[ He listens intently, fighting the urge to snatch that letter from Alucard’s hands. Another connection. One more, after years of nothing. He manages not to. ]
Shit, you knew her. And this must have been after Dracula’s death.
[ It seems like a stupid statement of the obvious. Left unsaid is the ‘but before-‘. ]
[Before everything. Just as he was being put into that case. The letter is returned to where it came from. But what gets Alucard to look up, genuinely surprised.]
I know I’m getting ahead of myself, assuming we’ll survive this. But-
[ “When this is done, you’ll find a way to be happy again. I know you will.” ]
When this is done, you’ll just be normal. A vampire and all, but a normal one. You’ll be able to just- do whatever it is you like doing. Whatever makes all of this better.
Yeah, probably. ‘All we need to do is stop Dracula’. Like it’s easy.
[ He has humour enough left in him to make fun of himself, at least. ]
Sniff around for other vampires, then rest. Nothing that we can do anyway until she can track your blood and the castle. May as well rest while we can.
Very well. I'll see if any others of my father's kind remain.
[So Alucard stands. Walks out of the hold, quiet save for the occasional sound of his boots against the floor. He's so tired. So scared. So wanting to be done with all of this, and the matter has only begun.]
[ Whether or not the castle has windows seems to be based more upon its mood and the allegience of any given part of it to Alucard or his father than on any proximity to its outer walls. Rooms that look to have windows from the outside have none if that part of the castle hasn't yet been convinced to aid Alucard. Passages that by all right should be in the centre of the castle and away from all natural light are lined with bright glass if that part of the castle wants to make itself safe for him. They look out at places that aren't Wallachia, some of them. Places that don't even look like they're on this world.
But this room always seems to have windows. Great, arched ones, and a ceiling of glass. A telescope in the room's heart, and star charts scattered across desks. Dracula has long had a more powerful, more complete observatory. The castle seems to think that means he forgot this one, that he used in its youth. That it's a safe place to be. ]
But sunlight reflected in a mirror harms vampires. If moonlight were truly reflected sunlight, surely it would- [ Juliet trails off. ] -oh, that was rude, wasn't it? I shouldn't be thinking about how to kill you while you're talking about the moon. Don't mind me, just tell me more things about the sky. I'm very nearly romanced, you know.
[ Her tone makes it sound like a joke, but her arms are around Alucard's shoulders, her cloak bundled around both of them as they look out at the night sky. She listens intently, only occasionally popping in to add comments about sunlight, speculation on what must make it different from the light of other stars. Most of her ideas aren't anywhere close to correct, but she's eager to hear about the science of it all and try to match it with what she knows. There might have been some gems in there, if they'd ever had the chance to test any of the wild theories she presented. But she slows, and not from tiredness. ]
The world will lose so much, when this is done. All these stars, how far away they are and how hot they burn and how long their light takes to reach us - suddenly, nobody will know those things anymore. They'll just be the lights in the sky again. And nobody- nobody will ever know that we lost anything.
[ Her arms tighten, and she pulls Alucard's back to her chest. Her voice is very small. Perhaps it's selfish, to be saying this to Alucard of all people. Perhaps it's important that he know that someone else might mourn the man. ]
We're burning the Library of Alexandria, aren't we? In a war that didn't need to happen.
[ There are no more vampires aboard. The crew are agitated over their missing captain, but they bring the boat to Whitby anyway. There's nothing they can do about the situation at sea. Trevor gives Alucard space, as much as anyone can give anyone space in that tiny room. They have Alucard leave the boat as a wolf and Trevor spends a good half hour arguing with a record keeper at the port that it's not his fault that the sailors forgot to mention his dog on the ship's passenger list.
By the time it's safe for him to turn back, Whitby Abbey looms on the cliffs overhead as Sypha runs through the list of components they'll need to find to track both the castle and Alucard's blood. Nothing about it looks familiar and, even in ruins, it's still kind of a church.
And yet it calls to Alucard. A powerful sadness seems to radiate from the ruins as they stare out over the sea, waiting for their prince to return home. ]
[In the little moments, the world is almost okay. Alucard is not at peace, but he is better than he has been. Talking of science, of the things learned in the castle, of everything that makes the castle home, it is a comfort. A place where he can go and know that they can have snatches of time together.
And oh, what a thing it is, wrapped up in Juliet's cloak and telling her about how stars are really tiny suns. Explaining how they form, what that means in terms of life elsewhere, all of it. He could cry from how good it feels to have the option there at all, and how happy he is to hear theories even if they're probably not right.
But then reality returns, and...]
Yes. Because it's contained in one man, and the world could not accept even a fraction of that knowledge.
[There's the pain back again, and his fingers lace with hers to.......
...to Whitby. Alucard is either a wolf or a bat for the rest of the trip, curled snug under the little bed or hanging from the ceiling. The forms don't help. Being a wolf brings other Belmonts to the surface, and being a bat simply makes him hungry. Both options are horrid, but soon enough they are in Whitby.
The abbey is old. It shouldn't capture his attention as it does. His wolf ears should not twitch from familiarity, his paws should not compel him to move.
Yet move he does, slow at first and then gaining speed, because he knows that sound. He knows it, he knows it, he would climb 5000 stairs instead of the 199 it takes to get to the abbey, that is the castle with a guise on he knows his home.]
Something that’s been in the castle while it was moving- shit. If we have anything like that it’d be something of his-
[ Spell components are proving to be more difficult than he’d expected. Something about a massive source of energy throwing Sypha off. Which sounds fake, because they’re in fucking Whitby and what the fuck is even in Whitby. ]
These tracking spells aren’t my forte, and-
-hang on, we’re losing our dog.
[ He gives chase as Alucard moves away from them, and it’s only with a massive push to sprint up the first lot of stairs two at a time that he catches up before Alucard gains too much speed. ]
Careful. [ He says it between pants, sinking down onto one of the thin benches used by coffin bearers. ] Only thing up there is a church.
[Alucard's response is to snuffle at Trevor when he gets close enough. But he at least pauses until Trevor's there and Sypha too, and then? Then they're mostly there, with just a few more steps left.
Yes. It's an old church. But it isn't, and Alucard shifts into a human shape once he's sure no one is looking.]
[ Shit, maybe sprinting up all those steps was not a great idea. He has a little while to catch his breath while Sypha catches up but his lungs are still burning and he can feel a powerful stitch developing when she does. That’s a good start. Here lies Trevor Belmont, tried to kill Dracula, felled by stairs. ]
Looks like it’s seen better days, but it’s still a church. Doesn’t seem like the best place for you to go.
-wait. Belmont, that’s what’s interfering with my spells. It could be dangerous.
[ The abbey isn’t exactly whole. There’s no door to enter, but a fallen wall at one side. Beyond it, the inside looks about what one might expect from a ruined abbey. ]
[ As Alucard passes through the doors, they lead to a familiar entrance. The castle hasn’t been maintaining itself as well as it could have been, but it’s here. Here and not in too much disrepair. And distantly, like a voice heard through water- ]
Fuck!
[ Trevor passes through the same door. And he’s there in the entrance way, but he’s not. He’s transparent, moving around things that aren’t there to be moved around. Moving through things that are really there like a ghost. ]
[ Sypha doesn't get very far into her Belmont, I told you so before the castle consumes the both of them, bringing them into its entrance way for real this time. The castle creaks and groans with the effort, but they're standing there with Alucard now. ]
-happening. [ He pauses, looking around at the castle. ] Well, fuck me.
[Alucard looks to Trevor and Sypha, his face a very careful blank. He's in his home, but it has fallen apart so very much. It aches, seeing it in such a state.]
You said it traveled, yes? Was it taking guises as well when your family was tracking it?
I don’t think so. It moved every few years for about a century, then we tracked its magic to England but we just couldn’t find it. Always did seem like a tiny county to lose a whole castle in.
But- shit. [ The specific state of the castle seems familiar, though he’s never seen it in a building before. He brushes a hand against the wall and stares as layers of stone peel from it like layers of skin. The sound of its groaning is like bone scraping against bone. ] It’s still a church. Even desanctified. It’s protecting you from the worst of it, but it’s- hurting it, being a church.
[ The castle creaks and groans in response, shaking with effort. Dust falls from the ceiling. The floor rises in the centre. ]
Sypha!
[ Where it rose, the floor splits like an overripe fruit. Sypha launches ice from her hands, welding the castle’s torn floor together again. Beneath it, something dark swirls about. It would probably be bad to fall into that. Just a Belmont gut feeling there, ‘falling into infinite darkness is probably not good’. The castle shakes still more violently, tiny stones now falling from the ceiling, and Trevor tucks Sypha under his body in case anything larger falls.
And then it stops. ]
we’ve moved. [ Sypha says, de-belmont-ing herself. Personal space, Trevor. ] Not far. About a half day’s ride.
[Alucard doesn't move as the castle creaks and groans. He simply keeps both of his hands on the floor, and that? That seems to hold some of it together. A little vampiric miracle of sorts, one worth celebrating.
He didn't notice the pit or Sypha's near mis-adventure. He's noticed nothing, and even after it has landed, Alucard doesn't get up. He instead murmurs soft things in old Wallachian to the building, before he asks:]
Belmont, how did you know how to diagnose the castle's ills?
Or- I mean, it's not a ghost. It's nothing that would have shown up in our bestiaries. But it's- just the stuff on the inside, without the outside part. That's kind of like a ghost, just using Dracula's magic instead of the naturally occurring stuff. And ghosts get weird if you're around something like a leyline that interferes with naturally occurring magic, so- you know. Probably not good for it to be around something that can interfere with Dracula's.
[ He guessed, is what he's saying. He guessed what it was and he guessed what was hurting it. It's quite the achievement, but you wouldn't know it to see how awkward he is about admitting it. ]
[The explanation tracks. Hell, makes perfect sense. Belmonts must know of all supernatural things, and so that logically entails ghosts. So that the castle manages to move like a haunted thing clinging to the world well, that's heartbreaking, but it still makes sense.
He pats the castle gently, then stands.]
It's me. Let me see the full of you, and what I can repair.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Shit, you knew her. And this must have been after Dracula’s death.
[ It seems like a stupid statement of the obvious. Left unsaid is the ‘but before-‘. ]
I’m sorry for your loss.
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[Before everything. Just as he was being put into that case. The letter is returned to where it came from. But what gets Alucard to look up, genuinely surprised.]
It's...I.
Thank you. And I'm sorry for all of yours.
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[ “When this is done, you’ll find a way to be happy again. I know you will.” ]
When this is done, you’ll just be normal. A vampire and all, but a normal one. You’ll be able to just- do whatever it is you like doing. Whatever makes all of this better.
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[It's not the fucking point and he knows it.]
Please know I appreciate the sentiment. Even if I struggle to show it.
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[ He has humour enough left in him to make fun of himself, at least. ]
Sniff around for other vampires, then rest. Nothing that we can do anyway until she can track your blood and the castle. May as well rest while we can.
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[Alucard is morose, but he does start to move in the direction of the door.]
I'll meet you back at the room. Somehow I suspect it'll be more comfortable for her, at the very least.
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We’ll head back to the room once she’s awake.
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[So Alucard stands. Walks out of the hold, quiet save for the occasional sound of his boots against the floor. He's so tired. So scared. So wanting to be done with all of this, and the matter has only begun.]
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But this room always seems to have windows. Great, arched ones, and a ceiling of glass. A telescope in the room's heart, and star charts scattered across desks. Dracula has long had a more powerful, more complete observatory. The castle seems to think that means he forgot this one, that he used in its youth. That it's a safe place to be. ]
But sunlight reflected in a mirror harms vampires. If moonlight were truly reflected sunlight, surely it would- [ Juliet trails off. ] -oh, that was rude, wasn't it? I shouldn't be thinking about how to kill you while you're talking about the moon. Don't mind me, just tell me more things about the sky. I'm very nearly romanced, you know.
[ Her tone makes it sound like a joke, but her arms are around Alucard's shoulders, her cloak bundled around both of them as they look out at the night sky. She listens intently, only occasionally popping in to add comments about sunlight, speculation on what must make it different from the light of other stars. Most of her ideas aren't anywhere close to correct, but she's eager to hear about the science of it all and try to match it with what she knows. There might have been some gems in there, if they'd ever had the chance to test any of the wild theories she presented. But she slows, and not from tiredness. ]
The world will lose so much, when this is done. All these stars, how far away they are and how hot they burn and how long their light takes to reach us - suddenly, nobody will know those things anymore. They'll just be the lights in the sky again. And nobody- nobody will ever know that we lost anything.
[ Her arms tighten, and she pulls Alucard's back to her chest. Her voice is very small. Perhaps it's selfish, to be saying this to Alucard of all people. Perhaps it's important that he know that someone else might mourn the man. ]
We're burning the Library of Alexandria, aren't we? In a war that didn't need to happen.
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By the time it's safe for him to turn back, Whitby Abbey looms on the cliffs overhead as Sypha runs through the list of components they'll need to find to track both the castle and Alucard's blood. Nothing about it looks familiar and, even in ruins, it's still kind of a church.
And yet it calls to Alucard. A powerful sadness seems to radiate from the ruins as they stare out over the sea, waiting for their prince to return home. ]
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And oh, what a thing it is, wrapped up in Juliet's cloak and telling her about how stars are really tiny suns. Explaining how they form, what that means in terms of life elsewhere, all of it. He could cry from how good it feels to have the option there at all, and how happy he is to hear theories even if they're probably not right.
But then reality returns, and...]
Yes. Because it's contained in one man, and the world could not accept even a fraction of that knowledge.
[There's the pain back again, and his fingers lace with hers to.......
...to Whitby. Alucard is either a wolf or a bat for the rest of the trip, curled snug under the little bed or hanging from the ceiling. The forms don't help. Being a wolf brings other Belmonts to the surface, and being a bat simply makes him hungry. Both options are horrid, but soon enough they are in Whitby.
The abbey is old. It shouldn't capture his attention as it does. His wolf ears should not twitch from familiarity, his paws should not compel him to move.
Yet move he does, slow at first and then gaining speed, because he knows that sound. He knows it, he knows it, he would climb 5000 stairs instead of the 199 it takes to get to the abbey, that is the castle with a guise on he knows his home.]
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[ Spell components are proving to be more difficult than he’d expected. Something about a massive source of energy throwing Sypha off. Which sounds fake, because they’re in fucking Whitby and what the fuck is even in Whitby. ]
These tracking spells aren’t my forte, and-
-hang on, we’re losing our dog.
[ He gives chase as Alucard moves away from them, and it’s only with a massive push to sprint up the first lot of stairs two at a time that he catches up before Alucard gains too much speed. ]
Careful. [ He says it between pants, sinking down onto one of the thin benches used by coffin bearers. ] Only thing up there is a church.
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Yes. It's an old church. But it isn't, and Alucard shifts into a human shape once he's sure no one is looking.]
It's not a church. Walk with me.
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Looks like it’s seen better days, but it’s still a church. Doesn’t seem like the best place for you to go.
-wait. Belmont, that’s what’s interfering with my spells. It could be dangerous.
[ The abbey isn’t exactly whole. There’s no door to enter, but a fallen wall at one side. Beyond it, the inside looks about what one might expect from a ruined abbey. ]
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[Alucard is confident. Almost defensive as he starts walking to the abbey. To it's doors.]
It's my father's castle, Belmont.
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Fuck!
[ Trevor passes through the same door. And he’s there in the entrance way, but he’s not. He’s transparent, moving around things that aren’t there to be moved around. Moving through things that are really there like a ghost. ]
The fuck did you go?
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[Alucard frowns, turning around. He can hear Trevor, but he isn't in the hall. No. That's not right, the space is--
---the space is the point.
He reaches down, running a hand over the stones.]
He's like Juliet. So is the one with him. Please permit them both in, at least into the main hall.
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[ Sypha doesn't get very far into her Belmont, I told you so before the castle consumes the both of them, bringing them into its entrance way for real this time. The castle creaks and groans with the effort, but they're standing there with Alucard now. ]
-happening. [ He pauses, looking around at the castle. ] Well, fuck me.
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[Alucard looks to Trevor and Sypha, his face a very careful blank. He's in his home, but it has fallen apart so very much. It aches, seeing it in such a state.]
You said it traveled, yes? Was it taking guises as well when your family was tracking it?
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But- shit. [ The specific state of the castle seems familiar, though he’s never seen it in a building before. He brushes a hand against the wall and stares as layers of stone peel from it like layers of skin. The sound of its groaning is like bone scraping against bone. ] It’s still a church. Even desanctified. It’s protecting you from the worst of it, but it’s- hurting it, being a church.
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Alucard settles himself down on the floor.]
Is there space for you near by, where you don't have to use this shell?
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Sypha!
[ Where it rose, the floor splits like an overripe fruit. Sypha launches ice from her hands, welding the castle’s torn floor together again. Beneath it, something dark swirls about. It would probably be bad to fall into that. Just a Belmont gut feeling there, ‘falling into infinite darkness is probably not good’. The castle shakes still more violently, tiny stones now falling from the ceiling, and Trevor tucks Sypha under his body in case anything larger falls.
And then it stops. ]
we’ve moved. [ Sypha says, de-belmont-ing herself. Personal space, Trevor. ] Not far. About a half day’s ride.
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He didn't notice the pit or Sypha's near mis-adventure. He's noticed nothing, and even after it has landed, Alucard doesn't get up. He instead murmurs soft things in old Wallachian to the building, before he asks:]
Belmont, how did you know how to diagnose the castle's ills?
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[ That's an entirely satisfying answer, surely. ]
Or- I mean, it's not a ghost. It's nothing that would have shown up in our bestiaries. But it's- just the stuff on the inside, without the outside part. That's kind of like a ghost, just using Dracula's magic instead of the naturally occurring stuff. And ghosts get weird if you're around something like a leyline that interferes with naturally occurring magic, so- you know. Probably not good for it to be around something that can interfere with Dracula's.
[ He guessed, is what he's saying. He guessed what it was and he guessed what was hurting it. It's quite the achievement, but you wouldn't know it to see how awkward he is about admitting it. ]
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[The explanation tracks. Hell, makes perfect sense. Belmonts must know of all supernatural things, and so that logically entails ghosts. So that the castle manages to move like a haunted thing clinging to the world well, that's heartbreaking, but it still makes sense.
He pats the castle gently, then stands.]
It's me. Let me see the full of you, and what I can repair.
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WAIT SHIT THIS ONE SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRST
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