Wiccer had spent many years sparring against only his brother. In his younger years he had always been one step behind and one swing too slow to keep up with the older and more skilled Avren. However, Wiccer was a quick learner, and had Avren still been alive, he was sure he would now have the upper hand as he stepped up to face Elucard.

Wiccer moved, furiously rocking on the balls of his feet, leaping backwards, and dashing quickly forwards. He danced and juked about gracefully, knowing that being even a hair off in his timing would lead to a blundering disaster. Everything he had learned as a White Cloak betrayed him when he started to learn the ways of the Rabbits. Wiccer saw this quickly and rectified it just as fast. His once rigid footwork and traditional combat style was being replaced by the erratic footwork and adaptable combat style of a Black Rabbit. The thought of using this vicious training against the very clan that created these techniques electrified him.

Wiccer slid to the side and spun around to slash in a winding attack, but met Elucard’s blade. Wiccer smirked. The two had been sparring three hours a day for the last month and he had learned to anticipate Elucard’s reactions and favorite defensive maneuvers. Using his freehand, Wiccer grabbed his sparring partner’s wrist and locked it into a painful position. Elucard wretched in pain but before he could react, Wiccer sent him sprawling onto the ground with a hefty kick to the chest. Elucard sat up, rubbing his throbbing wrist.

“You’re getting better, sergeant,” Elucard cheered. The compliment bore a bit of teasing. Wiccer had recently been promoted to captain, skipping a full rank to match the same command that his father had once held in Long Whisper. From the moment they had met up earlier in the morning, Wiccer had been showing off and buffing the new double silver bars on his collar.

“Captain,” corrected Wiccer.

“Regardless, you’ve gotten better. I have to admit that these days. How old are you now?” Elucard asked, still in disbelief at how well Wiccer had been coming along.

“Twenty,” Wiccer stated, reaching for his water skin.

“Twenty? And when did you start training?”

Wiccer paused, trying to remember exactly when his training with Avren and his father started, “Twelve, I believe.”

“So you have had eight years of the wrong training and bad habits beaten into your head. I didn’t know you had that much of a disadvantage compared to the rest of the ARO recruits,” Elucard teased. He laughed as he ducked the water skin being flung at his head. Wiccer raised his sword for another round of sparring, “I’ll show you who’s at a disadvantage, Rabbit!”

Elucard glanced behind Wiccer to see a strangely dressed woman approaching the two. It had been a month since Elucard had seen one, but his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him. A Black Rabbit stood before him. Elucard leapt past Wiccer, brandishing his dull training sword. He knew he would not be able to cut her with it, but with enough force he could plunge it into her despicable heart. A Black Rabbit, inside the heart of Lost Dawns? He marveled at her arrogance. Plus, she was smack dab in the heart of the military district. What was she thinking?

“Elucard, stop!” Wiccer blurted out.

Elucard halted in his tracks, still bearing his teeth at his sworn enemy. Wiccer hastily ran between the two.

“Elucard, she’s one of us.”

Elucard was more puzzled than enraged at this point, “One of us?”

Wiccer turned to Elisa, who was wide eyed with fear, as she was not expecting a brush with death. She slowly relaxed her grip on the dagger she held behind her back. She was hesitant to call Elucard an ally, but after spending a month with the Black Rabbits, she was ready for a change.

“Wiccer, I need to talk to you,” Elisa said, keeping a close eye on Elucard.

“Elisa, this is Elucard. He was a Black Rabbit once like you,” Wiccer said, introducing the two.

Elisa smiled, relaxing to her normal, collected self, “So this is Elucard? All that is on everyone’s mind is the Elucard that went mad and turned on the clan. I’ve heard many things. How you were this cool, devilishly handsome, and cunning elf. You rose to First Blade fast. You were the one that surpassed all. You made the proudest man jealous and the most jealous man fall in love with you.

Elucard Freewind. I don’t know whether I should love you, hate you, or fear you.”

Elisa’s words stirred a stew of disdain and yearning for his former life. It might have all been a farce, but he invested more effort and time into that farce than anything else in his life.

“Is that all they said about me?” Elucard asked, a bit curious.

“No, they also said you were dead,” she said in a matter-of-fact manner.

Wiccer smiled smugly, “Well, I suppose we’ll have a few surprises for those Rabbits when we see them again!”

“As they will for you as well, I fear, Wiccer,” Elisa replied, remembering why she was there.

Wiccer’s smile vanished as his attention returned to Elisa, “What have you learned?”

Elisa relayed everything she had heard from Vada. She learned about the Rabbits seeking an alliance with Estinia and joining alongside them in the coming war against Varis in hopes of gaining Estinians as Black Rabbit recruits.

“I wish not to go back, Wiccer. I fear that they suspect me of a traitor. They all seem on edge since both Avalon and Elucard left their ranks. Please don’t make me go back there!” Elisa pleaded.

Wiccer looked grimly towards Elucard. Then back to Elisa, “You’ve done well. Avren would have been proud of you. We could use your help in the ARO.”

Elisa raised an eyebrow. Marcus did mention an ‘Anti-Rogue Operatives’ unit to her. He even asked her to help lead it, but she wasn’t interested at the time. However it seemed the opportunity to be involved in Marcus’s passion project had arisen again. Although she knew no one would stop her from leaving with the freedom she had more than earned, she could not simply leave. It was Avren that she still owed.

“I’ll join you. You’ll always be able to count on me,” said Elisa.

Wiccer nodded with a smile before turning to Elucard, “We need to get this information to the king.” Wiccer started to walk away, but stopped with a question lingering in his mind, “Is ARO prepared for war?”

“No,” Elucard said simply and flatly.

“Then you still have much work to do,” Wiccer replied.