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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[It doesn't hurt, which means the vampire doesn't jump as Trevor's fingers move over the jagged line. There's less tension in him than normal (he's nothing but tension these days), and he slides down Trevor's chest just a little. Just by accident.

He tries to inch closer. Bask in the actual affection, and right now, action does nothing. So words it'll have to be.]

I love you too. [The four easiest words he can manage right now, and the grip on Trevor becomes a squeeze, just for a moment.] Need you.

I'm here.

[ He strokes his fingertips over the mark slowly, tracing the shape of it, and he lifts the arm that's around Alucard to instead stroke through his hair. ]

Is it her, or is it the day before?

[ It's not the most graceful way to ask. But he has to know what the nature of the wound - the real wound, not just the mark - is before anything can be done about it. ]

[There's no reaction as Trevor's finger moves over the scar. It's deadened flesh, there's no life or reaction in it. When the dhampir does stir, it's because there are warm, familiar fingers in his hair, and he melts just a little more for it.

Some of it is just a byproduct of the role he's playing for survival's sake, the rest is the real, genuine need to be taken care of in the face of everything. Alucard knows he needs it, even though saying it out loud brings a tidal wave of guilt. They need him to show Dracula that the three of them must remain three. He can fall apart after.

So there's quiet as Alucard considers the question:]

The whole of everything she caused, I suppose.

Everything.

[ He sighs at that. It'd be easier to try and help with one thing. But everything is- it's a knot, and pulling any one thread just risks making the whole thing tighter.

He strokes a little wider, grazing fingers just past the edges of the scar, and his voice is low and steady. ]

All of it can be undone. Most of it has. Everything except this. One little mark.

[Everything covers even now, with his father's terrible attempt at understanding the balance between protection and letting one life their own lie. Alucard murmurs nothing in particular at first, making sound for the sake of showing he hasn't dozed off.]

The worst of the three. [He pauses, then there's a soft not-laugh.]

And the smallest of them, of course.

[ At 'three', he lifts his hand from Alucard's thigh up to his chest, tracing over where the twin scars are through his pajama top before settling against his thigh again. ]

She's in all of them, isn't she? [ It's not Carmilla he's talking about. It's clear from his voice. ] One where she saved you. One where you saved her. And one where you fought to protect her, and she came to rescue you.

[That's a thought that gives the vampire pause. He's right, because of course he is. Sypha became a part of his life because of that very first scar, and the past year and change can be traced through all three lines.

But there's another element there, and one of Alucard's hands moves so it can interlace it's fingers with Trevor's, now also brushing against the scar.]

Needs more Belmont then, so it's an even count.

Pretty sure there's enough Belmont-related scars in the world. I don't need to be going around making more.

[ It's comfortable, like this. He moves both of their hands over the scar, stroking Alucard's thigh softly. There's more of Sypha in that scar than he can know, since they've resolved not to tell him about the blood. ]

I'll just have to settle for having touched all of them.

Mmm.

[Maybe Trevor is right. Maybe there will be one or two more yet to come. The future is impossible to think of beyond the end of the month, and it comes burdened with so much fear in it.

Alucard cedes control over where his hand goes to Trevor. Easiest thing in the world, and hardly the first time he's allowed it.]

I think that this is the time you'd tell me off for being sappy, if the tables were turned.

Please. If I was going to be sappy, it'd be so much stupider.

[ And he stops abruptly there, with a shit-eating grin on his face that indicates that he's just waiting to be invited to demonstrate how stupid it would be. ]

Oh, I'm all ears, Belmont. Especially if that means a Speaker is about to catch you saying it.

[ Only a little unwillingly, he peels himself away from Alucard to rearrange himself so that he's opposite Alucard, facing him. He leans forward , bowing low to brush his lips over the scar.

It probably looks like something very different from an outside perspective. ]

This is proof that you were willing to sacrifice anything to protect us [ His voice is low, reverent, and he kisses over the scar, following it with his lips. ] It's beautiful.

[There are certain things that break the vampire, given various contexts. It has never been a secret that the easiest way to his heart is real emotional sincerity, in no small part because he tries to give as good as he wants to get.

So while Alucard tries not to protest when Trevor rearranges them both. There's a reason, he knows that, and when the reason is made clear, there's a soft noise that sounds like the spring winds as they ruffle at new leaves. Or maybe just something soft falling onto the ground. Whatever it is, it's one of the noises that means the vampire is taken aback, but is so, so happy for it.

Whatever this looks like from the outside, he doesn't care. Alucard simply puts a hand in Trevor's hair, stroking through it like he always does. Too careful, like either one of them are made of glass.

There's no words. Just this.]

[ He doesn't do this kind of shit often. It feels fake, oversaccharine, no matter how genuine he's being. But maybe he should. That soft noise alone is enough to make the self-consciousness gnawing at the back of his mind worth enduring. ]

This- [ and he kisses it again. ] -this isn't Carmilla's. This is your protecting us. This is Sypha's healing you. This is- whatever the fuck it was I did to help. It's perfect.

[There's another of those soft noises, and the hand in Trevor's hair moves down. It traces Trevor's jawbone from just below the ear all the way down to his chin, then tilts Trevor's head up so Alucard can memorize all Trevor's face int his moment.]

You kept me safe. You didn't let me be alone, no matter how much I thought it was the best thing.

[Because they did. They both knew that Alucard would wake in terror if it was his father here. They remained. They're here.]

So I did. Look at me, participating and everything.

[ Those noises are so tiny, so easy to miss, and so perfect despite it. Alucard's hand is so delicate against his face, and he lets him tilt his head and stares up at him. Utterly adoring, as much as he is when he's stupid and useless, but with a little more presence of mind than he is in those times. ]

[Alucard's thumb brushes against Trevor's cheek, slowly, as if trying to memorize every inch of skin that it is brushing over. All of those words get a soft, satisfied huff of a laugh, one of the few laughs the vampire has managed since the month began.

Memorizing that face sits and debates Alucard's desire to lean down and kiss it. There's presence behind that face that makes it clear Alucard is so very, very loved, and that's all the more reason to bask in it. That's all the more reason to kiss it.

The latter wins out, after a few more moments of quiet. Alucard leans down, ignoring how uncomfortable the angle is, tipping Trevor's chin upwards to try and help as well.

It's not chaste, not exactly, but it isn't the kind of kiss that wants to move beyond the point where they are either. (For many reasons, but mostly Dracula being home makes everything awkward.) There are teeth scraping against teeth, there is tongue, but the sentiment behind it all is the point.]

[ He sits up a little to help make the kiss at least a little less uncomfortable, one hand reaching up to hold Alucard's cheek and the other touching over the scar again. ]

Mine. [ He says, breathless, once the kiss is broken, pulling his finger over the scar. ] Just as much as any other part of you.

[There have been so many points where any show of possessiveness has felt false, given the circumstances.

Now is not one of those moments. It's the opposite, because rarely has Alucard not only felt that sense of being possessed, but craved it so badly. The angle is still terrible, but he doesn't care. This is perfect. Trevor's perfect. This moment should last forever.]

Yes. [He says the word with such satisfaction, just as he follows up with:] Yours.

[He shifts slightly, so that the hand that holds his cheek can move as Alucard leans downward, pressing their foreheads together. Hiding the rest of the world away with his hair, even if that's a lie in the house right now.]

[ It's a shame that the three of them can't all fit here, hidden by Alucard's hair. That's the only think keeping it from being perfect. Even with that, it's close enough that it's hard to tell the difference. He strokes over the scar, cool, smooth flesh and then cold, rough, dead, and then smooth again. Somewhere outside of the curtain of hair, there is a curious 'oh?' and a set of footsteps and he can't quite bring himself to pay it any mind. In truth, there are still a lot of complicated feelings associated with it. It's a reminder of terrible, horrible things, no matter how hard he's pretending that it isn't. But those- those can come later. Those can be confronted when everything else is done, at the nebulous future date when they inevitably have to discuss what was said before the battle.

Not until this test is done, because god knows if either of them give any sign of being hurt by the other then Dracula will pounce upon the chance to send him away, or to keep him within the city to do his work but in some different place.

There's a weight upon his back, suddenly. A very warm weight, damp and - oh, very naked from being fresh out of the shower, pushing him down so that a grinning Sypha can steal his place under Alucard's hair. He lets her weight pin him down in part because it's Sypha and in part because he's being pinned down between Alucard's legs, just next to the scar, close enough to kiss it again. ]

He's ours. [ He explains to Sypha between kisses, as if it needed explaining. ]

[Alucard smells Sypha before he sees her, the scent of shower freshness mixed with her natural scent. (She always smells like the road, soft dust and a far away breeze, just as Trevor will always have his musk and leather and faint hint of rose oil.) He doesn't know what this looks like from the outside, and he can't bring himself to care.

The only moment that matters is when Sypha ducks in, and Alucard kisses her just as lovingly as he did Trevor moments ago. This is not the worst arrangement the three of them have managed, but it's one of the most awkward.

Alucard breaks the kiss, just long enough for Sypha to smile and say, "Of course."

Because he is theirs. That's the obvious truth. Just as obvious as the fact that the vampire is going to fuss.]

Sypha, you're going to catch a cold like that.

[Slightly more damning is the fact that the vampire holds in a lengthy yawn. He doesn't want to nudge Trevor up. He doesn't want this embrace to break. But there's still time left to serve, and if they keep like this, there's only one possible ending.]

If only there were some way for you to keep her warm.

[ There's a shit-eating grin from below Sypha, but- well, it's probably still not a good time. He knows that. Sypha recognises it, too, and clambers off his back to pull on her own night things.

"Oh, if only."

With one last kiss (one last kiss that is very deliberately to the thigh, not over the scar, because Trevor is still a shit) he finally sits up. Just for long enough to bring Alucard into his arms and pull him down into the bed. ]

Feeling better?

[If only indeed. There's a slightly more choked noise at Trevor's last kiss to the thigh (rude), but the moment is past. Everyone rearranges themselves yet again, and Alucard takes the shift to pull up his PJ pants so that settling in for the night can begin properly.

He's in warm arms. He's being held, which is really all the vampire could ask for in this moment, and it becomes all the better when Sypha decides to settle atop them both so she can hang on.

(It's inching towards summer. In theory it's a terrible idea.)]

Mmm. [Alucard squirms for just a moment, settling under their embraces.]

Yes. I....this is perfect.

[ He doesn't know why he even bothers showering at night, when Sypha's so warm (on this occasion it was because he genuinely smelled like someone who's been doing physically exerting work in the heat all day, but still). He's just going to wake up sticky with sweat anyway.

It's worth it. Sypha wriggles under the arm that's over Alucard, and the one that's under him pulls him closer. Both of them closer. ]

Our Adrian. [ He mumbles, and his voice is already growing thick with sleepiness. ] Our precious, perfect Adrian.

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20s AU Post

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