Drabble:9
POV: Third Person
Early morning wake-up calls had never been Adrian's thing, but he couldn't just as well not answer his door. So opening the door, Adrian came face-to-face with the last person he had expected. Dimitri Belikov stood on his threshold, his face composed into an expressionless mask.
Ushering the man in, Adrian offered him whiskey, which the guardian immediately rejected. Adrian settled himself into a couch, and after a few moments, Belikov followed suit, sinking into a chair gracefully. After a few minutes of silence, Adrian spoke up.
"I'm assuming you didn't come over for a friendly chat."
Belikov just looked at him, deep in thought.
"Well?", Adrian prodded again.
"How much do you love her?", Belikov asked him without any preamble.
"What?", Adrian blurted out in confusion.
"Rose. How much do you love her?", Belikov replied patiently.
Adrian floundered, his head trying to make sense of what was happening. Then he recovered, "A lot. More than I should".
Belikov studied him for a few minutes and then nodded. "Good", he said, standing up.
"Why are you asking me that?", Adrian countered uneasily.
"Because if anything happens to me, I need to know that someone will be there to help her through, to love and cherish her, to care for her.", the guardian said, the smallest iota of emotion penetrating his mask.
"Why me?", Adrian asked, getting to his feet.
Belikov paused at the door and looked back, straight into Adrian's eye. "In spite of our differences, I respect you and you are a good man. And you can make her happy, I know that now". With that, the guardian left his room, with a parting nod.
Adrian stared after him, dumbfounded for a few seconds. A good man, Belikov had called him. No one had ever said that to him before.
Adrian raced into the hallway and called after the guardian. Belikov paused, and Adrian walked up to him.
"You know", he began softly. "If the circumstances were different, we could have been friends?"
Belikov cracked a half-smile at that. "Take care, Lord Ivashkov".
Adrian turned away as he said, "Be safe, Guardian. And come back for Rose" If Adrian had turned around, he would have seen the stoic warrior's face crumple with pain. But he didn't. The last memory Adrian Ivashkov had of Guardian Dimitri Belikov before the academy's rescue mission was a happy one, not that of a tortured, love-sick man who was going to lose his soul.
It's a bit morbid, I know, but thank you for reading anyway!
