cryptsleeper | 20s AU Post

20s AU Post

Current Carmilla plot outline
--Post-fire, Carmilla and Mr. Peanut team up mostly to use each other. Carmilla's spent the past several months (since November, it is now February 1925) networking, and it's clear to her that Alucard's not suited for the position and that the other two are the obvious weakness. Mr Peanut needs something back, so this is perfect on her end. Mr Peanut can only imagine the joys of vampire blood in his work, and he'd like an army of vampires for his own ends.
--Shit stirring from Mr Peanut (all of March?)
--Mr Peanut also begins to sell mis Miracle Serum, which has vampire blood in it.
--Gang is very much trying to murder Mr Peanut during this.
--Start of April, vampire gets a call from one of the blood bank contacts that 3 patients have come in and are displaying some bizarre signs. Investigation yields the fact that they're in process of turning, and they've all taken the same serum.
--Additional investigation reveals O FUCK IT MR PEANUT
--Meanwhile Carmilla's been made aware of a familiar she didn't sire, so she knows something's up. Big fight with Mr. Peanut and thus Mr. Peanut is left depowered
--Gang commits a murder
--Carmilla's well sured up on her contacts now, and it's time for open rebellion (mid-April)
--In a more subtle attempt to let Alucard just step aside, she cuts the breaks on demon car and shows up to gloat/suggest he not pull a dad and go to deal with his grief quietly while she runs the city. The how he wants to do it is up to him (black widow joke goes here.) Treffy and Sypha walk in.
--1 week of straight up rebellion; feedings, no help from allies, need to do damage control instead of fight carmilla, every dracula rule is
--MEANWHILE IN GRAVITY FALLS, triangle shows Vlad what's up to try and psyche him out, somehow this finalyl snaps Vlad out of his depression and he heads home
--Just in time for Alucard and Carmilla to be tearing each other to bits in one of the bayous, it's not going well
--Vlad coming in means the king of vampires is accosted by a belmont with a pair of blessed knitting needles and a speaker with a fucking gun and he's just like what the shit happened to the world while i was gone
--Wards around the fight means that only demon car can break the wards, everyone has to pile in.
--Carmilla gets her ass kicked AND SENT TO THE JUSTICE DIMENSION

THEN THERE WERE FAERIES.
--Prior to all of this the vampire and Sypha have done a shit ton of research on how to get their Belmont back
--Sypha has also been practicing debating with dad, which leaves everyone Very Tired.
--When Trevor is actually snatched up (1 year after marriage, it takes fae effort. Taking Arn's shape fails, so it's a lot more kidnapping by force), Sypha and Alucard go into Faerie
--But they're playing this as politics, not as heroes rescuing their damsel, so that means the faeries are just "wait what now excuse u?"
--There are 3 gates and 3 trials (the particulars we're still bullshitting.) Each is asked to sacrifice 3 things. (Alucard: voice, his titles as bestowed upon by his father and his people, i forget the third; Sypha: her human form (she's a birb), fuck what were the other two)
--They enter the court at the end of the third trial. After LITERALLY ALL THE TITLES Sypha declares she Speaks for Trevor Belmont
--Claim debate over Trevor, turns out that the rules are in Sypha's favor.
--But that means debating to leave Fae without giving up what they've chosen.
--Sypha lawyers it all out, Alucard is a safety deposit and hangs out with Fae!Trevor
--In the end, safe passage out of Faerie consists of Sypha giving up her memory of the necromancer (billed as a great mage she studied under), the vampire gives up his immortality, and Trevor is replaced with Carmilla (dad was aware of this option and OK with it), but Trevor has his ability to swear taken. He now soundslike a rubber ducky when he tries
--Everyone gets home okay, except for the AU of this AU where the gang fails, but Trevor's on their doorstep like a bat out of Hell because time doesn't work right and he's been in Hell for a WHILE.

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[The vampire reaches for pills and then water in silence. There's a wince when he does so, his throat being as raw as it is (there is an iron tang of blood as he swallows.) If there's any advantage to the painkiller, it won't be known for a bit.

He's already on his side, and so he just nods at Trevor's advice to show he understands.]

I'll wake before she gets here.

[Which is to say the castle will nudge him when Sypha passes through the gates, and thus he'll be awake before Sypha is in the house, never mind finding them in their current state.]

You forgot your knitting.

[A quiet observation, but surely Trevor doesn't mean to just sit and have nothing for his hands to do while Alucard rests.]

Shit, I did. It's back in the car.

[ He doesn't need it, not really, it's just going to be a mindless thing to do while he processes this shit. But it's a mindless thing that keeps him tethered to the ground, a mindless thing that keeps him from going too deep into his own head.

...he's smart enough to know not to spend the next few hours drifting unanchored in his own head right now. ]

I'll be back soon. Try to stay awake until then?

No promises.

[Alucard can absolutely feel sleep trying to claim him, and it's probably better to allow for it. He is so, so tired. He is so, so unsure of what to make of Trevor right now, and the former is much more promising ground than the latter.

He's not exactly safe under blankets, but they give a warm, false sense of security in Sypha's absence. That warmth is the real comfort, and it always will be.]

Hurry, if you're that insistent.

I will.

[ And he does, but he isn't quite quick enough. Alucard doesn't stir when he returns, and so he doesn't speak up. He sits carefully, making sure not to wake him, and before long the silence is filled with the soft clicking of knitting needles.

They're going to need a lot of fucking potatobrands, after all. ]

[Every part about this vacation has felt earned, now that Trevor is theirs without any other claim or complication. There has been nothing but relief washed over their rented cabin for it, relief and a constantly roaring fire and the vampire learning how to cook thick, warm stews from the deer he hauls in from the woods. (He is not sure what to do with the hides.) Less a thing to learn and more of a requirement is the constant pot of tea that is always perfectly warm, occasionally replaced by hot chocolate instead.

The vampire has never really experienced the cold before. He loves it. Loves it for all the stupid excuses it lets him invent to be beside one or the other or both of them, sincere and content and able to express every single emotion as it comes to him.

Then there's the landscape, all snow settled on trees and the way the sun makes the snow glitter as it sinks down below the mountains. Sypha has found a way to charm the cabin's screened in porch (for this is often a summer home, and summer means cool mountain air and no bugs on the porch), and there is a cozy sofa that they've hauled out for the sole purpose of the vampire curling up in an actual pile of blankets and watching the sunset.

He thinks he hears a door open somewhere behind him. Alucard doesn't exactly turn around.]

Hello?

[ It's nice, to be able to breathe.

It's hard to say whether that's in reference to the hot, sticky, too-thick air of their home or to the constant, crushing weight of the fae's plans for him. To be freed from both in such quick succession is a lot of things. Overwhelming. A little terrifying. Nice. So very nice. Even if they probably couldn't have convinced him to agree to this before coming if he weren't still in the stupor that the land of the fae had left him in at the time. (The cost alone! And taking Alucard away from his studies for so long. And leaving the parish so close to the start of the Christmas season!)

Sometimes he's wrong about things, after all. And this- has been nice. As perfect a place as there could be for slowly returning to himself. And he is mostly himself again, give or take the too-bright eyes or the fact that he's still a little too light. ]

Thought you'd be here. [ He chuckles as he says it, because the predictable vampire's been out here more evenings than not. Even here, they all have their own stupid little habits. He shrugs off his coat, adding it to the top of the pile of blankets. ] Let me in?

It's nice, having something predictable. [Because they can all have that luxury now, something predictable. Steady. Unchanging, even in this temporary home. They've all settled into their routines, and it'll be a blessed thing before the absolute madness of Christmas at the church takes over.

Alucard sits up just enough to move all the blankets so Trevor can settle down beside him, and decide if he'd rather hold the vampire or have the vampire hold onto him. As he does so, there's a stupid, stupid smile as Alucard locks onto those too bright eyes.

It's not a bother. Helps them both see Trevor in the dark, if one of them gets out of bed and he's still awake.]

Come on then.

[ It's hard to fall into worries about what the fuck he is now when the answer is so clearly and demonstrably theirs. He curls up next to Alucard under the layers and layers of blankets and then leans against his chest, head resting on his shoulder. Bringing his hands up to stroke his hair she chuckles at the intricate braids he finds there. ]

Someone's been awfully busy. Is this revenge for making her miss her radio show?

Oh, this isn't vengeance.

[Alucard waits for Trevor to settle before he rearranged the blankets all around them, making sure that Trevor is as tucked up and close as possible. His weight is still not what it ought to be, but he has far more mass than he did in that horrible cage. Alucard can't complain about that.

He can't complain about the way Trevor's head fits so perfectly against is shoulder. About how those hands move through his hair, bringing the sheer exhilaration of those hands existing in this realm again.

There's a kiss pressed to the top of Trevor's head, and Alucard nuzzles his hair too, appreciating how it tickles against his nose.]

She wants to do something elaborate with lots of pins or magic to keep it all in place. I think the challenge is to see how long it lasts. Something about rigorous testing.

[Sypha's making plans, apparently.]

[ If there's one good thing that can be said about the dreamlike state he's been finding his way out of - and he is lucid most of the time, now, that state only hanging on to him if he wakes during the night - it's that it makes everything else seem so much sharper. He can see individual eyelashes, strands of hair. Alucard seems so much closer, like this, even though he can't get any closer. He sighs against his shoulder, sinking comfortably against him. The weight of the blankets is something he's missed since coming here, and it's tempting to just sleep against Alucard forever. Catch up on every secnd of it he's missed over the years, safe and warm.

But he'd miss so much if he did that, for example- ]

'Rigorous testing'. [ He laughs again, shaking with it as he always does when it's genuine. ] That'll be the revenge, then. We'll be seeing our dearest Dark Mistress, I imagine.

[ ...okay so it just kind of sounds silly when it's said outside of context. He twists one of the little braids around his finger lazily, the laughter fading into an amused sigh. ]

[It is the silliest thing out of context. Hell, it's sill in context too, up until silly becomes painfully arousing and they're all lost in the sheer joy of figuring out which character Trevor's going to be next.

Years on, he still isn't consistent.]

Most likely, and I suspect I'll be requested to be nothing but a swooning damsel this time around. [Which isn't that bad a role, all things considered. It lets him just be in Trevor's arms and then pretend to be forced to shower him in aggressive affection.]

That or it's some new scheme she's come up with, in which case we both need to be prepared.

[Alucard's pretty sure that Sypha will have to pry them both from this lovely state of blankets first though, what with the way Trevor's pleasant and warm against him and how the blankets make everything better. Alucard loves the combined warm weights, and he can't help but pull Trevor a little closer.]

Was it like this back home? The snow's effect on the landscape, I mean.

Yeah. Yeah, it was. You'd go to sleep one night and in the morning you wake up and you're in a whole different world. Couldn't ride into school, on those days, so I'd stay at the house and take lessons with my sisters instead. Usually only did that at weekends.

[ He gives another sigh at that. Not sad, not really, just- longing. Longing for times that won't happen again. ]

And I never fucking learned, of course, I'd always hope that it snowed heavily enough that the road wasn't good for the bicycle to get out of math lessons. And I'd always forget how bad Enid was at coming up with lesson plans on the spot without Juliet to help her with them. She'd just end up picking out a book at random and 'Memorise this, Trey. I don't care if it's in Latin'.

No wonder the city doesn't agree with you. [There's humid season, there's hurricane season, and then there's winter which is still super warm. Alucard has been doing a lot of contemplating of the future since arriving here, and...Los Angeles is safest. But it is still a place with only endless summers, and the question of what they all must leave behind.

As Trevor speaks, Alucard's hand finds Trevor's under the blankets, and it's such a simple thing to take that hand in his. Hold it firmly, not like Trevor's made of soft lace and fragile glass. Squeeze, as if to remind himself that this is all real.]

I actually would have thought her lessons would be entirely dog-centric, if I'm to be completely honest.

[What's clever about this trick is that it forces them to choose between one and the other, clinging to each other at the expense of watching for the dogs, or watching their theoretical foes at the expense of being able to stay together. No matter what they do, it's a poisoned choice, and perhaps that's exactly the reason they're beset with it now.

Still, she knows what she has to choose. Whatever the dogs are (and she suspects she knows, or at least has an idea), they can't act without provocation. They can't complete their duties without invitation. They cannot hurt guests from a foreign court without cause.

So she tries. She tries to focus on Alucard, to reach for him and draw him in, but her fingers are slipping and she's only just barely got him by two fingers of his own now, a little less able to hold on with every passing second.]

[Alucard's attention is, unsurprisingly, entirely on Sypha. He's stopped caring about the dogs, he has to. Making sure she's with him, that they're not torn asunder is the most important part of this, and he isn't so clever as to realize that's part of fulfilling this quest. Being willingly separated, because without doing that, they'll be in this horrifying liminal place for an eternity.

He has two fingers. When Alucard tries to grab her wrist though, that is when there is a great weight that pounces upon him. His hand opens. Sypha's fingers fall away, even as the vampire falls forward and in theory, closer to her.

The loss of her, her warmth, her closeness, it's as keen as he's ever felt that absence, and there's a horrifying hiss as he tries to dash forward in the split second before he lands on the ground. There is a resounding thud. There's something that cracks. There is Sypha's name screamed again, this time laced with real panic and terror, the kind that he kept suppressed from them both when the dreams of his mother's death were their worst. (He used the tantrum hole.)]

Where are you?!

[His hands reach foward, clawing at the air.]

Oh, they ended up being so more often than not. She’d give me whatever she was last reading or working on, and she did have her biases.

[ His scars are back. Alucard’s and Sypha’s are visible now as well, hidden as they had been in the beautiful lands. There is no perfection here, not even in his husband and wife. Only the way things are. The way they will be, for so many years to come ]

But then, if she weren’t a shitty teacher I’d never have learned useless shit like werewolf medicine. So I suppose I can’t complain.

Of course she did. I expect her personal library must have been organized by some kind of dog-element too.

[Alucard's thumb strokes over Trevor's knuckles, moving slowly. Lingering over each one, as if trying to catalog every inch of skin there. The roughness, the wonderful and familiar texture of it. The weight. Everything.]

You could. I can't. I'm proof of the worth.

[There will be fewer assassinations. His healing still works, the fae had only claimed his many lives to come, not the other advantages of his father's blood.]

What if we came back here every year?

Oh, absolutely. Which wouldn't have been an issue, except that she considered the entire fucking hold to be 'her personal library'.

[ He hums softly as Alucard's thumb moves over his knuckles. He can feel himself slipping into the useless, blissful state that safety always puts him into, and he doesn't resist it. He can trust Alucard to guide him back if it's too close to the way he was while captured for comfort, after all. ]

You, [ He begins, sighing contentedly. ] have so much fucking work to do. You're really going to spend a month each year not doing any of it?

[ He sounds perfectly happy with that outcome. ]

I...[There's a splutter of laughter.] Why am I remotely surprised?

[He shouldn't be. Everything Alucard has learned about Enid means that it makes sense that she'd see the Hold as hers and hers alone to administer. A remarkable person in every way, and no chance to meet her. A shame, because of all the Belmonts who aren't Trevor, she strikes Alucard as the one he'd get along with best.

The hand holding Trevors dares to sneak it out of the blankets. Just for a moment. Just so Alucard can bring those stupid, perfect hands up and kiss the same spots he has been stroking, as Trevor has done so often to him in the past.]

I am going to very much need a month off each year with the amount of work I shall be doing. Besides, you're happy here. That's more important.

[Happy. Safe. Here. They've solved the damn puzzle.]

A full month off means less time with us the rest of the year.

[ Which is the only real problem with this. They won't let Alucard overwork himself to the point where it's genuinely dangerous to him, so that's no real danger. But they are going to be separated more than any of them want to be. It'll be worth it in the end. For a title of his own, one that has nothing to do with his father or the world of dark things. One he chose and earned for himself.

And shit, that stupid hand-kissing thing actually works. He thought it was just a vampire-bullying thing but no, apparently it also works on Belmonts. He can feel his ears start to burn at it as the sudden chill on his hand drives him to coil his body around Alucard's. He's cool to the touch, but in the bitter cold even 'cool to the touch' is wonderfully warm. ]

But- I am happy. S'nice here.

I know. It'll...I'll find a balance.

[They all know that the demands of time will be great, even if Alucard has knowledge beyond anyone else when it comes to future improvements. The work of it, the real training, it's something that still takes three years and include days where he'll be out of the house for twelve hour stretches.

Alucard doesn't miss Trevor's reaction. The burning of ears translates to a littlle more heat where Trevor's head rests, and there's more Belmont wrapped around him.

So he makes it worse. Kisses over the ring on Trevor's hand.]

That's why I want to come back.

[ The kiss to the ring is too much. The symbol of how of all the assholes in the world, both of them somehow chose him. Of how they were certain enough of it to convince the fae. Of how it's far too late for them to realise their mistake and change their minds now. Any tension that was left in him before fades with a long, soft sigh, and he just lies boneless against Alucard, wrapped around him like another of the many, many blankets. ]

'm not unhappy, back home. It's nice there. [ Its a hell of a statement, considering how he's still (or was, up until his capture) serving under Dracula. But it's true. It's home, by now. ] Anywhere the both of you are is nice.

[A Belmont blanket is the best of all. On rank with a Speaker one, although Belmont blankets cover far more surface area of vampires. Alucard's tucks both of their hands back under the many layers, but now one finger rests over that ring, just reveling in the texture of it. The fact that not even the fae could take it from him.]

No, but you are happier here. I care about the degree. [Alucard would really, really rather his father stop using his husband as he has.]

I want you at your happiest. For now and ever.

[The instant the contact breaks, everything changes. The world ripples and spins, the space between Sypha and Alucard going from inches to a chasm in a matter of seconds. The mixture of sounds and scents divides more thoroughly now, each memory of a time they were brought close to death itself growing stronger and more encompassing in tandem with the presence of the Black Dog, whose eyes burn like embers as the forest draws them in.

They could choose to stay, each of them; stay still and be consumed, stay still and bear the visions forever. Or they can continue, if they find the will, as in the distance the fog in the air begins to part and permit the silhouette of a distant house.]

[Even as they are torn apart, Alucard tries to return to the direction he knows Sypha was in only moments before. There is thick forest there now, all impossibly tall pinetrees on eye level ad thick canopy above to preclude any such attempt.

He is alone. He is alone and the smell of burnt flesh fills his nostrils, carrying with it the worst memories of all. It remains no matter what direction he goes, blocking out Sypha's scent. Blocking out the scent of the great Black Dog which too smells of death, but in a different manner. The thought forward does not occur, not until he feels thick roos starting to wrap around his ankle and climb up his leg.

Shit.

Alucard knows the rules. He still can't run. He can walk, try talking briskly, and he does just that. It does not dislodge the roots around him. If anything, they grow stronger in their desire to wrap around him and hold him fast, and it is as Alucard sights something in the fog that one wraps around his wrists, binding them.

That means he's going in the right direction, and so Alucard forces himself forward, step after step, restraints growing stronger every time. He cannot account for how long it takes to reach the yard of the strange all-black house (not house, it looks like some kind of old temple to some dark god), only that the roots have gone up to his chin and are threatening to slip into his mouth to choke him entirely.]

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20s AU Post

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