[ this is just a filler chapter. it's shorter and has no point other than sad mischa and soft dimitri. i hate having to wait for new episodes ]

I COULDN'T STAND HIM WHEN WE FIRST MET.

This was not how Dimitri Belikov thought he'd end up in Mischa Dragomor's bed — not that he'd ever thought about being in her bed. Definitely not.

But now, if anyone were to walk into Mischa's room, he'd no doubt be transferred to a far away assignment before the sun went down. It wouldn't matter that she was crying as he held her, propped up against the headboard and on top of the covers. They'd only see how her body was curled up against his, relaxed into his strong arms with her bare legs intertwined with his sweatpant-clad ones. They'd see Dimitri's lips grazing Mischa's forehead almost lovingly.

Truthfully, though, Dimitri thought the last hour with Mischa in his arms was worth his entire future. She wasn't crying anymore, and that was because of him, in large part. The hour wasn't spent in total silence. He didn't press her to talk, but after a little while, she started rambling on, telling stories about Mikhail, as if she was scared she'd forget him if she didn't talk about him enough. And he'd ask questions, wanting to know every thought that went through her head.

Mischa had just finished telling him about the horrific first date she ever went on. It was at a movie theater, and when the boy tried to put his arm around her, Mikhail appeared out of seemingly nowhere to scare the shit out of him, which sent the boy running. Luckily, she didn't like the guy that much, so when he fled from the theater, Mischa wasn't too torn up about it as Mikhail took them for milkshakes afterward.

"What movie was it?" was the only question Dimitri asked. He didn't particularly care about whoever had the honor of being her first date. He didn't want to think about it at all.

"Some human theater that only played old movies. It was the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie," she revealed.

In response, Dimitri let out an amused scoff. "A vampire movie? Really?"

Mischa let out a soft, huff of a laugh, surprising him. But he was happy that she was finding some joy. "That was exactly what Miek said."

Then, Mischa let out a little shiver, getting cold. Instead of pulling a blanket over her, Dimitri simply pulled her closer, gently rubbing his warm hands over her arms, just using it as an excuse to feel her. He was careful around the bandages on her forearms that covered the deep scratches from the Strigoi.

He didn't bring up the attack. He didn't bring up the importance of what she'd done — Dimitri wondered if it'd even registered in her mind yet. That she'd killed a Strigoi. But now certainly wasn't the time to talk about it, when she was just now starting to feel functional again.

"Do these hurt much?" Dimitri did ask though, wanting to make sure she was taken care of in every way possible.

Mischa let out a hum while shaking her head. Lissa offered to heal them, but Mischa turned her down. Though she and Rose hadn't seen much of each other — Rose felt guilty about having to kill Mikhail and so she stayed away, worried her presence would upset the girl even more — Rose had some preconceived notions about it all, thinking that using Spirit may not have been the healthiest thing for Lissa. So, Mischa turned her down just to be cautious.

"They just sting a little," Mischa mumbled, glancing at her arms. She'd need to swap out the bandages soon. "I've had worse."

Dimitri raised an eyebrow in alarm. "When have you had worse?"

"Had quite the accident when Miek was teaching me to ride a bike."

He nodded before hesitating, thinking it over. "You... you didn't learn to ride a bike until you were eleven?" Dimitri asked, holding back a laugh of disbelief. He didn't want her thinking he was making fun of her. Even if he would've had she been in a better state of mind.

"Thirteen," Mischa admitted sheepishly. When she saw the corners of his mouth turn up in the beginnings of a smile, she smacked his chest, which only ended in him actually laughing. "It's not funny! A princess had no business learning how to ride a bike. But Mikhail found out and said I couldn't start high school without knowing how. And I pointed out no one would find out, but then he said he'd spread the rumors himself if I didn't let him teach me."

"Of course, he would have to tell everyone," Dimitri said, still smiling. "And just how did that end with a worse injury?"

"Well, Mikhail just promised me he was holding on to the back of my bike the whole time. Kept saying he wasn't going to let me go," she said, letting out an exasperated sigh.

"I can see where this is going."

"And so I just kept pedaling, and when I heard him cheering from me from way behind, I looked back and he wasn't holding on," she continued. "I started to freak out and lose my confidence. And of course, I was heading right for a huge tree. So, Miek started shouting for me to stop. Around that time, we both had the realization that he hadn't taught me how to stop."

"Oh, no," Dimitri said, cringing a little as he pictured it. "You crashed?"

"Straight into the tree," she confirmed. "Then, the chain got caught in the fabric of my pants. So, when the bike fell down the nearby hill, I was dragged too. Came out with a broken arm, sprained ankle, and a broken nose."

He couldn't help but wince, picturing the disastrous scene. Then Dimitri couldn't stop himself as he moved his hand and ran his thumb down the bridge of Mischa's not-broken nose, secretly adoring how she scrunched it up afterward.

"You didn't hear this from me, but Marie Conta has totally had a nose job. She was there when I was getting mine realigned."

"Oh, I'll be sure to keep my lips sealed around the other Guardians. That would surely distract everyone from their duties," he joked. Then he finally put his arm back around her. "So, what happened after Mikhail brutalized you with a bicycle?"

"He almost got fired and reassigned to someone else," she told him, biting her lip. "I mean, my parents understood, and Andre and Lissa just thought it was funny. But a few other royals found out and made a big fuss. There was a safety hearing and everything where I had to get up and defend him because, at that point, I couldn't bear to lose him. Which was ironic because I couldn't stand him when we first met."

Dimitri raised an eyebrow, unable to picture a Mischa and Mikhail who weren't thick as thieves.

☾

THEN

An eleven-year-old Mischa Dragomir stood in front of her mother and next to her brother while waiting on the grand staircase in their family home. Lissa was off, playing with Rose while her current Guardian, Claire, was watching over them. Mischa was awaiting her father and the arrival of her own Guardian — the twins finally reached an age where the Council thought they each needed their own as opposed to continuing to share Claire.

Mischa wasn't necessarily upset about getting a new Guardian — Claire was kind of a boring hard-ass. But she also wasn't a huge fan of change. And adding a new person to the family dynamic — because any Guardian to watch over a Dragomir was brought into the family — was going to change things.

Not to mention her new Guardian was a boy! Sure, most Guardians were men, but she'd always had a girl watching over her. Mischa was just imagining another version of Andre hanging around her, and fuck — she didn't know that word yet — if he didn't get on her nerves. Even if she'd been spending a lot of time with her brother now that he'd graduated.

And Andre seemed to know this Guardian. Though it didn't seem that they were friends in school, they'd been in the same year, so the Moroi and Dhampir were friendly enough with each other. He said the new Guardian's name was Mikhail and that, apparently, he was in the top five of his entire class. Given that the Queen was already showing interest in Andre to replace her several years down the road when she stepped down, being assigned to the future King's sister was an honorable assignment.

Even if the said sister was still waiting on one last baby tooth to fall out.

So now, Mischa stood in a nice dress and a small tiara on her head, ready to be formally presented to Mikhail. She thought it was dumb, having to look so nice. An hour from now, she was going to be allowed to meet with Rose and Lissa by the lake, and he'd see her covered head to toe in mud just like Rose would be.

Soon, the front door opened, and Eric Dragomir came in with a much younger boy. He was tall, with red hair that was neatly combed back and a clean-shaven, pale face. He was also wearing the all-black suit that Guardians had to wear when on shift at royal events.

"Darling, come here," Eric said, holding a hand out for his daughter. Mischa quickly hopped off the last stair and walked up to her father and the Guardian. She smiled up at him politely, and he matched it. "Mischa, meet Guardian Mikhail Tanner. He's officially been assigned to you."

"Nice to meet you," Mischa said, sticking out her hand for a handshake.

"It's a pleasure to be your Guardian, Princess," Mikhail said, picking up her smaller hand and kissing her knuckles, as tradition demanded.

Mischa visibly cringed and took a step back from Mikhail, wiping the back of her hand on her skirt. Andre laughed audibly, finding her reaction hilarious. He may or may not have told Mikhail that the young Princess demanded such formality at all times, simply hoping the newly promised Guardian would embarrass himself.

"You can just call me Mischa," she told him. "Or Mish. Like, please, don't call me 'Princess.' It's kind of lame."

"Yeah," Andre piped up. "So lame, Mikhail." When he started to snicker, Rhea elbowed her son in the gut to silence him.

"Well," Mikhail continued while cursing Andre in his mind. "I'm sure we'll get to be the best of friends, Mischa."

Again, the young girl pulled a face, and Mikhail had never felt more inadequate in his life, much to Andre's enjoyment. "And is being best friends with an eleven-year-old girl just, like, the absolute ceiling of coolness for you?" she asked slowly, raising an eyebrow.

"Mischa Zhenya Elena Dragomir!" Rhea snapped sternly, pulling out the extremely long full name as she did so. Mischa cringed, knowing that their mother only ever pulled out all four of her children's names when she was getting annoyed. Then Rhea sighed heavily. "This new attitude is your brother's doing. Spend less time with him."

"But Mother!" Both Mischa and Andre whined at the same time. Truthfully, Andre had taken Mischa under his wing, morphing her into the more mischievous of the twins. Lissa was far too content spending every hour with Rose to waste time on Andre.

"That'll be your biggest challenge," Eric muttered to a slightly amused Mikhail. Andre would've never been caught loving his baby sister so openly in school. "Keeping the older devil away from the younger devil."

"I'm sure she's not a devil," Mikhail said, shaking his head and smiling at Mischa.

Mischa narrowed her eyes, having to throw her head all the way back to make direct eye contact. "I'm sure I'm going to make your life very difficult," she said with a condescending smirk.

Mikhail then squatted in front of her, putting his hands on his knees while mirroring the mocking expression on her face. "Oh, I don't have a doubt about that, Princess."

☾

NOW

"On a scale of one to ten, how difficult did you continue to be?" Dimitri asked after hearing how amusingly rude young Mischa had been to the new Guardian.

"Maybe a seven. I was such a brat." Mischa then smiled at whatever she was thinking of. "When I was fourteen, Rose dared me to use my Water magic and make it look like he wet himself while he was talking to some cute girl he liked at a party at our house. He was so annoyed that he didn't speak to me unless it was Guardian related for a week."

"That's cruel, Princess," he said, shaking his head.

"I remember thinking him ignoring me for so long was torture," she went on, speaking softly. She focused carefully on the collar of Dimitri's shirt. "At that point, a week without speaking was just... unimaginable."

Both of them knew what ran through her mind next even if she didn't say it. Now, she'd go the rest of her life without speaking to Mikhail.

"Do you want to know something?" Dimitri asked, wanting — needing — to continue comforting her. Mischa simply nodded and looked up from his shirt, watching him with wide, sad eyes. "You know that despite many people of the Dominion moving on from their homelands, a lot still have names originating from places like Romania, Russia, Turkey."

"Like Vasilisa and Mischa, and Russia," she told him. She didn't think she'd ever been to Russia before, except for perhaps when she was very young, but that was where their names originated from.

"Exactly," he confirmed. "Mikhail's name is Russian, too. And ever since seeing you two and how close you were, I always found your names to be funny."

"What's so funny about it?"

"Growing up in Russia, there's a common nickname for those named Mikhail, and it's not 'Miek'. Do you know what it is?" She only shook her head softly, wondering where he was going. Dimitri leaned in, his lips brushing her forehead as he whispered. "Misha."

The smile that broke across Mischa's face was worth the trouble he'd get in if he was discovered, and Dimitri cherished the seconds that it remained. "Really?" she asked, her heart feeling a little lighter.

"Really," he confirmed, nodding. "With your names, it's like you two always carry a piece of each other with you. You'll always carry Mikhail with you."

Though she was glad Dimitri told her, Mischa's smile faded. It wasn't possible to keep a smile up, and he understood that. She managed to fight off the wave of tears that started to well up. "Thank you for staying with me," she whispered.

Dimitri carefully tucked a strand of hair behind her ear while smiling softly. "I'd do anything for you, Printsessa."

"Don't say that," she replied quickly, frowning deeply. "Please, don't say that."

Because to do anything for her meant he would die for her, and if Mischa lost someone else — if Mischa lost Dimitri — she'd lose a part of herself too.