They had run for entirely too long, they had hidden even longer. Only one stop had been made in the trip between Athenodora and Elrick: one where they could steal or buy some new clothes. After all, going about in paper-thin fabrics and bathing suits was not a way even a vampire should run. Escaping and hiding, when had their existence come to such a thing? And who in their right mind would have thought that finding someone with speed such like their own could be so incredibly hard?

They had searched for what felt like months but had truly only been a few days. They didn't pay much attention, for they ran within forests in day and night, ran without losing a breath, for they did not need it, ran with only one destination but they could not entirely find it. After all, how could two people with absolutely no experience on the matter find someone who could not be found even by the best trackers in the so called powerful Volturi coven? They didn't exactly even know where to start; all they knew was that they could not turn back, for, if they did, someone could be waiting. How exactly could they find Sulpicia, anyway?

Well, it turns out that a little bit of magic could go a long way.

If not for the knowledge that sleep was inexistent to vampires, Athenodora might have called it a dream. It was a moment within their run in which suddenly every single foliage and branch disappeared from in front of her; like a flash that only brought along a darkness to follow an echoing sound of water hitting loudly against rocks and birds cawing loudly upon their nightly rounds. "You will find us." A gentle female voice whispered within the imagery inside his her mind. She ran, so quickly she ran between greens and yellows blurring past her; a gentle face hidden between the bushes yet present in front of her within a blink. She was pale, yet a human rosy tone adorned her features alike, so lively and so kind, her hair as red as the illuminating sundown against the mountains of Volterra, her eyes as blue as the waters of Venice. "Keep running." She whispered through the trees blurring past her. As if she whispered against her ear but had so quickly disappeared so she could allow Athenodora to see the many steps leaving paths upon the earth, once damp and now dry breaking leaves upon their way. "She is waiting." The voice said again, calling, taunting, hypnotising as the echo spoken within the depths of a cave. "Come find us." It echoed once again. "Athenodora... come find us. Athenodora, Athenodora..."

"Dora! Dora! Athenodora, wake up!" A voice so lively and familiar called for the banished Queen so suddenly; and as her eyes opened and focused in front of her, they were met by the familiar expression of concern within Elrick's form. His crimson orbs, his black hair, his pale skin, the leaves that so wonderfully sheltered them from the sun right above him. Wait... above him?

Almost too suddenly Athenodora sat up from the ground, her hands resting at her sides as a frown invaded the middle of her forehead, and with good reason. "What—what happened?" She wondered, blinking repeatedly and pointlessly as she focused her gaze once again on her good friend.

A friend that frowned as much as she as his hands attempted to steady her gently. "We were running and you fell." He said, studying her frame from head to toe and feeling plainly stupid for even thinking about the logic behind the words he spoke next. "I—I think you may have passed out." Only that was impossible, because that would mean that she had any sense of consciousness or lack thereof, and, other than death, vampires did not possess such an advantage.

"No." Athenodora quickly said; her head shaking as a hand lifted to rest on Elrick's forearm and propel herself with the other; standing alike her friend and forbidding herself from looking away. Somehow, simply within those few moments of silence, a gentle explanation, and the residue of a whisper that so hypnotising called her forward, Athenodora understood. "No. No, I didn't pass out, I—I think I saw... I know exactly where we have to go."

-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-

"It's done." Genevieve stated, lowering her hands and turning around within the small cave to face Sulpicia, who waited nearly impatiently as she sent looks from her to the opening of the cave. With the news, at least the blonde smiled. "They will find us soon," The redhead continued. "With the way your kind run, I would give it but an hour or two."

"Here?" Sulpicia wondered, frowning shortly as they walked out of the cave within the human pace of the witch at her side. Glad to be able to allow herself a breath when the other shook her head.

"We can continue on with the group." Genevieve announced, looking out the cave form one side to the other at the small groups of vampires that passed them by. She was impressed with how patient most seemed to be. "She will find us along the way."

And so it was that the entire faction of vampires continued their journey forward; surprisingly enough, it had not been hard to convince more than a few to join the fight; new and old vampires alike, all walking forward with the idea that they could all end the unjust and outdated rule of the Volturi clan. Mostly European all around, but there were a few American, Canadian and Mexican vampires along; no one had been surprised that the Cullens had wanted to know nothing about the matter, for they seemed to have some sort of continuous peace within their grounds, but the numbers were plenty, the alliances even more. Whatever could happen next, it was up to them, up to Genevieve, and up to the fall in its entirety of that which once upon a time claimed to be the regal end of vampirism itself.

It was so that within an hour and some minutes, Sulpicia's eyes distinguished a familiar figure approaching from miles away; and given that she was not the only one expecting company, many others reacted to the newcomer with absolute disdain. Some even almost attacked Athenodora as she arrived, leaving the banished Queen figuratively breathless by the time Sulpicia rushed to stop everyone else. "What are you doing?!" Stefan wondered, frowning in Sulpicia's direction and leaving no other choice for the rebellious Queen than to look at him with widened eyes.

"She is no threat!" She quickly stated, looking at him only and ignoring the intruding eyes of every other curious vampire that had made a circle around them. "This is Athenodora Veliciano and her guard." She announced, only, this time, she did look about and around in everyone's direction, as if that lone was enough of an explanation, as if Athenodora's name were known by everyone in the world. Her eyes fell on Stefan once again. "She was banished from Volterra for absolutely no other reason than the fact that Caius got paranoid, for what I hear." She paused; forbidding her eyes to leave Stefan's as if, were she to look away, her point would not dare come across as properly as she meant it to. "Trust me," She nodded. "She's on our side."

There was a small silence in which nearly everyone around them studied Athenodora with hateful and curious eyes, Stefan included; and within no more than a few more seconds, his hands lifted to fix his jacket and his lips parted to speak. "She better be." He warned, looking from Sulpicia to Athenodora and back again with anger and calculation in his gaze. "Or I will kill you, that boy, and her alike before either of you can say stop." With each word, a motion of a pointing finger lifted accusingly in Sulpicia's, Athenodora's and Elrick's direction alike; it was enough to allow a nod from the first and seemingly encourage every single person around them to move along on their merry way to continue with the mission en course.

It was all Sulpicia needed before turning around and wrapping her arms around her old friend. "Oh, Athena. My dear, dear Athena." The older queen said, holding the other close and gracing her hand against her back with a motion that she expected showed more affection that the embrace alone did not. "I'm so sorry I did not tell you, I only meant to protect you, but-" Her head shook, a breath of guilt and frustration together released from the her lips as she pulled away and allowed her eyes to dance on the familiar hues of her good friend. "God, Caius, I can't believe him. Had I know things would turn out this way I would have found a way to bring you with me."

Of course Athenodora's head was shaking by the time she was able to take Sulpicia's hands and look back to make sure Elrick followed. Of course he did; with a concerned and cautious expression, alike the guard that he had always been to the banished Queen. How easily he slipped back into his job once again. "You did nothing wrong." Athenodora attempted comforting her friend as they moved to walk along the others; faster than any human, but not quick enough for it to be a run. "If anything, you helped me see how wrong all of it was."

"At least you don't hate me for it." Sulpicia smiled, holding onto Athenodora's hand even within that moment, as they walked along.

Something to which, again, Athenodora shook her head. "I could never hate you." She admitted, moving forward and once again looking behind her towards Elrick; all before she simply motioned with her head once, because it had only taken those small moments for her to realise what it was that kept making her look back: it felt wrong. Elrick had stopped being her guard the moment she had left the Volturi castle, he was only her friend now; something he had been for longer than the few moments they had spent alone. She wanted him by her side, not behind her; and only when he walked there, smiling in her direction, did she even allow herself to question the entire situation. "Sul, where are we going?"

But, no sooner did the question escape her lips that an echo of battle reached their ears. The so thought surprise attack, the only reason half of them had stayed behind; how perfectly did the Romanian know the Volturi's ways? Sulpicia wondered as she looked in Athenodora's direction once again. "There's no time to explain." She stated, squeezing her friend's hand with as much reassurance as she could master within a moment in which the melodies of battle reached them from not too far way. They had but to wait for the signal, Sulpicia knew, and then it would be their turn. "But, long story short?" She nodded, looking in Elrick's direction too. "We're here to fight."

-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-

The time for amusement was over; long, long gone, and with it came the time to worry on. Marcus rested on his throne; Caius spoke with Corin and Renata and was not entirely missed from the throne room at all, and Aro? Once amused and lively Aro, now so nervously and frightfully paced within the room. From one side to the next, moving past pillars, past tiles, past every single thing he believed he had helped build. "We should have heard something by now." He stated with his hands behind his back, a frown in the middle of his forehead as he walked along.

From the throne, all Marcus could do was release a sigh. "This was your decision." He stated, unmoving and unblinking for any more than the words he spoke. Of course, deep down he was worried, and, could anyone blame him, hopeful for the end of his torment, but on the rest... what would become of everyone else? Why did he even care? "You must live with the consequences." He paused. "Whatever they may be."

Almost stupidly, Aro shook his head. "No." He simply stated. "No, there will be no consequences, they will all come back and everything will be fine." He stated pointlessly; nodding once again and pacing even faster. He was almost a nervous blur within the room. And a silence that felt too heavy only weighted down upon the shoulders of Marcus as well as the seconds passed. Seconds seemed like minutes, minutes seemed like hours, simply an eternity for a vampire who could so easily run in less than an hour to the other side of the city, it was all so slow. What was going on?

It wasn't until perhaps an hour after he had last spoken, that the big doors to the throne room opened, and in came a shaken Felix; shattered clothes, more than plenty bite marks to estate the fact that he had been attacked more than once; and where Master Aro had moved forward with an expectant smile across his lips, any hope shattered like the very skin that Felix himself had almost lost. "They're all dead." He stated in a note barely higher than a whisper, sorrow and pain written across his features.

Though such words had exactly been the ones Aro had expected to hear, it was such helpless tone that drained them from the meaning he hoped. "What happened?" He asked almost without wanting to; too scared of truly hearing the words that would confirm his worst fears.

Words that came along, anyway. "Every single member of the guard you sent..." Felix stated, lids fluttering as if he were to cry tears he could not physically shed; the ghost of all the friends he had lost echoing within the fading of those words before his head shook from side to side. "They are all dead." Only then did his eyes dare lift until they rested on Aro's own. "I only ran from it all when I knew it was all lost; I... I needed to come here and let you know. We were doing fine, but then their numbers grew in the middle of battle." He gulped back the knot that had formed in the middle of his throat. "It was a trap, sir." He paused, hoping with all of his dead heart that the master could truly understand what, in Felix' eyes, he had done. The simple and most horrible truth of the entire situation: "The Romanian are on their way."

To Be Continued.