[ He should run. If he can get away, if he can ditch his companions and get to the engines and disable them- that's the most he'd ever be able to achieve here. He's under no illusion that he can make any difference whatsoever in a fair fight against Dracula, and Dracula's own refusal to take care of his own wellbeing cuts off all paths he has to make the fight unfair.
He doesn't. It makes him a shitty Belmont, means he's probably turning his back on the only chance he'll get to end this, but he turns and pushes past Alucard, returning to the room. ]
Easy. Shit, stop trying to get up.
[ Sypha's already halfway out of the bed when he gets in there, and he guides her back down. ]
I found this asshole. He's decided he's in charge.
[Alucard's honestly relieved when Sypha wakes, and thus pulls Trevor out of Bad Decision Station. He's slower to follow after the Belmont, mostly because he does not wish to intrude upon a more personal moment that this doubtlessly is.
He's proven right, of course, not just the way he pushes past Alucard but how he speaks to Sypha. That's...familiar. But he doesn't flinch, and that's an progress.]
[ Sypha tries to get up again at that, and eventually and silently reaches a compromise of sorts with Trevor sitting up and supporting herself against him. She blinks slowly a few times before her eyes focus on Alucard. ]
[This is not the time to be bickering but Alucard doesn't care. He'll bicker if he wants to. He'll leave his box behind. But.
Alucard's far more keen on speaking to Sypha now, and when he does walk over, it is very slowly. If Trevor wants him a certain distance, he'll respect that.]
My name is Adrian Tepes, known to the Wallachians as Alucard. Your...associate...here stumbled upon my crypt in an attempt to find the castle's engine room.
[ She tries unsteadily to stand, and Trevor gives a sharp, stern no. ]
The engine room. We were going there, and then the bird-men attacked and-
-and they threw you down the stairs, and that was fucking awful. Glad you remember.
[ Slowly, she raises her hand to her bandaged head, nodding. If nothing else, it seems like she's completely lucid. She looks up at Alucard, the pain fading from her face as her eyes grow wide with wonder. ]
The soldier. I knew we would find you here. You will come with us, yes?
No, but the people of Wallachia aren't. Their church murdered my mother in a manner that is whatever the opposite of subtle is.
[He's cold and clipped when he says it. Better that than an emotional mess, Alucard supposes. What he wants to do is inquire about the bird men but...]
I doubt your plan's chance of success, Speaker, and from what the Belmont says, there's no second plan in case you're captured or otherwise found out in your attempt. As I have tried to press upon the Belmont, it's smarter to retreat now and return to fight another day.
[ They speak at the same time, and on her third attempt Sypha manages to push past Trevor and stand, walking over to Alucard, the plush wolf still in her arms. ]
If we're captured, there's no room for a second plan. We die. If your father isn't taking blood, that means capture isn't going to happen - there's no use for prisoners. We do this now, we do this now and we succeed, or we don't do it at a-
-we are Wallachia's people. Is this what you would ask of us? To right our own small part in the wrong that was done to you?
[Alucard's gonna just let Sypha keep Moon-moon. She needs something comforting right now, and Trevor's probably it, but he's not as snuggly.]
What I'm asking is that you both listen to me here and now, or that you at least implement a second plan now before you insist on moving forward. Is that much agreeable?
Let's say that your insane plan to get to the engines work. What happens if we're attacked on the way out, whose lives are the priorities? Where are you intending to do as you retreat? What will you do should the plan with the engine fails entirely?
If there's a chance of escape, Sypha takes priority. If not, and if she has control over the engines, castle goes in the sea. If everything goes to shit, we smash everything we can before we die, slow everything down long enough that her people can evacuate as many people as will follow them.
We're not afraid to die, Alucard, so long as we're doing something.
[ She's right, technically, but Trevor's stomach twists at that. She's not supposed to be the one who says that shit! If anything was going to convince him to call this off and leave, it would be Sypha saying that. ]
If the plan fails, we smash the engine. Then we can retreat. It won't be repaired instantly, we'll be able to come back.
[Alucard listens. He considers, and...okay. The evacuation is what mollifies him in the end, along with smashing the engine. Pin the castle down, retreat, and then have a full frontal assault to follow on the heels of it.
He nods, finally.]
That will do for now. [His eyes go to the wolf plush.] You're taking my friend hostage?
Your- oh. Oh! [ She looks at the wolf, then hurriedly puts it back down on the bed, straightening the sheets. ] There. Back to normal.
If this works, we retreat. We can retreat for as long as we need to, if we can keep anything from leaving the castle.
[ That's the only compromise Trevor can offer. If they get a miracle, then they can retreat and regroup and make sure they're ready to face Dracula. ]
If it fails, we break shit and try to get out alive. We have twelve days' rations left- that's- eight? Yeah, eight - if you need to eat. But if you know the way, I'm guessing we're looking at a matter of hours, not days.
You can bring it along. I don't think it'll take too much room up.
[Moon moon is going to be needed as a chew toy at the very least.]
It will be an hour or so, correct. The rest will...will do. There are multiple options in case of different scenarios. That's all I wanted.
[Alucard pauses, then as he walks, he is no longer a man. He is a wolf, one that stands at the door. He looks back to the other two, making sure that they're following behind.]
It's the same plan as before, just she said some of it!
[ Trevor huffs about this while Sypha agonises over whether or not to bring Moon-moon. In the end, she tucks the wolf under her arm before following, still a little unsteady. Trevor follows after her. She looks back to Trevor with a raised eyebrow, gesturing to Alucard. Trevor nods with a whispered 'they do that. it's a vampire thing'. ]
They don't know we're here. The night creatures we've run into so far have just been instances of bad luck - going on or returning from whatever business they have outside the castle. All the bodies except for the most recent pair we've destroyed completely. The last two-
-I couldn't burn the bodies.
[ Trevor clears his throat. Yes. That's obvious. Can we not rub his nose in the fact that he let you get hurt, Sypha? (never mind that she's not doing that, that nobody is doing that but himself) ]
-The last two I salted to keep vampire senses from picking them up. We just have to trust that this place is big enough that people won't go checking every single empty room on a whim.
Alucard is quiet as they move down the hallway, his paws making no noise as they move over the stone of the most domestic part of the castle. The engine room is deep in the castle's center, and that means a need to take advantage of whatever little side doors and hidden corridors possible. They don't exist in this part.
There's a HUFF at Trevor's words, but not more. It's hard to talk as a wolf.
It's also hard to open doors as a wolf, as they reach the end of the corridor and Alucard stares accusingly at the door knob.]
And it was a sex thing, what I said before. To be on one's knees is- [ Alucard is rescued from the rest of that sentence by the fact that he's glaring at the doorknob. ] -Not the doorknob's fault that you decided you were going to have paws.
[The wolf just...rolls it's eyes at Trevor. He didn't actually need an explanation, Trevor is simply being gross and extremely damn rude on top of it. He huffs, unhappy, and then the door's open.
There's a larger corridor, one that looks to be far more a part of the castle than this tiny little domestic area is. Long, barely lit, the stone menacing.
[ It feels different, out here. It was hard to tell, what with the panic caused by Sypha's condition earlier, but the place where Alucard was kept - it felt safe. So far as any part of this fucking place could ever feel safe. For the moment, at least, the joking drops as they pass through the door. Sypha's walking at his side, but he hangs back to let her pull ahead. ]
Teeth, stay in the lead. I'll take the rear. [ Sypha stays between them, in other words. It goes against- basically fucking everything he knows- to not put himself between her and the closest vampire, but Alucard hasn't actually given that many signs that he can't be trusted. ]
The nickname gets a huff of annoyance, but there are more important things at hand. Alucard knows the routes of the castle well, and his wolf nose means that the approach of anyone is something that he can anticipate.
It takes time to reach the engine room, coupled with a few close encounters. More than once the wolf tenses, and there is movement just down a corridor or somewhere from above (for sometimes the corridors are very strange indeed.) But more than that, the journey to the engine room is to journey through the centuries of the castle itself. Stone changes. Some ceilings are vaulted and towering, others far too squat with thin holes only meant to let arrows escape. It is the only way to date the castle's component parts, and Alucard tries desperately not to.
He's hurting his home. The thing that has protected him just as surely as his parents have. Where he's grown up. Where he's taken his first steps, where he's learned so much, where no mob can reach him. And maybe that's why he hated the plan, really. Destroying the engine meant destroying the last and greatest defense that home ever had, and that aches.
Alucard had his plans for when he was out of the box. They have all been dashed.
The engine room is a vast place, and Alucard nudges opens the door with hesitation. There is no one, but this room is attuned to his father. That won't be for long.
He then sits himself by the door, making it clear that he is not moving from the spot.]
I was expecting more of a- giant monster sort of thing.
[ That's what Leon's journals always made this thing sound like. A horrible creature that spewed fire and stank of sulphur and magic. This is- well. All of that except the 'creature' part. Sypha is quick to point out the d20 part of the machine that controls it, and Trevor moves toward it cautiously. Nothing happens. ]
Time to see just how bullshit this whole thing is-
[ He slices his hand without so much as wincing - adrenaline, mostly, he's too full of it to feel anything - and presses it against the device. For a moment, the lights flicker. Then the castle flickers. The machine around them comes to live, roaring and clanking and then, then, it stops. Everything stops. At the other side of the device stands Dracula, holding it all still.
Trevor's swing is quick, and his shortsword buries itself in Dracula's neck before he catches it with his free hand. As if plucking a petal from a flower rather than wrestling a weapon from a not-small man while half-beheaded, he tugs it from Trevor's hands and tosses it into the turning gears. It's gone in an instant, chewed up between them. The cut on his neck is healed entirely by the time he lifts Trevor from the ground by his hair a fraction of a second later, effortlessly tossing him aside and towards the turning gears that just devoured the sword. ]
[The wolf has no idea why a giant monster would be what's there, but at least Sypha's got the right of it. Alucard continues to stand watch at the door, stiff and prim and just wanting to leave already, because this isn't safe. They aren't safe. This is the castle's heart, and to escape is going to be a true nightmare. All paths that lead to this place have windowless rooms, and now? Now they shall be ambushed on all sides by vampires.
He's justified in his terror when Dracula himself appears, and for a split second in the madness, Dracula's eyes meet those of his son. In that moment, the awful gravity of the situation truly smacks Alucard, and he knows how deeply awful this situation is. He is betraying everything for the sake of the world. That fact must now be armor against the emotional turmoil of it.
There's one path that has a small escape route. Alucard enters the engine room, letting out a short, sharp howl to draw the attention of the other two to the smallest of doors, hidden away in an alcove. Sypha won't leave Trevor behind, and if she's smart, her magic will be a merchant for time, letting Trevor withdraw and---
--the gears.
Alucard is no longer a wolf. He is a man. He is a man running to save a Belmont from being crushed by Dracula's castle.
No God or Devil is going to help him at this point.]
In most ways, at least. He didn't want Sypha to be here when they had to do this, but- well, you can't have everything. He can't sacrifice the world for her. If she has to go with them- so be it. The castle responded to the blood. He knows it did. So she can just kill all of them - the three of them, along with every vampire in this place, and-
-she doesn't do that. Instead he feels a gust of wind at his back, keeping him clear of the gears just long enough for Alucard to grab him. And that's stupid. Infuriating. They're going to die anyway- ]
-Sypha! The castle- Put us into the sea!
[ Sypha looks horrified for only a moment as she realises what he's asking of her, and then she presses her lips into a thin, determined line and nods. The castle flickers again, for a moment everything feels impossibly light in the water-that-isn't-there.
Dracula had been lunging for Sypha, but he's forced to return to the device. He plants both hands against it, suddenly shaken in a way that he wasn't by there being a sword in his neck. The castle falls still again, disappointingly not full of water, but Dracula's fingers tremble with effort. Sypha trembles, too, her whole being focused upon trying to move the castle. It wouldn't be close, in a battle of magic against magic. Not even Sypha can compete with Dracula in that. But with her connection to the castle strengthened by the blood of Leon Belmont it's a stalemate between them. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[ He gets up and continues walking. ]
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But, good news. There's a soft noise from the bedroom, followed by a very pained ugh. Alucard's expression remains glaring and unimpressed.]
Good, you can be in the room with me.
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He doesn't. It makes him a shitty Belmont, means he's probably turning his back on the only chance he'll get to end this, but he turns and pushes past Alucard, returning to the room. ]
Easy. Shit, stop trying to get up.
[ Sypha's already halfway out of the bed when he gets in there, and he guides her back down. ]
I found this asshole. He's decided he's in charge.
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He's proven right, of course, not just the way he pushes past Alucard but how he speaks to Sypha. That's...familiar. But he doesn't flinch, and that's an progress.]
I leveled critique at a plan. That's all.
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[ Sypha tries to get up again at that, and eventually and silently reaches a compromise of sorts with Trevor sitting up and supporting herself against him. She blinks slowly a few times before her eyes focus on Alucard. ]
You found-?
-This asshole, right.
[ That earns him an elbow in the ribs. ]
The soldier, Trevor. The soldier!
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[This is not the time to be bickering but Alucard doesn't care. He'll bicker if he wants to. He'll leave his box behind. But.
Alucard's far more keen on speaking to Sypha now, and when he does walk over, it is very slowly. If Trevor wants him a certain distance, he'll respect that.]
My name is Adrian Tepes, known to the Wallachians as Alucard. Your...associate...here stumbled upon my crypt in an attempt to find the castle's engine room.
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[ She tries unsteadily to stand, and Trevor gives a sharp, stern no. ]
The engine room. We were going there, and then the bird-men attacked and-
-and they threw you down the stairs, and that was fucking awful. Glad you remember.
[ Slowly, she raises her hand to her bandaged head, nodding. If nothing else, it seems like she's completely lucid. She looks up at Alucard, the pain fading from her face as her eyes grow wide with wonder. ]
The soldier. I knew we would find you here. You will come with us, yes?
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[He's cold and clipped when he says it. Better that than an emotional mess, Alucard supposes. What he wants to do is inquire about the bird men but...]
I doubt your plan's chance of success, Speaker, and from what the Belmont says, there's no second plan in case you're captured or otherwise found out in your attempt. As I have tried to press upon the Belmont, it's smarter to retreat now and return to fight another day.
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I- I am sorry for your loss. Terribly.
[ They speak at the same time, and on her third attempt Sypha manages to push past Trevor and stand, walking over to Alucard, the plush wolf still in her arms. ]
If we're captured, there's no room for a second plan. We die. If your father isn't taking blood, that means capture isn't going to happen - there's no use for prisoners. We do this now, we do this now and we succeed, or we don't do it at a-
-we are Wallachia's people. Is this what you would ask of us? To right our own small part in the wrong that was done to you?
[ Goddammit Sypha ]
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What I'm asking is that you both listen to me here and now, or that you at least implement a second plan now before you insist on moving forward. Is that much agreeable?
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[ Sypha purses her lips at that, holding the wolf a little tighter. ]
What- eventuality- did you wish to plan for? The prophecy didn't include a 'how', only a 'who'.
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[The wolf plush is coming with them isn't it?]
That's all I wish right now.
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We're not afraid to die, Alucard, so long as we're doing something.
[ She's right, technically, but Trevor's stomach twists at that. She's not supposed to be the one who says that shit! If anything was going to convince him to call this off and leave, it would be Sypha saying that. ]
If the plan fails, we smash the engine. Then we can retreat. It won't be repaired instantly, we'll be able to come back.
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He nods, finally.]
That will do for now. [His eyes go to the wolf plush.] You're taking my friend hostage?
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If this works, we retreat. We can retreat for as long as we need to, if we can keep anything from leaving the castle.
[ That's the only compromise Trevor can offer. If they get a miracle, then they can retreat and regroup and make sure they're ready to face Dracula. ]
If it fails, we break shit and try to get out alive. We have twelve days' rations left- that's- eight? Yeah, eight - if you need to eat. But if you know the way, I'm guessing we're looking at a matter of hours, not days.
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[Moon moon is going to be needed as a chew toy at the very least.]
It will be an hour or so, correct. The rest will...will do. There are multiple options in case of different scenarios. That's all I wanted.
[Alucard pauses, then as he walks, he is no longer a man. He is a wolf, one that stands at the door. He looks back to the other two, making sure that they're following behind.]
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[ Trevor huffs about this while Sypha agonises over whether or not to bring Moon-moon. In the end, she tucks the wolf under her arm before following, still a little unsteady. Trevor follows after her. She looks back to Trevor with a raised eyebrow, gesturing to Alucard. Trevor nods with a whispered 'they do that. it's a vampire thing'. ]
They don't know we're here. The night creatures we've run into so far have just been instances of bad luck - going on or returning from whatever business they have outside the castle. All the bodies except for the most recent pair we've destroyed completely. The last two-
-I couldn't burn the bodies.
[ Trevor clears his throat. Yes. That's obvious. Can we not rub his nose in the fact that he let you get hurt, Sypha? (never mind that she's not doing that, that nobody is doing that but himself) ]
-The last two I salted to keep vampire senses from picking them up. We just have to trust that this place is big enough that people won't go checking every single empty room on a whim.
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Alucard is quiet as they move down the hallway, his paws making no noise as they move over the stone of the most domestic part of the castle. The engine room is deep in the castle's center, and that means a need to take advantage of whatever little side doors and hidden corridors possible. They don't exist in this part.
There's a HUFF at Trevor's words, but not more. It's hard to talk as a wolf.
It's also hard to open doors as a wolf, as they reach the end of the corridor and Alucard stares accusingly at the door knob.]
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[ Sypha reaches the door first, opening it. ]
Must you, Belmont?
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There's a larger corridor, one that looks to be far more a part of the castle than this tiny little domestic area is. Long, barely lit, the stone menacing.
With a soft wag of his tail, Alucard leads on.]
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Teeth, stay in the lead. I'll take the rear. [ Sypha stays between them, in other words. It goes against- basically fucking everything he knows- to not put himself between her and the closest vampire, but Alucard hasn't actually given that many signs that he can't be trusted. ]
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The nickname gets a huff of annoyance, but there are more important things at hand. Alucard knows the routes of the castle well, and his wolf nose means that the approach of anyone is something that he can anticipate.
It takes time to reach the engine room, coupled with a few close encounters. More than once the wolf tenses, and there is movement just down a corridor or somewhere from above (for sometimes the corridors are very strange indeed.) But more than that, the journey to the engine room is to journey through the centuries of the castle itself. Stone changes. Some ceilings are vaulted and towering, others far too squat with thin holes only meant to let arrows escape. It is the only way to date the castle's component parts, and Alucard tries desperately not to.
He's hurting his home. The thing that has protected him just as surely as his parents have. Where he's grown up. Where he's taken his first steps, where he's learned so much, where no mob can reach him. And maybe that's why he hated the plan, really. Destroying the engine meant destroying the last and greatest defense that home ever had, and that aches.
Alucard had his plans for when he was out of the box. They have all been dashed.
The engine room is a vast place, and Alucard nudges opens the door with hesitation. There is no one, but this room is attuned to his father. That won't be for long.
He then sits himself by the door, making it clear that he is not moving from the spot.]
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[ That's what Leon's journals always made this thing sound like. A horrible creature that spewed fire and stank of sulphur and magic. This is- well. All of that except the 'creature' part. Sypha is quick to point out the
d20part of the machine that controls it, and Trevor moves toward it cautiously. Nothing happens. ]Time to see just how bullshit this whole thing is-
[ He slices his hand without so much as wincing - adrenaline, mostly, he's too full of it to feel anything - and presses it against the device. For a moment, the lights flicker. Then the castle flickers. The machine around them comes to live, roaring and clanking and then, then, it stops. Everything stops. At the other side of the device stands Dracula, holding it all still.
Trevor's swing is quick, and his shortsword buries itself in Dracula's neck before he catches it with his free hand. As if plucking a petal from a flower rather than wrestling a weapon from a not-small man while half-beheaded, he tugs it from Trevor's hands and tosses it into the turning gears. It's gone in an instant, chewed up between them. The cut on his neck is healed entirely by the time he lifts Trevor from the ground by his hair a fraction of a second later, effortlessly tossing him aside and towards the turning gears that just devoured the sword. ]
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[The wolf has no idea why a giant monster would be what's there, but at least Sypha's got the right of it. Alucard continues to stand watch at the door, stiff and prim and just wanting to leave already, because this isn't safe. They aren't safe. This is the castle's heart, and to escape is going to be a true nightmare. All paths that lead to this place have windowless rooms, and now? Now they shall be ambushed on all sides by vampires.
He's justified in his terror when Dracula himself appears, and for a split second in the madness, Dracula's eyes meet those of his son. In that moment, the awful gravity of the situation truly smacks Alucard, and he knows how deeply awful this situation is. He is betraying everything for the sake of the world. That fact must now be armor against the emotional turmoil of it.
There's one path that has a small escape route. Alucard enters the engine room, letting out a short, sharp howl to draw the attention of the other two to the smallest of doors, hidden away in an alcove. Sypha won't leave Trevor behind, and if she's smart, her magic will be a merchant for time, letting Trevor withdraw and---
--the gears.
Alucard is no longer a wolf. He is a man. He is a man running to save a Belmont from being crushed by Dracula's castle.
No God or Devil is going to help him at this point.]
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In most ways, at least. He didn't want Sypha to be here when they had to do this, but- well, you can't have everything. He can't sacrifice the world for her. If she has to go with them- so be it. The castle responded to the blood. He knows it did. So she can just kill all of them - the three of them, along with every vampire in this place, and-
-she doesn't do that. Instead he feels a gust of wind at his back, keeping him clear of the gears just long enough for Alucard to grab him. And that's stupid. Infuriating. They're going to die anyway- ]
-Sypha! The castle- Put us into the sea!
[ Sypha looks horrified for only a moment as she realises what he's asking of her, and then she presses her lips into a thin, determined line and nods. The castle flickers again, for a moment everything feels impossibly light in the water-that-isn't-there.
Dracula had been lunging for Sypha, but he's forced to return to the device. He plants both hands against it, suddenly shaken in a way that he wasn't by there being a sword in his neck. The castle falls still again, disappointingly not full of water, but Dracula's fingers tremble with effort. Sypha trembles, too, her whole being focused upon trying to move the castle. It wouldn't be close, in a battle of magic against magic. Not even Sypha can compete with Dracula in that. But with her connection to the castle strengthened by the blood of Leon Belmont it's a stalemate between them. ]
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