Chapter Thirty Six

"It's true then ... you really are leaving again." Feliciano murmured holding an elbow with the opposite hand. Ludwig halted in his packing with a heavy sigh, sitting down on the bed. "When were you going to tell me?" He didn't have an answer so just shook his head apologetically. Ludwig had intended to tell Feliciano right after revealing his intentions to Bernhardt; he just could never find the right way to bring it up in conversation.

Feliciano slowly sat next to Ludwig, his eyes fixed entirely on the floor. "You really care for him don't you?" Ludwig didn't say anything at first. He glanced over at his best friend before nodding. There was no point in trying to hide something like this. More often than not Feliciano knew Ludwig better than he did himself. At first it had been annoying but eventually he grew quite glad of that particular development. Sometimes even grateful. So he just nodded an affirmation. Feliciano smiled, it was slightly strained but at the same time still genuine. "I thought so. He really cares for you as well you know? He was so lost while you were unconscious."

"Yeah, I know." Gilbert hadn't told him specifically, but Ludwig had managed to figure it out on his own. They didn't really talk about him almost dieing the subject was too heavy for them both. At first Ludwig had tried to bring it up, feeling guilty that he had made everyone worry so much over him. Gilbert hadn't taken too well to that; had in fact dismissed it with an aggressive bark. The emotional wounds were still too fresh for the albino, they still stung. So Ludwig hadn't brought it up again. He didn't mind so much, if he was honest Ludwig would rather forget about the whole ordeal anyway."

Feliciano's slim fingers settling on his shoulder brought Ludwig back to reality so he glanced over at the Atyilan. "I'm happy for you, truly. And I won't even try to stop you going, because I know I can't. Just promise me something, Ludwig?" Feliciano waited for the nod before he went on. "Don't forget us. And if you get a chance, would you come back to see us?" See me. He didn't need to say it, Ludwig knew him well enough to know that was the hidden meaning behind the plea.

Ludwig smiled slightly and promised he would. Almost before he had finished talking Feliciano stole a brief but tight embrace before standing up and looking at him with bleary eyes. "I need to go, fratello is expecting me back at the stall. Good luck in Vike."

If anyone had asked him later Ludwig wouldn't have known what happened in the last week before he and Gilbert were to leave Relbin. It had flown by in such a blur that he just couldn't pinpoint many of the things that had happened. Although he had tried to avoid it, by the end of the week he had been forced to say his goodbyes to everyone he knew. Aside from Feliciano, Lili had been the hardest. Gilbert being there hadn't helped matters. He hated the way Lili embraced Ludwig and wept over his leaving.

Gilbert's goodbyes had been brief, over after the first day. Francis and Antonio had arrived at Ludwig's home, probably prompted by Feliciano. The reunion had been stiff, riddled with guilt and awkwardness, at least at first. Ludwig left to spend the day with Feliciano allowing Gilbert the time with his old friends. By the time he returned that evening the three of them were heavily drunk and having an exaggerated emotional drama over Gilbert and what had happened to him. Needless to say Ludwig had been sound asleep for hours by the time the Sauprisian crawled into bed next to him.

~#~#~#~#~

Bernhardt stood grim-faced and rigid in the doorway, watching Ludwig and Gilbert with a gaze of hardened steel. Nobody spoke, even as Ludwig took careful steps towards his father. Gilbert looked away as the Abendroths' eyes locked upon each other - automatically opposite arms raised and grasped one another just below the elbows.

"Don't get yourself killed, my runt." Bernhardt grunted as he roughly released his son's arm. They exchanged jerky nods before turning their backs in unison. Ludwig strode back to Gilbert's side, patting the Sauprisian on the shoulder to urge him forward. Bernhardt never even glanced back as he shut the door behind him.

Even with the sky having darkened to its deepest, and the clouds obscuring the revealing slivers of moonlight, the pair never moved without great care. Very few people had known of Gilbert's presence within the city, even less knew he was still there. Although Gilbert just wanted to be gone from Relbin as soon as he could, Ludwig had insisted upon exercising caution. They didn't want to deal with any unnecessary difficulties that night.

"I guess he's still mad." Gilbert commented casually, though making sure not to break the silence too sharply. "That was hardly the most familial of partings."

Ludwig just shrugged without any commitment. "Father doesn't forgive easily - especially if he can't understand it." Gilbert hummed a little to show he saw the taller man's point. After that neither man spoke until they reached the Western Gate; once they had slipped past Gilbert enforced a pause in their movements by catching Ludwig by the elbow.

Without questioning the halt Ludwig just looked at Gilbert before opening his mouth. "I take it we're taking the roads this time around? Or do you intend to lead us through that damned forest again just to extend the journey?" It wasn't a serious question, even if Gilbert considered doing anything of the sort Ludwig wouldn't have allowed it.

The albino sniggered and shoved Ludwig's shoulder playfully. "Not unless you really want to, West." Quicker than Ludwig's brain could form a response a lean arm snaked around his neck and brought him down enough for Gilbert to kiss him deeply. As they drew apart the werewolf smirked and teasingly patted Ludwig's cheek. "I'm glad you're coming with me."

~#~#~#~#~

Epilogue

Upon their arrival back in Vike, Ludwig and Gilbert were greeted warmly by their Solace companions. Some of Gilbert's fellow werewolves had also followed them here - including Brighteye, the spike-haired blond who had caused such a clamour the first time they left Relbin and a couple of red-heads who bore a striking resemblance to Cahir. There were others as well, but not all of them had shown up to greet them.

Although Frederick offered to let them stay in his home once again, Gilbert turned him down quickly. He and Ludwig would stay at Solace's headquarters until other arrangements could be made. They helped around the city as well as at Solace, doing whatever menial tasks were asked of them.

Just over a year later they had enough money to buy a small home of their own.

Their relationship matured and settled until they were more than comfortable not to hide it from anyone else. Although, for a long time Ludwig was frustrated by the lack of structure in his life. Gilbert had been elevated into a permanent position with Solace, while Ludwig still had no idea what he would be doing one day from the next.

One day he paid a visit to the Blacksmith, browsing the old man's work while he continued to shape the steel into beautiful curved weapons, both ceremonial and practical. Ludwig barely noticed as the clanging came to a halt nor the eyes boring into his back. "You got an eye for weapons, boy?"

"My father's the Smith in Relbin, I've learned the trade from him." the Relbiner responded proudly. The old man smirked and set down his hammer, motioning for Ludwig to approach him. Once he was close enough the Smith grabbed Ludwig's wrists and examined the young man's hands.

"Calloused, but still soft. You're still in the middle of apprenticeship, not yet capable of taking on your own forge." He paused, searching Ludwig's working eye. "I'm old, boy. I have no sons nor apprentices to carry on this forge after I'm gone. Everyone young enough to learn hasn't the passion or the spark for Smithing, but you ... I could work with you, train you to be the best of your generation. You belong in a forge, think on my offer. But don't take too long - I'm not sure how much longer I have in this world."

True to his word, Bertók taught Ludwig everything he knew, leaving him the Smithy when he passed on into Teybor's Sanctuary.

"Someone was working hard today." Gilbert chuckled as Ludwig immediately began to wash himself after entering the house. Ludwig snorted in response, pointedly ignoring the slim finger deliberately teasing the base of his bare spine.

"I wonder who's fault that could be." Ludwig droned sarcastically. "Surely it wasn't your idea to mention the deteriorating state of equipment to the local farmers and the city guard."

"Now, now. I only implied that one man's pitchfork was looking a little on the rusty side, and I have no idea who spoke to the guardsmen but you know I don't get along with those self-righteous Jungen." Gilbert smirked and settled his hands on Ludwig's hips, turning the younger man around to face him. "Maybe it was the farmer, figured he was doing his good deed for the day, ja?"

Ludwig rolled his eyes, fighting against the amused twitching in his lips. "You're impossible, Gilbert. Sometimes I don't know how I put up with you day after day." A mischievous glint sparked in the Sauprisian's eyes, his lips curling challengingly as he pulled on the larger man's hips to drag him towards the room in which their bed lay waiting.

"Well, now ... how about I remind you?"

A/N: And finally here's the end! The last few months have been hellishly busy for me, so working on the chapter was difficult - especially when my laptop charger died. But that's over and I finally managed to bring out the final instalment of Vollmonds!

Now there have been a couple of things mentioned in the reviews that I would like to address before I go any further - I am sorry that there wasn't much in the way of smut in this story, but I wanted this to be a more character and plot-driven piece rather than a weak plot worked in around a scary amount of sex scenes. Sometimes it can be very well done, but I'm not confident enough in my own story-telling yet to give that a go. Although I will have more sex scenes in the sequel.

Which brings me onto another thing that was said, now I just want to make clear that I am not having a go about this, but since it was an anonymous review I couldn't respond to it any other way than in here. Someone mentioned that there was a lot more I could do with this story and wanted to know why I was finishing it here. The answer is simple: because I got an idea for a sequel, and I didn't want Vollmonds to end up being a never-ending story with gradually weaker and weaker plots just so that I can continue writing in the world. So I had to wind up this particular story here because it seemed like the logical place to do so, for me.

Now that's been cleared up I just want to give a big thank you to all my readers, reviewers, watchers etc. It means a lot that you've enjoyed Vollmonds just as much as I have and I hope this ending is satisfactory to as many of you as possible.

The info-page will be up just a few minutes after this one so I'll go and get them both posted now. Again thank you to everyone and keep a lookout for the coming sequel and spin-offs I have planned. Well, once I've made reasonable head-way on my other projects. Still now that I've finished college I should have more than enough time to work on all of them.

Until next time!