All right- another 'What If,' fic. A lot of people have been doing the, 'What-if-Dimitri-didn't-get-turned-Strigoi-and-they-carried-out-the-plan-that-he'd-made-instead,' fic….. But not many people have focussed very strongly on the Spirit-Madness. A pity, as it was one of the main concepts behind Spirit Bound. Any who, I got to thinking….. What If. And that's how this fic came to be.

Enjoy,

Rach.

Snap Back Come Back Pay Back

Mia's POV.

"Lauren, get Dimitri." I half-turned when no foot-falls came behind me, frowning as I glared at the servant's horror-struck, frozen form. "LAUREN!" I snapped. Her head whipped around, her deathly pale face turned towards me, those wide-open, shock-filled eyes focusing properly now on mine. I spoke clearly and a little slower, still with only one eye on her. "Guardian Belikov. Find him, Lauren and bring him here. Immediately. Go!" I added in a shout, losing my temper slightly. What was she waiting for, permission?!

I returned my full gaze to Rose, feeling my worry take precedence again. 'Hurry,' I thought desperately, 'hurry!' Rose stood several feet away from me, yet I was still the closest one to her. Odd for the usually crowded training room at the royal palace. The reason, though, was obvious.

About the walls, an ever-growing crowd stood, astonished by what they were seeing. Rose's hands moved so fast that they were a blur, the sound of the punching bag reduced from individual thuds to a dull hum. The bag itself was vibrating enough to begin to strain at the bolts securing it, we'd all heard the dull, protesting whine of the bottom one already. 'Please, please don't fail on us just yet,' I begged, praying to God-only-knows whom. Get it? Praying to God-only….. Ok, I know it's so not the time for lame puns; but I'm starting to freak out a bit here. What the fuck is taking Dimitri so long?

Face contorted in rage, Rose twisted abruptly to the side, interspersing her punches now with kicks. From her new position, I was able to see her face more clearly. I almost wished that I couldn't. Her eyes were burning with hate and fury; but there was a curious blankness over them too. Her body was drenched in sweat, and as the sound of the bag changed from a dull monotone to bada BOP, bada BOP, I noticed something else as well. Every time she swang her body violently, adding extra power to her kicks- flecks of blood flew off of her knuckles, splattering onto the floor. She was going to KILL herself if she kept this up much longer!

Suddenly, I gasped- jumping. Someone behind me had just grabbed my arse. I turned automatically, my surprise souring as I recognised my assailant. Maverick stared back on me, a grin on his cocky face. My hand itched to punch him, but Queen Tatiana hadn't hired him straight out of the obscure European school to be in her personal guard JUST because he was what ought to be illegally good-looking. He was a great, GREAT guardian. Well, good at combat, any way. And handsy; and arrogant; and obnoxious; and all-in-all an utter dick-head. He was also relatively new here. I was beginning to see how I could work that to my advantage.

I hid my sudden urge to grin behind another scowl. "Hands off dick-head," I hissed, slapping them away as he absent-mindedly reached for my rear again. He wasn't paying attention to me; but then again, his mind being absent was an almost constant state for the Womanising Wonder.

"Woah, what's up with Hathaway?!" For a guardian, he really wasn't that observant, how could he only just have spotted her!

I rolled my eyes, but was saved from answering by a dozen other voices, each one eager to give him their own version of the truth. I thought back to what had really happened.

Flashback

"That's pretty good; but don't twist so much so fast, you'll strain your arm." Rose closed her fingers over mine, moving my fist back to the starting point just above my hips. "If you twist a little slower….." she demonstrated, gently pulling my arm in slow motion towards the bag, "then by the time that you get to whomever you're punching, you'll be twisting their skin with the last little bit."

I winced slightly as my knuckles scraped over the stitching in the bag. She noticed, and pressed them in harder- causing me to yelp in surprise and pain. She let me pull my hand away, and I glared at her, cross but not angry. Rose had never been anything but professional once inside a gymnasium- no matter how she acted elsewhere.

Still….. "Rose what the fuck?"

"I know it hurts now," she replied- unsympathetically, "but believe me, it'll hurt them a hell of a lot more if you can get it right. Plus, you need to practise on the punching bags so that you can build up calluses to protect your knuckles. See?"

I glanced in amazement at the fine, pale calluses trailing across her clenched fist. I'd never even noticed them before. "So long as you….." her voice trailed off uncertainly and I looked up, confused.

"Rose?" Her eyes wore a blank, slightly bemused look that I remembered from back at St. Vlads. Lissa. She was focussing on Lissa.

She remained for a few seconds frozen, then she gasped in a shocked breath. "Why you little….."

Trailing off her outraged statement she tensed for a moment, obviously listening to something. Then her eyes widened in alarm. "No, Lissa, don't!" she said in a low, strangled cry. She squeezed her eyes tight shut and then suddenly staggered, as though someone had dumped a new set of weights on her. When her eyes opened again they were unfamiliar and frightening. With a look on her face that was almost feral, she turned and lurched for the door. Suddenly her arms shot out and grabbed on tight to the punching bag that we'd been using, seemingly restraining herself. She wavered briefly between either side of the internal struggle, then swung 'round abruptly and began pummelling her life-line.

I'd seen her like this once before since she and Lissa had moved here over a year ago; and I immediately did the only thing that I could: cleared everyone out of the way and sent the nearest attendant scurrying for the one person who could pull her out of it.

End Flashback

"Jeez, what a psycho!" I was pulled abruptly back from my reverie by the sound of Maverick's obnoxious voice.

I bit off a sarcastic retort and instead forced myself to sound natural. "She is not," I kept my tone suitably disgusted….. He probably wasn't use to hearing much else from girls, "but I am worried that she's going to hurt herself." The concern, at least; that I didn't have to fake.

He regarded her thoughtfully, all groping momentarily forgotten. "Someone should really stop her then," he sounded as though he were weighing up his options.

'Go on,' I silently urged him, 'do us all a favour.' But I could already see that he'd need a little extra nudging. Thoughtless he may be; but as a professional Guardian, reckless he was not. So I pulled out my trump card. "I know," I agreed seriously, "that's why I sent for guardian Belikov."

It worked. He took his eyes off of Rose and focussed them both on me. "What?" he appeared startled. "Why?"

I looked at him, surprise on my face. I was rather enjoying my impromptu acting stint. "Why," I began in feigned astonishment, "he's the only one that could possibly stop her, of course! No one else could even get close!" The beauty of it? Everything I've said has been pure truth. It isn't my fault if he takes it in a different way to how it was meant. Sucker…..

"Is that so?" As his temper rose, so too did his voice. People around us looked at him in astonishment. They kept forgetting that he was new. Oh the joys…..

"Of course!" someone from the crowd said, when it became clear that he was looking for an answer, "after all, he's the only one….."

Without waiting to hear the rest on the sentence, Maverick pushed past me, heading determinedly towards the centre of the clearing. The random from before pushed up to take his place- and caught sight of my gloating smirk.

"You planned this," he said quietly- in the tone of somebody stating a fact.

"Obviously." My even tone matched his exactly. "She'll pummel him; and it'll do them both the world of good."

He was quiet for a moment. Then, "Look, I know that all of you younger generation St. Vladers practically worship Rose; but she has been going flat out for almost fifteen minutes- and that wasn't even the start of her workout. Maverick is straight off duty: so he's fresh. And he's good, very good. I'm not so sure if this is such a good idea."

"Aha."

He rolled his eyes at my noncommittal but stayed to watch the show. Brimming over with smug gittiness, Maverick strutted over to where Rose was still torturing the gym equipment; and reached out one hand- to tap her on the shoulder or turn her around, I couldn't say. Quick as a flash, (and why was he expecting any different? Hadn't he SEEN her abusing the poor leather sack?! What make him think that she'd treat his any differently?!) she reached over and grabbed his arm, sticking one of her legs between his and thus pole-vaulting him into the floor. After that, things only got more interesting. As the fight progressed, I began to regret it a little after all. A perverted goit the guy may be; but I hadn't exactly meant to have him assassinated.

Luckily just then the huge double doors at the end of the hall burst open, and the cavalry- in the form of Dimitri- arrived. He sprinted flat-out towards the centre of the commotion; guessing- correctly- that that was where Rose would be. He made absolutely no allowances for the gathered spectators, so I suppose that it's a good thing that they scarpered or we'd have some pretty flat guardians tomorrow, hahaha.

I know, I know. Enough with the puns already.

So, back to the story. Um….. Rose flipped out, Maverick was an arse-hole, Rose beat up Maverick, Dimitri came flying in……. ah, right.

So, Dimitri hurtled through the crowd, people scattering to either side like tenpins at a bowling alley….. Well, a bowling alley when someone not ME was bowling. Down on the floor, Rose was just lifting Maverick's slumped and bleeding form in order to deliver another series of blows. He struggled weakly in her grip, arms trying to push her away but only succeeding in giving a pathetic sort of flop in his joints. By now my uncomfortable feeling had turned to a slightly sick one, and I mentally kicked myself for misjudging both her fury and his capabilities. I'd envisioned a brawl, not a beating.

Finally reaching them, Dimitri stopped, less then a foot from them. "Rose?"

The entire audience witnessed Rose's reaction to her lover's voice. She froze, still with Maverick half-raised from the ground in a position that should be painful to her; and was most definitely painful to him. A half-second of silence: then the whispering began, like the rush of water- as those who remembered the scandal of their surprise relationship from more than a year ago repeated it to those who did not.

"Roza."

Even to my ears the word was soft, gentle, caressing. His movements mirrored his voice; a slow silkiness as he moved closer and closer towards her. She half straightened from her bent over position, remembered the body in her hands as it let out a groan; and dropped it. In his bruised and battered condition, Maverick hadn't even the strength to catch himself.

He reached her now, his smooth grace- so unusual in a big man!- made a startling contrast to her almost feral stance. Not taking his eyes from her face, as though willing it to raise from the floor; Dimitri raised his left hand slowly and placed it gently on her shoulder.

Her reaction was immediate and instinctive, a scuttling shy that brought her blanching towards his right hand side. His lightening-fast reaction attested to his having expected her response. As fast as she'd been at the punching bag, Dimitri raised his right hand and slapped his hand hard across her face. There was a collective gasp from the audience, a battered intake of breath as all and sundry waited to see if she would turn on him as she had done on Maverick. Her head jerked up and around in shock….. And she connected eyes with him.

He must have understood the importance of this better than the rest of us; because even I noticed the tension seep out of his muscles; and his face relaxed into a smile almost startling in it's brilliance. I blinked, taken aback. I'd never seen him smile before, and now I could really see why Rose went for him. I mean, he'd always been hot….. not that I think of my friend's boyfriend as hot….. I mean, he is but….. Oh, you know what I mean.

So anyway, he was smiling this truly amazing smile that I appreciated, as a friend to his girlfriend….. And he reached up, still carefully but not quite as slowly as before, to tuck an errant lock of hair behind her ear.

'Hmm,' I thought critically- frowning a bit, 'must have escaped during the fight….. Perhaps we should experiment with French-Braiding.'

Dimitri's smile grew, if possible, even more dazzling; and he left one hand on her cheek as he moved once more closer to her. "Welcome back, my Roza." It was no more than a gentle murmur; but in the almost un-natural silence of the gymnasium, it was easily heard by all.

Rose blinked, and glanced down at her hands. "Oh my God," she whispered, shocked horror in her voice. She looked over at Maverick, her eyes opening even wider and her voice growing stronger than ever. "Oh my GOD!"

"Don't worry, he'll be fine." A new voice rang out past the melée, and Princess Vasilisa Drogomir began to wend her way through the crowd, followed by her ever faithful pack: Adrian Ivashkov, her other Guardian Eddie, and her boyfriend, Christian Ozera. I still wasn't as easily able to be friendly to Lissa, who had been- at least in my eyes- the reason for the initial animosity between our two groups. Not like I could with Rose, who'd earnt my respect. However, I was beginning to see that she was not like her brother….. all of the time. Occasionally she even impressed me. "I'll go back on the medication; and let Adrian and the doctors help out with the healing," she promised quietly, coming to a halt in front of Rose. "I promise it won't be like last time."

Rose gazed doubtfully down at the bloody pulp by her feet. "I'm still not sure if that's a good idea….." She tried to take a step towards him, but without the inordinate amount of adrenaline that had been running through them, her legs were incapable of holding her weight. She teetered, staggered; and would have fallen- but Dimitri steadied her, wrapping careful hands about her torso. She turned in his hold, burying her head in his chest and consigning her weight fully to him. He swept her up in his arms and carried her- still shell-shocked- gently out.

There was a momentary pause, then the crowd began to converge, each raising their voice above the next, attempting to be heard. As we were shunted to the edges, I lifted my voice above the hubbub and addressed my neighbour. "Told you she was good." Like her fully I may not- but with Vasilisa attending to Maverick I no longer felt any guilt over the matter.

"I guess I'm lucky I didn't put money on it then." Out of the crush, the stranger- who looked no more than three or four years older than me now- gave me an easy grin, a look which changed abruptly as I returned it. Suddenly he gave me the body-sweep, and an embarrassed blush crept into his cheeks as his gaze roved uncomfortably somewhere beyond my shoulder; and his grin became tinged with unease.

For some reason, I felt the need to break the silence. 'I'm Mia Renaldi," I announced somewhat awkwardly.

He gave me a gratified half smile and accepted my proffered hand, shaking it warmly in his own as his ease returned. We both laughed as it engulfed mine. "Boris," he announced grandly; and I wondered how I had failed to notice the Russian accent before.

"Really?"

"No. The name's Dan."

I rolled my eyes and groaned, a smile creeping onto my face in spite of my best efforts. I hadn't missed the fact that he had yet to relinquish his hold on my hand. Score. Perhaps this wasn't such a bad day after all.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Maverick. He was being carted out of the hall on a gurney, Lissa striding ahead of him. 'Well…..' I amended my thought, 'for me, anyway.'

For those of you who haven't seen me write Mia before, I always think of her as this really smart girl with a really nasty vindictive side and an appallingly bad sense of humour. So I suppose that you could say that this is OCC….. If you don't agree with me.

I actually quite like the way that this turned out….. What say you to a proper continuation of this, masses?!