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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[ 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...]

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.

[ 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. ]

[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?

[ The pain was normal. Horrific, but normal. But he saw Arn again. Arn wanted him and this man took him away. Said that he was theirs, as if yet another fucking thing had any right to lay claim to him.

No. This is Adrian. And he is theirs. He has said so himself so, so many times. And the person between them, hair worn like a speaker's- ]

They're not- [ Shit. He knows this, he knows this. They're not Arn. They're someone else. Someone just as important. Fae dreams always do this to him, fuck with his head like this. ] -who are they?

[It's a bad dream hangover. That's how Alucard lies to himself that Trevor's sudden memory loss is completely normal and explainable. He's fine. Just disoriented. It was a terrible fucking dream after all, why shouldn't he be allowed to have this?]

Sypha. Our Sypha. [He's soft spoken, making sure not to wake her. The last thing she needs is this.]

You were asleep.

Right. Sypha. And-

[ This one is easy, because her chest is pressed against his. ]

-a woman, then.

[ Look just because he can't remember a fucking thing doesn't mean he can't lower the tone of the conversation entirely accidentally. But it does return to him. This is Adrian, and this is Sypha, and this is their room, half a world away from the place where he was born and sold. ]

I- sorry. Usually-[ what happens usually? he knows this one. ] -the two of you are asleep, and I can figure this shit out on my own.

[It's the usually that has the vampire's attention. Hell, he's trying to find a way to sit up without disturbing Sypha at that, which really just means he's propping his head up with one free arm while the other is still wrapped around Sypha's middle. Still protective. Maybe a little bit more on edge thanks to what feels like the combined powers of their shitty, shitty imaginations.]

How...frequent is that sequence of events?

[He doesn't like this not one bit nope!]

...got weird this time.

[ Which isn't much of an answer, is it? But it makes sense as one to him. This exact sequence of events is new and strange. ]

Once a month or so, I suppose?

Why haven't you ever--

[No, the vampire knows why. No point in sharing something like that as far as the Belmont's concerned. Alucard breathes out softly.]

Weird because I was there?

Weird because-

[ Because he passed the tests. Because he didn't let go at the first one. Because the tests were different this time, crueler and more personal. Because-

-wait. ]

You were-? [ Shit. That fucking spell. He sighs, half burying his face in the pillow. It's all he can really do without letting go of or waking Sypha. ] Shit, I'm- sorry.

....Unless I also had an extremely specific dream involving the fae, Belmont, I believe so.

Shit. [ He repeats. He gave them a hell of an openning to get at the other two, didn't he? He knew there was a chance of this and he didn't care because it meant getting Sypha back. It's easier to regret it now she's safe. ]

...sorry. Should have known they'd jump at the chance to get to you.

You do realize that I also very much provoked the matter, right?

[Alucard gives up. The hand on Sypha's side rises, and reaches over to brush against Trevor.]

Could've sat there and done nothing.

Of course you fucking couldn't have.

[ His tone isn't quite warm, but it's trying for it. It was only a day or two ago, depending on how one counts days in the small hours of the morning, wasn't it? That Trevor had told Alucard that he was a monster, but that it was his own refusal to accept it that it was wrong. That he shouldn't have been denying the existence of half of him just because it was more comfortable that way.

And that was tempting fucking fate, wasn't it? Because he's not been letting the others accept what he is, either. It's humiliating, having Alucard see him as he is. ]

...You're right.

[Of course he's right. Alucard let the world take from him exactly once and since then he's become his father when the world tries to do it again. It's...it's the thing that being called a monster forced him to accept, in the end. That if there is any point to be compared to his father, then let it just be this. Sparked by deep love and protectiveness, enough humanity in there to keep something truly terrible from happening.

Alucard's hand doesn't squeeze, doesn't dare demand more from Trevor. Holding onto the Belmont too tightly is fraught at the moment.]

We've been trying to figure out ways to make sure none of that happens, you know.

[Trevor should know.]

I- probably could have guessed that, If I thought about it.

[ He didn't know, but- he really could have guessed if he'd tried. Because of course they were doing that. Of course with a hundred thousand other, more important things to do, they'd be procrastinating with the one that didn't matter. ]

You don't need to. I was born for this. Just- think of it as an opportunity to get used to puny human lifespans.

If there was ever going to be a place with resources to fix this, it'd be here. We'd be fools not to take advantage of it.

[He does flinch at the comment regarding lifespans. How can he not? But that isn't the point, the point is the basic stupid fear that drives the vampire.]

I'm not letting anything else take away those I care about, Trevor.

[It's possessive. It's weary. It's admitting to the fear of it all.]

Selfish fucking-

[ No. No. It's frustrating (He's ready for this. He's been ready all his life. It's easier to be ready if there's no alternative, and every struggle against it makes it harder and more painful. He's been paid in full for what's being taken - he's a Belmont, he's benefited from that. He uses his training what seems like every day, the least he can do is pay his fucking debts for it). And maybe it is selfishness on Alucard's part.

But it's for his sake. It's because the two of them love him that they're doing this, and he can argue whether it's wise or foolish to do that, but that doesn't change the fact that they do. They do, and he wanted them to. ]

-sorry. I didn't mean- just don't let it distract you from the important shit.

And don't ever lump her in with those words either.

[This isn't just an Adrian's anxiety and fear issues thing. It's a Sypha thing too, it's about them, and it's about feeling the need to try everything in their power before they let anything whisk Trevor away.

The dream was easy, wasn't it? Too simple. Too clear. It'll be so much worse whenever the time comes, even with Sypha in the lead. They're agreed on that much, that the vampire cannot do the talking even if he's still regent. He's shitty at words and liable to make everything worse.

Alucard sighs.]

Really, you'll leave me an opening to point out that you're the important shit?

Right, right. Sloppy of me.

[ He sighs and finally, finally, reaches over Sypha to touch Alucard's cheek. ]

I can't be more important than the city. I signed up for this and they didn't. But- thanks.

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