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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This is not fine Trevor Belmont.

[Alucard's not stern. He's low key angry, more at the situation than at Trevor himself. He keeps applying pressure, and swearing softly while Sypha departs to get the medical kit.]

Why didn't you tell me you were getting to a breaking point?

It wasn't important. It'll heal. I'm-

[ He's fine. He's fine. But he catches the anger in Alucard's voice and-

He's hurt him, hasn't he? He knows how much it hurts Alucard to move right now, even with the effort shared between them. He's forced him to do it alone. Caused trouble. All because he couldn't keep his focus. His tone changes at that, from irritated with himself and growling through his teeth to soft and penitent. He stills. ]

-I'm sorry. Please rest, you don't need to do this.

Of course it's important. Beyond this nightmare of a situation, your health and well being is important.

[Alucard breathes out, but his tone doesn't change. He's at least sat on the floor, and with all the agony of movement, he can at least use the pressure to stay up right as a way to deal with Trevor's leg. This is a situation that should have never happened.]

I'm not moving until you're seen to.

[Zero arguments accepted.]

[ It isn't.

He isn't worth this. He isn't worth this and the more they give to him now the worse it will be when they finally figure that out. This is his own fault, and the best that he deserves is to be left to deal with the consequences of his own mistakes. ]

You don't need to.

[ He manages again, quieter this time, and falls quiet. Sypha returns before too long, suture needles and bandages at the ready. ]

As we've discussed endlessly before, need and want are two vastly different things. [There's a sigh.] Fuck.

[Thank God for Sypha's timing. Alucard doesn't move his hand from the worst of the wounds, but he does nudge Trevor gently as Sypha gets set.]

I need you to talk at me. It'll distract from this, and make sure you're not passing out from blood loss. Do you understand?

[ Talk. He can do that, probably. If not then it's not for the pain, but for the fact that he hasn't left work mode in far too long to remember how to talk about anything else. ]

[ There are two spells. One to move you about, and one to protect against this shit. I- must have drifted off for a moment, broke the second one. I'm sorry, I- it's the most basic, stupid kind of fuckup.

Sypha nudges Alucard's hand aside as she prepares to clean, sew and dress the cut. It's not even a fraction as bad as the original wound from Carmilla was, and just a little better than the last time Alucard accidentally pulled his stitches. A lot of blood, which always makes things worrying, but not the world's most difficult fix.

(He catches himself calling it a 'fix' in his head, like he's another of the cars.)

He holds his breath for a moment, gritting his teeth as Sypha begins the first stitch. He has nothing left to talk about, already. All he really had was magic talk and self-deprecation. ]

I- what do you want me to talk about?

Tell me about the best thing you ever got away with in school.

[It's a memory that ought to be pleasant. Something Alucard's never heard. A matter that's ridiculous, distracting, enough for Trevor to focus on. Alucard moves his hand away from where Sypha must work, and he rests it on the floor beside Trevor.

Best not to put Trevor's blood anywhere else.]

I'll tell you mine in turn.

[Anything to help.]

Best thing, or weirdest thing?

[ He keeps his face still, but his fingertips scrabble at the floor in pain, instinctively trying to pull him forward and away from Sypha and the needle. It's pathetic, he should be able to deal with this much without so much as flinching. Exhaustion's done a number on him. Soon, his fingers find Alucard's hand, and they settle against it. ]

Bought- brought pups into the school more than I probably ought to have. [ Because of course it would be dog-related. He breathes in sharply, steadying himself before continuing. ] Always ended badly. If you're going to be smuggling animals anywhere, you'd best be sure they're toilet trained.

Wait, Enid let you bring dogs out of her immediate domain?

[Alucard can't sound as faux-scandalized as he'd like, but the implication is there. He understands a few Belmont dynamics now, and Enid is the Queen of Dogs by all accounts. This is a good distraction, and he squeezes Trevor's hand in gentle solidarity.]

Moreover, how many puppies?

One at a time, usually. Didn't want them to start fighting inside my school bag.

[ Another stitch done and tied off. One or two more should be enough - it's not a large cut. ]

Enid used to smuggle dogs, too, when she went to school. I think all of us did. [ He gives a weak laugh that's almost certainly also covering up a grimace ]. Teachers fear the name Belmont more than vampires do, I think.

I think you'd only be able to fit two in your bag anyway. I'm assuming you had larger types.

[Good. They're almost there. Trevor to do this.]

So what you're telling me is that your entire family made each and every teachers' lives an absolute and utter living hell. Is that about right?

Most of us. They weren't on their guard when I showed up, because Juliet had been a perfect student. Only brought her hounds in once or twice. Enid was the worst, by all accounts. Not even the- [ another stitch begun, he hisses out air, then continues. ] -not even the dog thing. She just already knew near enough everything, and didn't take kindly to having her time wasted.

[ It's an effective distraction, if nothing else. Not so much from the pain, but from everything else, the exhaustion, the knowledge that he's failed and that all of this may well be for nothing as a result. That he's failed the two of them, proven himself the weak link the same way that he always does. It'll come back, but right now there's just laughter at himself and his sisters. ]

You said you'd share, too.

Of course Enid was the worst of them. The entire Belmont library at her disposal - what was worth learning?

[Alucard's thumb keeps stroking over Trevor's knuckles. This is almost over. He's nearly free, he can rest soon, the stupid Belmont.]

I did, didn't I? And I told Sypha about the time I turned into a wolf and spent an entire night sneaking snacks from drunk visitors to our tourist district, only for my stomach to betray my evening's activities, so I can't go with that one.

I hear Leona got competitive, wanted to be better than the other children at everything. Enid would just get bored and wander out of class in the middle, and if they tried to cane her she'd not understand why they were allowed to hit her and try to cane them back. And then Juliet behaved herself, but that was maddening in itself, because they were always expecting the other shoe to drop. I think they got off lucky with me bringing the pups into lessons.

[ Sypha's done by now, her shoulders sagging, a hand resting delicately on his hip, but- it's a pleasant topic of conversation, even if he is lying on the floor. It's been a decade, but he still misses his sisters desperately.

At least for a little while, he can forget how badly he's fucked this up. How hopeless the situation is. It's just- just nice. He laughs. Sypha smiles, exhausted but here for the exchanging of stories. ]

Not the danger we ever expected a vampire to pose to drunken strangers, persuading them to part with their street food. But you're going to have to come up with something else, I'm afraid, if she's already heard that one.

Oh, something tells me that bringing pups to school was also the least of your own shenanigans. But now I digress.

[The worst of all of this is well past. Thank goodness. So all Alucard can do now is move one hand to stroke Trevor's hair, soft and reverent as the gesture always is.]

But I'll stay on the topic of dogs. I was...oh, five when I learned to become a wolf and how to get around in that form. My father taught me the particulars over the course of a week while my mother was out of the house, attending a medical conference in Washington. [A ways away.]

Unsurprisingly, my sleep schedule immediately became standard vampire hours. I was as happy as anything about it, because it meant more time with my father. My mother, however, was less thrilled when she returned home and I refused to sleep at my normal time. [There's a soft laugh as Alucard continues.] And then my father had to withdraw from our home due to some vampire reason. I don't recall the exact nature. What I do recall is running around the house as a wolf some evening, trying to change back, and failing.

[Lisa Tepes had to deal with so much bullshit.]

I couldn't remember the trick to it, and it took my father four days to return home.

God, and you were stuck like that the whole time?

[ There's a laugh, one that isn't his, and it takes him a moment to realise that it's coming from Sypha. She's not really laughed in a while, has she? It's nice to hear. For once, for fucking once since this all became so messed up, they're all themselves. He sighs, reaching out for Alucard's hand. ]

Let me get a proper night's sleep, and I'll clean up this mess in the morning. And we'll- we'll see if I fucked everything up beyond fixing, I suppose.

I was. A wolf puppy. Your sister would have had the time of her life.

[Enid would have just dubbed him Dog the Whatever-eth, and that would have been that.

But it's good to hear at least someone laughing in all of this. Alucard's own smile is soft, as close as he can manage to laughing at the moment. That smile endures as Trevor takes the vampire's hand, and that hand remains held.]

Let's focus on the sleep part in and of itself then. Think you can walk, or am I on floating duty?

She'd have never let you change back.

[ He does let go of Alucard's hand, only out of necessity, and with his better leg pushes himself across the ground to the wall, bracing his back against it and slowly inching his way up until he's standing again without putting any weight on the stitched leg. ]

If you can float yourself upstairs, that'd be great. I'll figure out how to make my own way up. If I take too long, send Sypha to bring a crutch.

[ He's not really in any state to be carrying Alucard. And for once, for once, he knows it. But that doesn't mean he's not going to be just a little stubborn about this. ]

Oh, I can imagine worse fates than that.

[Being a spoiled dog forever? Yeah, that's a great life compared to right now.

Alucard can just about take Trevor's weight, although he does flinch as it first shifts. Sypha catches it, which means Trevor must as well, and there. Trevor's standing at the very least.]

We're not going to waste time with you hobbling along. Sypha, I'll go float off and get crutches, that way there's no other mishaps.

[It's one of the smallest pleasures of all of this, Trevor carrying Alucard around. They're one of the few things that mean safety anymore, and to lose that? It's worse than recovery starting from square one again.

He floats out before Trevor can argue. Always better that way.]

[ He rolls his eyes (fine. He's fine.) but he doesn't complain. Relly, he's lucky they're allowing him to use crutches instead of insisting on Alucard carrying them both despite being in no state to even carry just himself. He moves to their room with silent focus, concentrating on nothing but the destination, and he's asleep (in his work clothes, which is against his own rules) before his head hits the pillows.

He awakes to the distant sound of one half of a telephone conversation. It's past noon, long past when he should have joined Florence for a raid on the home of one of Carmilla's supporters, and his unexplained absence has all of his grandmothers frantic. As Sypha patiently explains for the fourth time that no, he got hurt last night but he's alive and they don't need any more soup, the pain hits.

He doesn't even register the body next to his. If he did, he probably wouldn't curl in upon himself, breath growing moist and ragged from behind clenched teeth. ]

Fuck.

[ It's a single word, soft and small and splitting into a choked sound at the end. ]

[Alucard breathes a sigh of relief only after Trevor is in bed. It isn't earned. They don't know how bad this is going to be. But for the immediate right now, tonight, he can enjoy the tiniest bit of relief. The small bit of knowledge that Trevor's alive, and right now, alive counts for far too much.

When Trevor awakes, Alucard is very much resting his eyes, the hope of a quick depression nap dashed due to the precious night's adventures. This is the next best thing, and now it is come to an end. He feels only a little more whole, but Alucard's come to accept that that is how all of this works. Every damn increment.

He sits up slowly as Trevor swears, his hand coming to rest on Trevor's shoulder. Trevor's still in work clothes, and that'll be the first problem of many to deal with, that much Alucard knows.]

I'm here. What do you need?

[There's already water on the bedside table.]

[ Everything hurts. Oh, there's the stabbing pain in one thigh, but that's secondary to the agony of complete, complete exhaustion in every part of him. Even lying still is too much work for his body to bear, and it's all he can to to coil in upon himself, make himself as small as possible so there's less of him to hurt.

He gives a wordless, too-high sound of acknowledgement in response to Alucard's question. What he needs is something that neither of them will ever give. He needs to be a thing instead of a person. To not matter. To not have a choice in this. To be able to see all of this as normal and right,until the aching in his bones is the way things are and not something new and worrying. He has borne all of this before for far longer, and that was what made it easier. ]

Overslept. Fucked everything up. Need to work. [ He mumbles it in that same soft, too-small voice, but makes no visible efforts to uncurl himself to actually get out of bed. ]

No, you don't.

[On that much, the vampire is firm. Most days, he can ignore the pain of recovery when he has to be on for one reason or the other. Reminding the other two of things to take care of, or having to act as regent. Other times, it's simply to mask the real extent of the agony.

Right now, it's because the Belmont is just being an absolute idiot.]

You're on bedrest today.

Can't.

[ Can't rest. He has to regain momentum. If he's working, it'll hurt less. That's how it works. That's how this has always worked. ]

Fucked up. Have to figure out the damage. Have to fix it. Have to-

[ He does try to uncurl this time and then quickly coils back tighter when his muscles immediately rebel against that movement, cursing under his breath. ]

[All that prompts from Alucard is a heavy sigh, the sound of all of the air being forced out of his lungs. The hand that has been resting on Trevor's shoulder moves, settling in his hair instead.]

Take a few hours off then, at the very least. Center yourself. Because this takes adjusting to.

[And he should know. He's a goddamn authority on bearing these injuries and working through them at this point.]

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