~1917~

Elrick Faulkner had been called to Master Caius' office and away from his duties at guarding over the wives' tower quite unexpectedly and he was nervous. He'd heard of a few lower guards leaving by word of the masters more than once within the past few months and never coming back; traitors, people thought to not be useful, people who had made the Masters unhappy. Gone without much of a word and never returning or being spoken of later on.

He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he was as much scared as he was annoyed by the time he knocked on the door. "Come in." Elrick sighed, letting out a breath of annoyance before placing a rather polite grimace across his features and opening the door to the rather luxurious office room.

"Master." He said with a short bow, his hands behind his back as he stepped feet away from his desk, trying his hardest to not let his already nervous gaze flip over to the blonde Mistress standing by the window on his office. "You requested my presence?" Suddenly he felt more nervous; over time, due to his rounds and guarding over the wives' tower, him and Athenodora had developed a friendship, one he supposed could have considered inappropriate, given she was a married individual, and he was not of the same sex. But... the Volturi lived on modern rules and practices. That couldn't possibly be what he had been called for, could it?

The blonde man looked up from the papers he had been scribbling on a little too slowly, crimson hues looking harsh and frozen as they looked in Athenodora's direction for a second before fixing on Elrick's frame. "I did." He admitted, setting down the inkwell to the side and leaning back on his chair. "I have something to request of you, Faulkner."

"Anything you require." The boy replied, forcing crimson orbs to remain upon his Master, ignoring the sudden stiff stance he recognised in Athenodora and holding his own relaxed grin across his lips.

"It seems..." The blonde Master started, hands clasping at chest level as his elbows rested on the armrests of his chair. "...the war is getting worse." His eyes wouldn't move away from Elrick. "So my brothers and I... we thought we should send more help. To lighten the load, help win the war, you see." He nodded. "How would you like to help your fellow guard on such a task?"

So that was what had been happening? Fellow guards were going off to war by word of the Masters; heading off to fight at the Austria-Hungary and Italian boarder, in a mock attempt to show patriotism, he was sure. "I—" He had been asked for his opinion, but he could tell by the blonde Master's hard stare that he the question was surely only for show.

His fellow guard members... the ones that had gone away. They'd never come back; did it mean that they were being killed? Even through their immortal shell, in such a human war, they were being killed? Did it mean that the masters were knowingly sending them off to vampire enemies to be killed off? "Well?" Caius prompted, leaning forward on his desk with an impatient stare.

And Elrick was going to reply, to give in to his fate of death, to maybe even agree and then plan for some sort of unspoken escape before anyone could truly attempt to kill him, but before he could, the blonde near the window spoke up instead. "My love?" She said, making both men's eyes flip in her direction.

She slowly turned away from the window, her eyes shifting in Elrick's direction in a minute mindless flicker prior to landing on her husband's questioning gaze. "Yes?" He blinked, brows raising and watching her graceful movements as they led her to stand inches away from him.

"If I'm not mistaken, Mister Faulkner here is part of Sulpicia's and my personal guard, yes?" She asked, not minding another look in the boy's direction as she moved swiftly to sit upon Caius' lap and allowed one of her arms to rest against one of his shoulders.

Caius' brow rose as much as Elrick's had; was she pretending she didn't know him? Did she mind him so little attention? Was he wrong in thinking them both friends? "You are correct, of course." Caius replied, making Elrick blink once again and away from his reverie. "And?"

"Well..." Athenodora frowned, blinking a couple of times prior to looking right into Caius' crimson orbs with what she hoped to be a confused gaze. "Surely you don't want me to have to get used to someone new, do you?" She said, making an already confused frown thread deeper in Elrick's forehead. "You know how hard it is for us girls to get comfortable around someone." She paused. "I don't remember much of this young man, but you know me, if I was unhappy with something I would let you know." She paused, and smiled. "Remember the guard before him? How many times I complained over his annoyance? Surely there is someone other than my personal guard that you can send off to help our Italian brothers."

There was a silence; one in which Caius and Athenodora looked at each other with lovesick eyes, bringing upon a smile that Elrick had never seen in Caius' ever frozen lips. It made the boy wonder upon confused musings at what was happening. "Of course." The master said; his arms wrapping around her waist as his head bobbed in a short nod in her direction. "You are right, my Queen. How did I not think as such?" He mused, lifting a hand and brushing her lower lip gently with the pad of a digit. "Never mind, Elrick, you may go." His tone shifted in those words, hardened and cruel like the boy was used to; but his eyes remained on his wife. "It seems your services are needed elsewhere."

"Oh, my love, you spoil me." Athenodora giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck and embracing him fully, resting her head against his shoulder.

That's when her eyes shifted and met with Elrick's; her smile disappeared for a short moment, and the shortest of motions toward the door encouraged the young man to head out the way Caius had told him. "As you wish, Master." He bowed; and only with that look he truly understood what had happened; of course she had pretended to not know him, to feign upon innocence over his presence in the towers, to give her husband, Master Caius, the reassurance over her affections that were surely the doubt upon which he had based the need to get rid of him. She had vouched for him.

Elrick was supposed to have been murdered, and Athenodora Ginakos had not allowed that to happen.

~Today~

"Dear lord..." The memory simply overcame his mind as he stared up at the very woman of which memory was the starring role in his eyes.

Arguably, Elrick and Athenodora had been friends for many years; he wasn't as old as some of the guard, but he wasn't, by far, the youngest, either. He felt as though he had leagues more sense than the rest of them, though; like they were all under some sort of mystical spell that refused to touch him. Making the views he had in his just over a hundred years old age remain the same: that in his time he hadn't seen a more secretive, outrageous, self-righteous group than that of the Volturi.

Of course, he had made other friends with the guard; Renata, Lorenzo, Elena; but no bond compared to that which he had formed with the Volturi Queen due to the manner in which she had saved his life during the time of the 'great purge of 1917'. Sure, he regretted leaving his friends, but they were content in their positions, and he remained unsettled; much more so after the events in the throne room barely over a month before, where Elrick had witnessed injustice over his good friend, Athenodora, now Veliciano.

And now her hand was squashing his cheek into his jaw, and he could only imagine what sort of face he was making, partially due to her hand, but mostly due to the recognition that hit his stomach almost as hard as she had. It was her; the very person he had searched for, for what felt like eternity. "Athenodora." He whispered.

That seemed to be enough to shake her from her own shock; she blinked, once, twice, three times, her head shaking for a moment before she truly allowed the smile to take over her lips in order to display the joy she felt over seeing him. With movements quicker than a blink, the exiled Queen stood from her place in order to offer the young man a hand. "What are you...?" She trailed off, studying his features with curious hues as she attempted to understand the sole fact that her friend truly stood before her.

Instinct from their time in the castle took over, and Elrick took her hand to stand and right himself; in any other moment he would have – at the very least – dusted himself off. But the realisation that his journey of searching had come to an end had the boy nearly shocked to the brim. "I left." He told her with a smile, head shaking minutely as his shoulders lifted in a shrug. "Shortly after you did, actually." A scoffed breath puffed from his lips. "I couldn't possibly stay after what happened, I realised so, the injustice, the betrayal, the—the..." A frown invaded his forehead as the images of memories they had forged together and the ones he had had after her departure merged and entwined into one big overwhelming tempest inside his head. "Oh, Dora." He breathed; he'd kept his hand against hers, and now he pulled her into a tight embrace, words nothing more than a murmur. "I am so sorry."

To be enclosed in his arms brought a smile upon her lips; it was an embrace she did not hesitate to return in seconds. Though her mind replayed on memories upon memories of the things she had left behind in Volterra, or the manner in which she had left it, Elrick's presence came completely welcome. If she had been sure of anything during her time with the Volturi, it had been her friendship with the young guard. Such a fact was the thought behind the actions that pulled her away from the relieved embrace in order to look into his eyes with the question in their freshly red hue before it left her lips. "What on earth are you apologising for, Elrick?"

Once she had spoken and fallen away from his embrace, all the boy could do was shake his head and stare; attempting to find the right words to put into the air between them; words that would make sense to her, to him... "I shou-I should have left earlier." He said, eyes dancing upon her bright crimsons as if solely with that motion she would understand. "I shouldn't have let you leave alone, you didn't do a thing. It was unjust, I should have spoken up, I should have—I should have said something, stood up for you during that bloody trial, I—"

"Shh." She interrupted him; her head had almost instantly started shaking the moment his words had begun leaving his lips, her hand slipping from his so she could brush light pads against the skin of his cheek in order to soothe him. "You couldn't have known." She stated, releasing a soft sigh, thinking of a proper response that could convey reassurance for her friend. "And I'm actually glad you didn't say a thing." She admitted. "If you had..." Her head shook, hands lowering until they could rest on the boy's shoulders. "... if you had, Caius would have thought you an accomplice; he loved me once, thus was probably the reason he didn't kill me. But you?" She nodded. "He would have killed you under charges of treason for even trying to help me."

Elrick's hands dropped at his sides as he breathed out a short disbelieving laugh. "Treason?" He echoed. "Dora, if they've realised I've left, that'll be my crimson 'A', don't you know?" He admitted in a puff.

"Maybe so." Athenodora nodded, lowering her own hands to rest on his biceps. "But at least you are out of there now." Her eyes remained on his. "In there they would only have to knock on your door and terminate you before you could bat a blink; out here..." She nodded. "...their searching radius is much bigger." A smile crossed her lips, confident upon her next words. "And you now have someone to fight by your side if such is the case."

"Hey, yeah." A brow raised, Elrick's eyes narrowing rather playfully in her direction as his head tilted somewhat questioningly; becoming easily aware that he had fought the Volturi Queen as a foe would foe only moments prior. "Where did you even learn to fight like that?" He wondered. "I didn't know Caius had trained you."

Athenodora almost giggled. "He didn't." She nodded. "Are you crazy? He'd die before he could make me as strong as he. No, I sort of taught myself. You'd be surprised what you can do when you've got free time and a few hundred action films sitting around."

It was Elrick's turn to chuckle; head shaking shortly as his hands reached for hers in the most caring motion. "I missed you, dear Dora." He kept the smile even as he nodded. "And I am glad you did not have the same fate as Dydime, however crass that seems to be to say."

She didn't know what it was; maybe the reciprocation of the manner in which she had missed him, maybe the nickname he so easily used upon her name, maybe the mention of the departed Dydime De Rivieri, or maybe a beatific combination of all those factors; but Athenodora didn't seem to think twice before tugging on Elrick's hands in order to wrap her arms around his frame once again. "Thank you." She said, resting her head against his shoulder. "For coming to find me."

The boy smiled, eyes shutting for a few moments as his arms wrapped around her slim disposition. "Of course I'd come find you." He told her, squeezing her as tightly as she to him, and hoped that it could convey at least half of what he had been feeling over the past time alone. "I have so much to tell you." He continued; waiting until his hues could meet hers before proceeding. "In the short amount of time between your departure and today..." His head shook. He'd seen awful things, heard rumours. "...It's been bad."

Almost instantly, a frown crossed the Volturi Queen's features, because not only the boy had surprised her with news of Volterra, but she had surprised herself for actually caring to hear them. But of course I care, she thought; and maybe part of her always would. She had lived with the Volturi for millennia; maybe most of her loyalty had been forced upon, but it was still too long of a time to truly not care at all; and it was enough for her to nod in some sort of encouragement for her friend and a halfway defeated breath to puff from her lips. "I guess it was very narcissistic of me to think the problems would end with my departure." Her head shook, hands dropping to her sides while her eyes searched his as if all the answers were hidden in the many shades of red that adorned his orbs. "What's happened?"

"Well, for one, the newest guard, that queen Aro loves so much, you remember?" Elrick asked, watching her features for the recognition he expected to continue. "The one you gave your sketches to." Of course, Athenodora nodded. "Well, she's gone." He announced, watching the shock cross the Volturi Queen's visage; this time he was the one to nod. "She left a couple of days before I did. Aro had gone crazy by the time I left; he's losing it, Dora. Blaming people, suspecting his own guard. Truly, Sulpicia's departure broke him."

All she could do was nod in eminent agreement with the young man; a breath escaping through her lips again as she found herself surprised at caring so much for the goings on of the coven. "Any idea where Anne could be?" She inquired, selfishly wondering over the well being of her sketches.

She wasn't at all surprised when Elrick's head shook in response. "But I do know Alec Greco went off to find her." He admitted, lifting a shoulder in a shrug. "Or, at least I think so." He frowned. "I mean, I never paid much attention to the coven's gossip, but anyone with eyes could see Queen Anne was Alec's mate." He nodded, head shaking a couple of times. "Plus I assume so for the manner in which he left in the middle of the night and said nothing over my own departure." At this, Athenodora frowned, the question in her eyes landing on his once again with eminent worry. "He saw me." He informed her in response to such a silent inquiry. "We sort of crossed paths, and... well, I reckon he'd have ratted me out if he wasn't heading off on his own one-person search party."

"Well, thank God or that, don't you think?" Athenodora mused, head bobbing in a short nod before letting her eyes flicker in the direction she was sure the big stolen Greek home she resided in stood, then in the direction of her dead victim, and finally on Elrick once again. "Why don't you come over to mine?" She invited. "We can talk more about it all in private, yeah?"

"Yours?" The boy wondered; brow lifting and eyes shifting in the direction hers had. "You've got a home?"

All Athenodora could do for a moment was smile. "It's a long story."

Elrick nodded in her direction after his eyes met hers once again; to say he was surprised to know she had somewhere to go beside the woods was an understatement. But, then again, it was Athenodora; he hadn't ever had the pleasure of a friendship with her outside of the fake royal position and the pretence within the castle walls. "It seems you have stuff to tell me as well." He smiled, offering his arm to his friend, ready to be steered wherever she was currently calling home. "As well as I." He admitted. "This Anne problem is nothing compared to what seems to be coming."

The Volturi Queen hooked her arm around his as a questioning glance lifted in his direction. "What do you mean?" She asked, a frown adorning her usually smooth forehead quite invading.

"War, Dora." Elrick told her, eyes completely serious and void of all the joy they'd shown only moments prior. "I mean war."

To Be Continued.