Twisted Frame (VA Fanfic)

Eleven: Frozen Frame. Re-take.

RPOV
I hurt all over. My lungs felt like concrete blocks, my throat was all scratchy and tight, and my eyelids felt glued closed. My muscles wouldn't move, my left leg burned with a spearing pain shooting down to my ankle and back up to my hip, and my head... don't get me started on how much my head hurt- it rivalled the stinging of my arms.

I wanted to laugh; this is how much pain I should have gone through while recovering from the crash. No, scrap that, this is the pain I should have felt while dying in that crash. It was ironic, I hadn't intended to faint... well; faint, yes, but fall, no. I hadn't meant to come close enough to death that I'd summon the ghosts... But I had and I'd welcomed them with open arms. However, a kicking in my stomach had me fighting my way back. Just like now, I wanted to open my eyes and see my little girl again. I wanted to protect my little Annabella from the ghosts, and the tests the Moroi were sure to put her through. I wanted her safe from Strigoi. I wanted to see her grow up as Dimitri and I grew as old as we could in the guardian life... Did either of us even have guardian status?

"Roza, honey, please. Annabella's missing her Mommy; please, love, please wake up."

Oh, Comrade. I am awake, I just can't open my damn eyelids! Until now I hadn't realised how tough it was just to exist. I'd been through hell time and again, but nothing had been worse than not being able to command my eyes to open and my lips to move so I could comfort my crying lover. I just wanted to open my eyelids; was that too much to ask?

"Roza, if you can hear me can you try to squeeze my hand?"
I tried to make my fingers to at least twitch in his hand. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Well... I felt the tingle struggle to reach my hand, but it made it to the tips of my fingers eventually all-the-same, yet my muscles refused to obey. I'm sorry, Comrade. I'm so sorry that I can't let you know I can hear you, that I'm trying.
"Please babe, anything, absolutely anything to let me know you're here! I love you, Rosemarie Hathaway, you have no clue how much I love you. Do you know how much I miss your eyes? Your smile? Your laugh? Your sass and more than anything your ridiculous Rose-logic that both makes me want to kiss you and pull my hair out at the same time? Rose Hathaway you are my own personal trial but I love you more than life itself and I wouldn't have it any other way- I wouldn't have you any other way. You're my trial because you're my angel, the one who will never fall, the one who won't let me fall. Time and again, Roza, you've saved me time and again and I haven't given you the credit. I regret that more than anything, except for not being there to catch you when you fell into this mess. I'm never right in my theories of the best way to protect you, but I want to learn. I want you to wake up and tell me how to protect you, Roza. I'll do anything! I can't live without you, sweetheart."
Now you know how I felt. What's the point in living if you're not in it?
"Rosemarie Hathaway," I felt his lips against mine and my heart skip a beat. Well, that's something at least. His warm lips twisted into his sexy smirk before relaxing into a smile of relief. "Rosemarie Hathaway, feel free to hit me for calling you that three times in ten minutes once you wake up, but I can't do this without using it. Marry me, Rosemarie Hathaway? When you're stronger, will you please meet me at the alter in a white dress? I don't care what it takes or how long, but please marry me one day? Let me promise to protect you at all costs."

Was he kidding me? He wants me to get engaged at eighteen, eight-freaking-teen! Not to mention the Moroi! We were born to serve them as guardians, and Lissa, I owed it to Liss to keep her safe.

DPOV
She was still in there, still fighting. Three days and eight attempts at restarting her heart later she was still fighting. She wasn't able to move her muscles yet, but her heart still reacted as it always did to my touch and to my voice.