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 current Queen looks down, eyes settling on Trevor. ]

He chose me first. I was the one to eat his heart of flesh and leave in its place a heart of stone.

[ There is a long pause. And then the speaker's horse is white and spotted, and the black of its coat and the colours of its mane flow over the ground and up through the bony legs of Damien's horse. And Damien, the current queen, fine nobleman's clothes all bloody and chest hollow, throws his head back and laughs. ]

But then, my Young Lord, you have had your share of Hearts of Flesh too, have you not? Take him, then. As Tribute. For as long as you can bear to keep him.

[ Trevor does not look at the new queen in recognition. He only looks at Alucard, staring, as if he is a puzzle to solve. And then there is a crack, and he screams.

No matter how light Alucard's touch, the bone cracks audibly beneath it. Splinters of bone poke out from skin, and blood wells up around them. ]

Go to Hell in his place. You've put it off long enough.

[It's all he can manage. He says it in the split second between Damien's face reminding the vampire of the things that a ruler must do from time to time to the sudden snap of agony that sounds from Trevor.

Alucard remembers this part. It's an old story. One that demands touch, one that demands clinging, and as deep and furious as Alucard's snarl is at Not-Damien, he keeps his grip on Trevor. Keeps it there as he runs through the circle around them both, runs into the woods to try and at least get space.

He can't let go. He remembers that part. Trevor is in such horrible pain, but the vampire must keep Trevor in his arms.]

I have you. I have you, you'll have to ride this out.

[ The screaming stops, replaced by desperate gasps. He tries to gulp down air long enough to think through the pain, long enough to try to figure out how he knows the man who is doing this to him. It's a losing battle, and all he can do is fall still, choked sobs leaving him as more and more fragments of bone peirce their way through his skin, dark stains forming on the shroud.

Too dark to be blood.

Stains in the shape of hands.

The horse is there, coming into view as Alucard runs past it. It's the necromancer atop it now, blunt teeth bright white in a way nothing in the woods is. ]

For as long as you can bear to keep him, young lad!

[ And the hands rush at Alucard, tearing through the fine clothing and into flesh. ]

[Alucard hates this. He doesn't know if he's recognized, he doesn't care, he just knows his purpose right now is to keep moving forward and to keep their Trevor theirs. Everything else is pointless. There's whispered apologies to Trevor, every I'm sorry mixes with you can bare this, I promise and other little promises that it'll be over soon, they'll be home soon, back to their Sypha in just a few minutes more.

The bone is horrifying. It's threatening to pierce the vampire too, and the darkness is no better. Worse when they're hands, because Alucard nearly howls for that horror and the sight they conjure up.]

You're not here. I banish you, go

[He doesn't know if it'll work. But as the hands tear into him, Alucard can only manage a muted snarl. Let the hands bind the two of them together then. He keeps moving forward.]

Well. There should be a well...

He's not healing.

[She's doing her best to keep her voice steady, but the worry is seeping into it anyway. She remembers this, remembers what it was like before. Only Dracula is supposed to be able to do this, and then it was only the one scar he would have to carry, not these many ones.]

The — the leg is, I think, the most urgent. The others are bad, but not as poorly situated.

[She's already cracking open the medical kit, finding the multiple pairs of gloves that every medical kit in their house inevitably includes for exactly this reason.]

The last time, he cauterized it while I stitched it closed, but...

[She hesitates, biting her lip, aware of how much Adrian would hate what she's about to say if he could hear it, but unwilling to shy away from it, anyway.]

Trevor, I think we're going to have to feed him.

[ There is a well. It's a distance, still, but maybe only thirty seconds at Alucard's pace. But the Queen stands between Alucard and it, and the body she wears now is the bishop's, twice-dead, one eye glowing blue. ]

For as long as you can bear to keep him, demon.

[ And the flames begin at Alucard's hands, consuming first the shroud and then Trevor. ]

[It's on purpose, the bishop and the flames. Alucard knows it, he knows it because it'd be the dirtiest, shittiest trick for anyone to do. There's enough of him that isn't consumed by rage at the sight of the man to keep the vampire grounded. To not even respond. To keep pace, to get to the well.

His Belmont is on fire. Alucard can't look, even as the flames lick at his face. He remembers that burnt corpse, his mother, and remembers touching charred flesh and having to walk over to the sink to heave everything out of himself. The smell of the flesh brings that memory to the surface, and it's agony to keep holding on.

You can shoulder this. He lies to himself. He's at the well.

Shit.

Does he keep holding on until there's nothing or does he put the body in now...]

We have-

[ They don't, in fact, have blood. The bags are empty. ]

-fucking car ate the fucking blood. Shit. Cauterize the leg, first. No sense in putting blood into him while he's losing the stuff. Then-

[ ...they'll need to get him out of here and up the stairs to the car. They don't know if Dracula's going to come back for him. They can't trust Dracula to lift a fucking finger for his son. Sypha can't lift him. He can, but if anything goes wrong he can't lift him and keep them safe, both with less blood than he ought to have.

But he doesn't want to ask this of Sypha. ]

-shit. Just get the cut closed, I'll figure something out.

Adrian.

[ Lisa is sitting on the edge of the well, hands folded in her lap, gentle and calming even in air thick with the smell of burning flesh. She looks at the body in Alucard's arms with concern, and the flames and the clawing and the breaking all stop dead in her comforting presence. There is only Trevor, lost and broken and gasping for air, and she stands and places a hand against him, burned flesh becoming whole again as she does. ]

He's hurt, isn't he? Give him to me - just lay him down on the ground. Let me see to him.

[It's a trick.

He knows it. He has to, because even as his brain reminds himself that if his father ever got whiff of the fae trying to actually do something along these lines, there'd be an honest to God war. Alucard has to because he feels his arms already trying to release Trevor. There's care that he can't provide, he hasn't been able to do everything he should have done because he's a regent and not a medical student, but...

His mother's never been able to do magic. So Trevor is pulled back against the vampire with a speed that qualifies as unsafe.

There is a low, feral snarl from Alucard. He knows he's still looking at the same person.]

She never used magic in her work. My mother was a woman of science.

[She's yanking the gloves on, digging up some gauze to try to blot away what she can of the spilt blood in order to see her work better.]

I need you to cut the leg of his trousers away.

[How does your body heal a burn? she remembers asking him all that time ago. This sort of field dressing, it isn't neat and it isn't the sort of thing that would be effective on an average person. On a human, perhaps it would even do more harm than good.

But Sypha knows her patient, intimately. This is Alucard, her Alucard, and she's treated him so many times. She knows his body, the workings of his healing. She doesn't need to mend him; she just needs to get him to a point where his body can mend itself.]

Here. Gloves.

[She pushes the spare pair at him, immediate.]

He's a paranoid fuck and I can be trusted to wash my fucking hands.

[ But fine. Fine. He'll put the gloves on if only to avoid an argument. There are scissors in the medical kit, tiny wicked sharp ones to make cuts in flesh, and they'll do for cloth. He cuts a good inch or so higher than the damage done to the cloth by the morningstar, to make sure that loose threads don't work their way into the cut. ]

There. It's a new fashionable way to deal with having one hot leg and one cold leg. That's how we'll remember her. Creator of the one-legged trouser.

Then evidently I cannot be trusted, because he always gets upset with me when I don't.

[But there'll be time for that later. Right now she's back to blotting the blood away, trying to get a better idea of just how long and how deep the wound is, how far into flesh the morningstar bit and how much, if any, healing has already been done.

It's not optimistic. On the other hand, Alucard still has a leg to speak of, so.]

...My hands aren't big enough to do it all at once. I need yours, too.

[She closes her eyes a second, fingers raised in a triangle position, summoning flame into four small orbs like the one she'd given him earlier to assist with the demon car repairs.]

Take two. Then, all at once, we press them down and into the wound. Understood?

Perhaps, but I want to go. I've never been as far as Europe, much less Africa!

[She waits for him to get oriented, then takes his hand again and shuffles her own feet into position before heading them back toward the middle of the lake.]

And imagine seeing the pyramids. Those are almost as old as the Speakers are! I think it would be such fun. It's fun to dream about, anyway.

[They're getting good at moving around without dragging the other down onto the ice. Gloved hand in Sypha's, Alucard squeezes for a moment. Warm.]

We don't have to just dream about it. [Which the vampire says with the most swept away, happy sigh.]

Beyond Trevor's Christmas obligations, our responsibilities are limited. We can go wherever we want. Do whatever we want. We owe nothing to the world. Just each other.

[ The noises against his mouth are perfect, even if they do make kissing with any sort of aggression something of a risky proposition. He just follows Alucard's lead to avoid catching himself on fangs, and Alucard's lead is a mostly accidental thing, following Sypha's actions with little hisses and deep moans and trembles. And good. He's good. And oh, that knowledge hits the same part of him that leaves him soft and quiet and useless when Alucard gets possessive. Makes him only useful for chasing more encouragement.

It's artless, the way they are right now. As much as the performance earlier was. The three of them just making stupid things up as they go along, grasping at each other.

Speech is a little beyond him now, and so he doesn't say much of anything at all when Alucard breaks the kiss, just pulls his head back over Sypha's shoulder to more comfortably settle it at the back of her neck, lips just where her hair begins. Not yet kissing, just letting his breath fall against her. The hand that was on Alucard's thigh leaves it, just for long enough to grab for Sypha's wrist and direct her to take their vampire in hand. ]

You are so delighted about that fact, aren't you.

[She tugs on his hand a moment, trying to get him to pause in his forward momentum; they've only just started moving again, but she wants to look at him properly, and that's hard to do while flounder-skating side by side together.]

You should be, I think. You're finally free, my love.

Which is entirely because he's a paranoid fuck.

[ A paranoid fuck who is going to live, because they got their miracle and they aren't going to waste it. He snatches two of the orbs out of the air. ]

Understood. On three, then. One- Two-

[ And it's time to set their boyfriend on fire. ]

It's not just about myself.

[He does pause after a few awkward movements. With her like this, that's an excuse for Alucard to hold both of her hands.]

It's knowing we don't have to hiss and swat at the fae at the end of October, because that's resolved. It's having made it clear that I'll never be a good politician. It's...everything.

[He can kiss Sypha's forehead like this, so he does just that.]

Think about it. This is the first time all three of us have been in a place where we haven't had to look constantly over our shoulders.

Three.

[It's a neat trick, controlling the flame on four separate points and holding it at a temperature hot enough to cauterize but contained enough to only destroy the skin where it's most needed, and nothing more. It's almost neat enough to cover up the smell of burning flesh, but not quite.

Still, she remembers this rhythm. Fire first. Then the sutures. She's quick and efficient and pointedly not thinking about how Trevor is watching her stab a steel needle through their boyfriend's flesh and tie it shut over and over and over again.

But soon enough, it's done, and at least the leg is easier to do than his chest was, for a lot of reasons. Soon enough she drops the bloody implements and lets her arms hang at her sides, finally brought to the cusp of their real dilemma.]

The others should mend on their own, once he starts to heal again. They're not so deep and much less dangerous.

[She hesitates.]

Do you have any of that incense, that makes vampires docile?

[ And Lisa's face pales, the colour fates from her hair and her features grow sharper, crueler. The last form that the queen takes is Carmilla's, and she has no game, no trick, no test.

She is simply a very sore loser. She takes Alucard by the neck, lifting him effortlessly, claws extending into him-

-Trevor is already awake when Alucard wakes, panting and staring at him wide-eyed, Sypha asleep between them and contented as anything to be there. ]

I- yes.

[ He doesn't like carrying the stuff around, considering how much Alucard hates it. But with both Carmilla and Dracula involved? It became a priority. ]

What are we using it for? It won't ward his father off, just hopefully keep him from doing anything too shitty.

[He's still holding onto Trevor, even as claws extend into him. They're not done, this isn't done, he still has their Trevor in his arms.

Alucard takes a few more moments to wake up. True enough to form, he barely reacts as he wakes from the nightmare. There's only golden eyes staring out from the dark and a tired huff.]

...That was new.

[ They don’t usually have faces. Certainly not those ones. Usually nobody comes for him. He just stares for a moment longer, because he doesn’t know where he is or who these people are. Because he can still feel phantom pain from bones that are entirely intact, Because he can still smell his own flesh burning, and he knows that smell too well.

Alucard is speaking, and that gets his attention. ]

You- you’re Adrian.

[ It’s not a question, but nor does he sound certain that he’s right. ]

Yes?

[The vampire still has his face buried in Sypha's hair. He finally picks his face up, and when he looks at Trevor, his face is uncertain. Scared, just a little, which isn't normal either. Usually the vampire just looks annoyed by his bad dreams.]

Trevor?

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Page 90 of 141

20s AU Post

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