Hardest of Hearts (VA fanfic) [Adopted from Fanfiction's Dareia]

THE NEW MENTOR

RPOV
"I can't believe this is happening to me!" My 16 year old daughter- Sonja- rushed through the door and up to her room, screaming her lungs out. Her brother- Niko- followed her in the front door and closed it.
"What now?" I sighed as I asked my son.

My daughter tended to get a little passionate and opinionated about... well, everything. That's the nicest possible way to put it. She constantly and surprisingly frequently reminded me of myself when I was her age: impulsive, stubborn, loud.

Against all odds, I got pregnant with another dhampir's children when I was only 17. All the genealogy and biology books say that's impossible. You agree with them? Try telling that to my twins.

They were now 16 years old. Nikolai was a mere 4 minutes and 23 seconds older than his sister. Most brothers would rub that in, but not my Niko. He was pretty much his father all over again, almost Dimitri Belikov take 2. He was one of St Vladimir's best novices both of his time and in the Academy's history. Of course and unsurprisingly, he was a brilliant fighter- he couldn't not be, really, could he? He was Rose Hathaway and Dimitri Belikov's eldest child, after all. He was incredibly eager to learn everything about the world that was out there to absorb. I suppose that thirst for knowledge and cultural enrichment, too, came from his father. Niko, in another show of being his father's son, always seemed to be in control. Key word: seemed. There were certain things that got under his skin and then, much like me, he struggled to let it go. Prime example: one Adrian Ivashkov still flirting with one Niko and Sonja Hathaway's mother- me, one Rose Hathaway.

And then there was my daughter, Sonja Hathaway. She was so much a polar opposite of her brother I can now understand how my teachers must have felt about me. She was reckless, sarcastic, and always fighting someone or something. Trouble liked to follow her like a lost puppy; trouble was attracted to her like a moth was drawn to a flame. She was also so stubborn and opinionated that she always had to say the last word. That's not to say she was any less gifted than her brother when it came to fighting. Far from it. She was just as excellent as him. Much like when I was her age, her potential to be one of the best would be realised once that temper of hers was reined in and she learned how to control it herself.

Despite being the definition of polar opposites, as siblings- twins especially- they were better than I could ask or have ever hoped for. They were constantly there to support each other. As the trouble maker, Sonja tended to need Niko to settle her down, keep her reined in, and bail her out.

Don't get me started on her and the boys. Niko took his protective big brother roll very seriously and tried to scare the keen-eyed boys away... every boy in all reality. I don't think that helped with the way she flirts up a storm, however. Again, she's too like me for my comfort. That doesn't change the fact if anything was to ever happen to Niko, I had no doubt her father's side would shine through and she would be just as supportive.

"She got a new mentor," Niko explained. He sat on the sofa and plonked his bag down beside him.
"Why? What happened to Guardian Meron? And bag on the floor, Nikolai Hathaway."

It wasn't because the furniture was expensive, it was just because it was polite and kept the sofa clean that I asked him to remove the bag, and he immediately shifted it. Still the good boy.

Guardian Meron's leaving should not have been news to me. Lissa had taken over from Kirova as Headmistress a handful of years ago and everything regarding my kids she ran by me. Except for this, apparently. I wasn't terribly happy about that fact, either. Why would she keep me out of the loop?

Ironically enough, I had ended up teaching here. I had spent nearly my entire school life here, kicking, screaming, and just plain desperate to escape. St Vladimir's, however, just ended up being my home more than I had ever realised. My entire life had revolved around the teachers and pupils here, the routine. It still did and I was glad to be sharing Sonja and Niko's Academy life here with them. I mean, they were conceived in the woods surrounding this very Academy's campus, so it wasn't really very surprising we all ended up back here.

"I guess he got tired of Sonja. Aunt Lissa said something along the lines of 'he said "that little witch is hopeless and I'm not willing to sacrifice my mental health for her problematic ways".'" Niko's mouth curled into a little smile. Just like his father, Niko didn't show his emotions often. It had start coming about when he was five or six and from then on, eliciting a smile from him was as much of a challenge as it had been getting one from his father.

"How dare he!" I abruptly stood from the sofa at right angles to his.

Anger and the fury of a mother ran through my veins. That Meron guardian dude wasn't much of one if he was going around calling my prodigy and unique daughter hopeless and a little witch. I was ready to hunt him down and demand answers as to why he couldn't handle his 16 year old student. I mean, I get she can be difficult and a pain, but that doesn't give anyone the permission to speak slanderously about her behind her back, let alone to her face. It wasn't her fault he was a shitty teacher and couldn't see her true potential.

Then, just like his father, Niko spoke calmly, reasonably. "Mom, calm down. He's already left anyway."
How he could defuse me like that was a wonder. I sighed as I sat back down. "So who is her new mentor?"
"That's the point. She's got the best." Oh god. Please no. Please! For once, could I please have something happen in my favour? "Yet she makes it sound as if it's the end of the world. I would give my right arm to learn from him." Oh, please, heaven and hell please don't let it be!

Sonja joined us from the kitchen she'd entered a few moments ago, now carrying a plate of sandwiches. She glared at her brother as she sat beside him and offered him a sandwich, which the growing teen dhampir boy took. "I don't bloody care who he is! He's a sadistic bastard." See what I mean by amazing siblings? Sharing food despite arguing. "How on earth is it fair that you get James- who lets you listen to your iPod- and I get stuck with the sadistic bastard of a cryptic old man with crappy Zen lessons and a creepy addiction to running? I haven't actually trained with him- all he wants to do is make me run as if I could eventually cross the bloody USSR in one day!"

NO! I wanted to scream and cry and be sick thanks to the flips and churning my stomach was doing. One of the best... crappy Zen lessons... addiction to running... cross the USSR in one day... Oh, I hoped I was wrong. But how could I be? I was never bloody wrong, but this time I wanted to be, I wanted to be so wrong this time that I'd be so relieved I'd cry and laugh.

"Who is he?" I asked with dread coursing through me, threatening to block my airways and choke me to death. Oh, how noble a way to die. Thanks, you great big Russian dick!

Besides, aren't you with Tasha?

I'd know if he was coming back. Surely Lissa wouldn't have assigned him to mentor Sonja without consulting me? Surely she would tell me or the bond would clue me in that she knew he had returned, wouldn't she? I mean, sure, she hadn't a clue that big Russian dick was the twins father- only Adrian knew because the aura vision and his listening skills made him smarter than he was credited for being- but still! She would have told me... wouldn't she?

"Guardian Belikov," Sonja announced with such disgust I would have laughed. In any other situation. God, crap, shit, holy effing hell; Karma's a bitch!

My blood turned to ice in my veins, freezing me in shock, and panic, and fear. What the hell was I meant to do NOW! Dimitri had returned and that could only mean one thing... my life was about to fall apart at the seams. He was my- our- daughter's mentor! He wasn't going to be blind for long now! What was I going to do? What were the twins going to do? Just like Dimitri, they weren't going to stay blind for long either. Both of them looked so much like him, but Niko looked like him as a teenager all over again... or so I could tell. And for god's sake, what was Dimitri going to do when he saw his teenage reflection happened to be my son? His new mentee's twin brother? Again! What the hell am I to do now it's all going to catch up with me? I guess it's true: you can run from your past, you can try to hide from it, but eventually all your skeletons are going to come out of the closet. My family was about to be sent through Hurricane History-Catches-Up-With-Us.