom were to kill him if he were to learn about Robin’s “lecherous” behaviour. “I don’t think it should be a problem if I don’t have any intention of peeping,” Robin said finally, turning to face Cynthia with a weak smile. “Please take it Cynthia,” He held out the vulnerary to the girl, inviting her to take it from him, “…and I’m sorry. I will have to try harder next time, so that you’re less likely to wind up injured.”

Robin was preoccupied with hunting down for a box labelled as one that would house some of the company’s store of vulneraries when the conversation took a sudden, unforeseen turn. "Apparently you don’t perceive me differently enough from the rest to worry about knocking before coming into my tent.” The tactician stopped mid search and shook his head not quite believing his ears, “I’m sorry but I beg your pardon?” he asked quietly as he resumed his search on the next shelf. There was no denying that the girl was clever. He had left the conversation with a giant opening and she sunk her teeth right in. Now it was Robin who found himself at the end of the proverbial blade with Cynthia grasping the hilt. “What, were you hoping to get a quick look?” she went on, evidently enjoying the change of fortunes, “If that was the case, sorry that I wasn’t sitting facing the tent entrance, but after living in a camp with Inigo most of my life I’ve learned not to face the door while my top’s off.” The youth pressed his lips together into a thin line and offered no response to Cynthia’s teasing. The pegasus rider knew full well that he happened to be in the area when she let out a pained hiss that drew him to her tent. At least, he thought she knew anyway. He fought to regain his composure and focus by scanning the labels more intensely but his ears were glowing in a deep, most betraying shade of red. He must have went over the same set of containers over ten times before his eyes finally landed on the pinewood box with the word “vulnerary” painted on its side. Robin rose up onto the balls of his feet and reached up to grab the box sitting on the uppermost shelf. The tiny glass vials contained within the box tinkled softly with the tactician’s movements. He gently opened the lid of the container, fished out a vulnerary, closed the container, and then replaced it on the shelf. The girl went on in a sing-song voice about how Chrom were to kill him if he were to learn about Robin’s “lecherous” behaviour. “I don’t think it should be a problem if I don’t have any intention of peeping,” Robin said finally, turning to face Cynthia with a weak smile. “Please take it Cynthia,” He held out the vulnerary to the girl, inviting her to take it from him, “…and I’m sorry. I will have to try harder next time, so that you’re less likely to wind up injured.”

“Aw, don’t worry. I trust you.” Cynthia grinned, spotting his slowly reddening ears and whistling to herself as she took the vulenary from his hand. She knew that he’d likely heard her cursing as she took care of the wound or something like that, but it was too easy a tease to start.

Her mood turned more serious as he started blaming himself, making her frown and give up her teasing streak for now.

“Robin, you can’t save everyone.” She reminded him gently. “It was an archer and I’m a flier. These things happen, even if you don’t want them to. I was good enough to survive, and the plan was good enough that I wasn’t up there too long anyway. It worked out.”

She sighed and took a swig of the potion, grimacing and resisting the urge to spit it out as she swallowed, groaning. “You know, I used to think that it was the fact we made them ourselves that they tasted so bad in the future. Can’t believe that’s one of the things that didn’t change.”

Cynthia whistled as she casually took the vial from Robin’s open hand. He couldn’t quite put his finger on the tune, but then again it was possible that the bright notes that burst from the girl’s pursed lips didn’t belong to any sort of song at all. Suddenly the whistling came to a stop and the grin that had occupied the Pegasus-rider’s lips fell away. “Robin, you can’t save everyone.” She informed him gently. Her solemn tone was quite unlike the enthusiastic and sunny Cynthia that Robin was accustomed to, and it made her words all the more striking. It left the tactician feeling paralyzed and wishing that he had shut his mouth instead. “It was an archer and I’m a flier. These things happen, even if you don’t want them to. I was good enough to survive, and the plan was good enough that I wasn’t up there too long anyway. It worked out.” It worked out. Without thinking, Robin bit down on his lower lip, the flesh blanching ever so slightly in response. What did that even mean? At what point did things “work out”. The tactician knew that any mistakes that he made, he would have to pay for in blood. His company was most precious to him and if ever one of his calls on the battle field ended up being answered with the death of one of his dear comrades…The youth clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms. He could not imagine how he could endure such a blow. The corner of his lips twitched to form a forced smile, “I suppose it did, didn’t it? Your skill as a Pegasus knight undeniably played a significant role,” Robin said. He grimaced as he watched Cynthia down the vulnerary. Robin was no stranger to the medicine’s rancid flavour and felt for the girl who obviously fought to keep it down. “You know, I used to think that it was the fact we made them ourselves that they tasted so bad in the future. Can’t believe that’s one of the things that didn’t change.” Cynthia remarked once the deed was all said and done. “I’m afraid not…and here I was hoping that improvements to the recipe would be made in the future,” he said holding out one hand to take the empty vial, “More importantly, how are you feeling? Is there any improvement?”

“Damn right my skill played a big part. I’m awesome.” Cynthia half-cheered, stretching and letting out a sigh of relief when the vulenary at least dulled the pain from her self-applied stitches. Her enthusiasm stilled when he saw that he was forcing it, at first thinking that he was just humoring her until her brain finally caught up to why he’d react like that. Sighing, she stepped up and gave him a - fairly awkward - hug.

“Seriously. Don’t worry about it. We’re all soldiers, we knew what we were getting into.” She assured him, stepping back and smiling softly for a moment. Eventually it broke into a full grin as she tucked her hands behind her back, tilting her head.

“Come on, Robin. Just brighten up a little in general, yeah? The moment you start doubting yourself we’re going to be in a lot more trouble.” She pointed out, pressing a finger to his chest. “Why do you think I’m so happy all the time? Got to keep everyone from doubting themselves, right?”

Reflecting on the vulenary for a moment, Cynthia shrugged helplessly. “We made ours ourselves. I was hoping that with an actual recipe and prep time they’d stop tasting like a bunch of different kinds of grass floating in muddy water, but…”

His breath hitched when Cynthia approached him and stiffly interlocked her arms about his waist in an awkward hug. Robin was not one for physical contact, in fact, he could not even recall the last time he had been hugged, if at all. His arms dropped to his sides like dead weights, the connection between his limbs and his mind temporarily severed by his confusion. He inhaled deeply, catching the faint scent of Pegai beneath the heavy, earthy aroma of a vulnerary, and then let out a deep sigh. “Seriously. Don’t worry about it. We’re all soldiers, we knew what we were getting into.” Cynthia said, her tone one of gentle assurance.

Robin closed his eyes and nodded to himself, agreeing with the girl’s statement. He did not know all of the details regarding what transpired in the not too distant future nor how one went about travelling backward against the currents of time. It could only be assumed that it took a great deal of will and sacrifice to force one’s existence to move against its natural path. Yes, they had to have known or at least be willing to accept whatever trials that littered their path. The youth opened his eyes as Cynthia released him from her embrace and stepped away from him with another one of her sunny grins. And yet… He could never bring himself to say it openly, however intense his feelings were for The Shepherds, but Robin had come to few these people as his family. To him, his relationships with those of the company and their well-being was more precious to him than anything across all of the realms. For Robin, losing a member of their party was akin to losing himself. While his concern for The Shepherds’ safety risked coming off as suffocating at times, they were everything.

“Come on, Robin. Just brighten up a little in general, yeah? The moment you start doubting yourself we’re going to be in a lot more trouble.” Cynthia said, poking at the tactician’s chest as she spoke, “Why do you think I’m so happy all the time? Got to keep everyone from doubting themselves, right?”

There was no denying the importance of a unit’s morale. Robin went to great lengths to make sure that spirits ran on the higher end and that the needs of each of Shepherd was met to the best of his ability. If they were to see their tactician’s confidence waver, then surely theirs too would suffer.

“Y-You’re right,” Robin admitted with an awkward chuckle, throwing his hands up in mock defence, “you’re quite right. I guess that even I need some reminding from time to time. Thank-you Cynthia.”

He listened intently as the Pegasus rider described how they went about preparing their own vulneraries and poultices in the future. Robin had no idea how to properly prepare one himself, as their requisition officer typically took care of stocking the company’s supplies and as far as he knew all healing materials were made offside at Ylissean apothecaries. “Perhaps we could make a point at asking Miriel or Laurent about coming up with a more palatable recipe.” Robin suggested.

“Although, I think that it would be to our advantage if you could teach the rest of us how to concoct our own. It would prove to be an invaluable skill in a pinch don’t you th–,” he suddenly cut himself short as the clinking of armour grew louder from outside the tent.

“You okay?” Cynthia asked as he stiffened up when she hugged him, raising an eyebrow. It wasn’t a reaction she had been expecting, although…maybe it was to have been expected. She knew that she was strangely kinetic compared to the other future kids, but she’d assumed that everyone from this time was more kinetic than everyone else.

Maybe as a side project she could get him more used to it. She vaguely recalled him mentioning a lack of memories, it was possible that he just wasn’t used to it. That was something she was more than capable of fixing, if nothing else.

Although it was probably a good thing that she’d let go when she did. If her thoughts were right, that sounded like her father’s armor - and explaining why she was hugging his best friend in an isolated supply tent wasn’t a conversation she’d be able to fix.

“Don’t tell him I was hurt!” She urged him, before diving under a loose bit of the tent and scrambling away at speed. Maybe this way her father would think Robin had been alone in there. It would be a less awkward conversation for them to have, at the very least.

#Tell Me You'll Stay Close;Cynthia & MRobin #One For The History Books!;Thread Archive

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