Restoring the Timeline

Academy Attack and Changes

"Andre". Faint and fleeting waves of nausea mingled with a prickling against Rose's skin that accompanied her seeing ghosts. And looking to her side, she saw that Dimitri stood stunned. For the first time, he too was seeing the pale, luminescent form materialized in front of them. Andre. He looked the same as ever. Or did he? His eyes still held sadness, but also a peace and contentment too. Since their last visit to Court where the deceased Dragomir's paid a visit (and dropped the bombshell of another Dragomir - Jill) he'd come to terms with his death. While Lissa was yet to accept this new sister of hers, they had at least made progress, the house was no longer as tense. Andre too it seems, had since become Rose's guardian angel of sorts, to warn her of major dangers such as this. 

According to Father Andrew, when she began her questioning of seeing ghosts, they only wander earth for up to 40 days before finding 'peace' and cannot be perceived by the living. So why Dimitri is able to see him now, was also on her mind. Unlike her, he'd not been to the land of the dead. Other emotions also played on Andre's face. His eyes showed one that stood out against the rest - fear. What could a ghost have to be afraid of? Pointing behind them Andre spoke the dreadful words: "They're coming."Rose didn't have to be told who he meant. If the fear wasn't enough of an indicator, the other warning signs that she has begun to realise accompany strigoi, was enough to fill her in. She has begun to correlate the amount of pain she feels with the number and proximity of strigoi.

Thankfully he was able to provide a time-frame before disappearing with a final message to take care of each other and their loved ones. They had half an hour max. As it was, the strigoi nausea was already increasing and Rose was finding it more difficult to move. Wasting no time, they called the attack in to Alberta who told them to head to HQ, making a brief announcement for lockdown scenario – suspected imminent strigoi attack. Normally there would be an annoying alarm blaring through the PA system repetitively but the Queen instructed that if Rose were to call in a suspected attack, they were to make a single announcement and not use the alarm, lest they alert the strigoi. That seemed strange enough at the time, after all, why would it matter if the alarm were to scare off the strigoi? Seems they're all going to get their answers soon.

Finally getting a handle on the pain Rose and Dimitri rushed to HQ, where they were met with a chaotic mess of guardians. In the short time of calling it in, her father's people had all geared up, aware of what was about to occur. School guardians however, well many of them were finding it hard to believe there are strigoi stupid enough to attack the Academy, not caring to believe that they also had the numbers and a purpose in doing so. What they don't appreciate yet, is that Rose had sent out too many beacons to the Strigoi; they knew the person they're after is at the Academy. Doesn't help that the strigoi now had more than one insider providing them with knowledge. While they had narrowed down that the person they were after was at the Academy, they now also know she is  a novice. Confusing since this person has magic, but who were they to question their leader. It had the strigoi (falsely) believing she would be an easier target. That they had also been made ware of her weaknesses – her friends and lover, helped their leader immensely. She was already planning on how best to put her former student to use.

With no time to waste, Dimitri let out an ear piercing whistle. Already he could see the pain was becoming hard for Rose to bear again; she needed to relay all the information she can and find a way to compartmentalize her pain before the attack. Dimitri was glad that he was only feeling an echo of her pain, he was able to put t to the back of his mind, though it was still more intense than he could have ever expected. Strigoi had not breached the wards yet, they aren't even close enough to be seen yet, but they were close and large in number. There was no time to lay new wards, especially without knowing if there were humans to stake them. Managing to once again block out the pain and the room quiet, thanks to Dimitri's whistle, Alberta began to brief the group. Only that didn't last long. Novices were also present and they, along with some of the less sensible school and Mazur guardians, began talking over Alberta. This time, when Dimitri managed to silence the room with yet another whistle, Rose took over.