[It's the worst of the flashbacks so far. The broken glass. The feeling of just barely surviving. All of it. And that Trevor's hair may as well be his great-aunt's does nothing to help.
The dhampir is as still as the grave, unable to move. Caught between two times, screaming at both in terror for very different reasons.
We're not dead.]
Okay. [He breathes out. Centering himself. Returning to the present.] We'll go there.
[ It's still unsteady, the way he moves his arms, and he has to move them one at a time. But he gets them around Alucard's neck, holding on as tightly as he can manage.
And it's- strange. More than most things so far. The moment was too panicked before, in the burning cottage, to appreciate the fact that this coffin man, the man he's been dragging around with him all his life, is alive. Alive and real and dragging him around in turn.
He doesn't know how to feel about being protected, but it seems. Nice. He's got a hole in him and he's bleeding and fuck if he's going to have anything close to a peaceful sleep for the next month no matter how much he drinks. And yet it's nice, to know that he can be at least a little weak right now, if only physically. ]
You're looking for a stream - you don't need to cross it. [ Alucard has already crossed water. That was very much a thing he did. They were in a boat. But still. ] Follow it until everything gets really fucking overgrown.
[Alucard takes Trevor's weight all too easily. It's like carrying a little sack of grapes if he's being honest, and as he walks forward?
No. He can't imagine what it'd be like, walking away from a burning wreck. Someone in his arms, gloriously alive instead of all the variations on the other option. He has to stay focused and in the moment. Eyes ahead. Ignoring the scent of blood in the air.]
I can cross streams, Belmont.
[The tone is soft. Chiding. And so Alucard keeps moving them both, to the stream. Along to the undergrowth.]
Keep talking to me, so I know you're not passed out of blood loss.
[ Hey, last time he made an assumption about what you could do it almost ended badly. ]
I don't know what the fuck to say. I- [ How does one make small talk. He tries to come up with topics that aren't awful or related to drinking or- anything like that. And it's a combination of the lack of things to say that aren't awful and the dizziness from blood loss that leads to- ]
Have you seen her, whenever she gets a blanket, or the cloak, or anything? [ He laughs, then regrets it. It's fond and also fucking painful. ] Like a caterpillar, if instead of turning into butterflies they just got morning hair.
Dunno. I just wanted someone to agree with me that her hair looks ridiculous first thing in the morning.
[ Trevor nobody in this party is immune to morning hair. ]
It’s nice, this. Except for the bullet. Been doing this shit on my own for so long, I forgot that sometimes people wrap themselves up in blankets weird and it makes all of this worth it.
It's fine. [Alucard's voice is soft, trying to be soothing instead and--
--the wind picks up. Slow at first and then wildly, tree branches flying. Rocks coming soon after. The ground rumbling, furious and cracking and heralding something terrible.
For the first time, the castle appears as itself. It is jet black, the spires crumbling. Wearing it's age, and yet even then, it imposes.
[ Familiar, in a way nothing should ever be. In a way that it wasn't whn it was the abbey or the cottage. It doesn't feel like returning to a long-lost home, that's not even close to what this edifice is, but the strength of it is the same. The sense of calling. It's the end of a nine-century journey, the culmination of a quest that's lasted more lifetimes then he's lived years or scars. ]
-that's what it looks like, without the mask on. Fuck. [ For a second, he's forgotten the lump of metal lodged in his side. Forgotten that they need to find blood for the vampire. Forgotten everything but the thing looming over them. ]
[That's all Alucard says before walking through the door. It is good, seeing the castle again even if it is ailing. It is home, far better than the masks it wore. And as it is home, the entrance is a little grander. A little warmer. A wing has manifested, and it has a kitchen.
So the kitchen is where Alucard carries Trevor to, knowing that it's the only operating theatre available to them now.]
I'll have to get supplies before I try to remove the bullet. What I'll do is place you down on the kitchen table, and then go get what's needed. Promise me that you'll stay awake.
[ Something's wrong, he can feel it as they enter. But for the life of him, he can't place his finger on what. Between the pain and the bloodloss and the sheer fucking awe, thinking is like moving through knee-deep mud right now.
Perhaps it's just that the place- it's nowhere near in good repair now, but it's a lot healthier than it was a few hours ago. Cracks in the walls are sealed with something that he knows can't really be molten rock but that certainly looks the part, glowing softly in the darker parts of the rafters. Furniture that had been broken from centuries of disrepair is now only very, very worn from centuries of disrepair. The kitchen is cleaner than any of the parts that the castle grew before were, free of dust if not of wear. ]
Go find your shit. Don't worry, I'm not about to get up and go anywhere while you're gone.
[ No matter how overwarm the kitchen's fire is. Sypha will no doubt show up eventually, and he'll ask her to get it down to a bearable level.
[Alucard's face sours, and he disappears down the corridor they came down. As he walks, he tries to will the castle to manifest something useful. His father's labs. His mother's. Something that has bandages and alcohol so that the wound can get seen to.
The castle offers nothing. Just corridor. Corridor that shakes, making it clear the castle is trying so, so hard.
[ He opens his mouth to try to say- he doesn’t know. To apologise? To double down? It doesn’t really matter, Alucard leaves before he can decide. That’s fine. He probably deserves to stew a little for that attempt at a joke.
Or, he probably deserves to stew figuratively. Not literally, as is happening right now. Why is that fire so hot? And why is it moving like that? ]
I am trying!
[ The voice is the kind of frustrated that one can only ever be with oneself. It’s also mostly Sypha’s, with an undercurrent of settling earth. Then from the kicthen there’s a thump and a yell of pain and surprise that sound very much like a Belmont has fallen off the table ]
[Sypha's voice rings out as clear as a bell. But the sound of earth, that is new. He doesn't like it, and so the quest to find supplies is abandoned as Alucard races back.]
Don't remove the bullet yet, I don't have any bandages!
[He yells it out into the corridor, praying that the voice will carry.]
[ Trevor is on the ground, clawing at the floor to move back and away from the fireplace, as the fire climbs out from it. It stands, on legs that look like they might be human, and steps forward.
The flames come together into something more solid, into softly glowing skin, and most of Sypha is standing before them. What is missing of her is a large section of her chest on the left side, and the inside of her body is made up of that molten rock like substance. Inside that cavity, where her heard ought to be, that many-sided heart of the castle spins. ]
I told you, I am trying to find them!
[ And she reaches out, hand sinking into the wall behind her, and tears it away as if splashing a pond to disturb the reflection. When it settles, it’s a wall from a different room. One, it seems, with a medicine cabinet. ]
Before you say anything else, this was not my fault. I do not make mistakes when handling magical items.
[ Trevor relaxes at that, flopping down unto his side. Yup. That’s Sypha. He should probably be a little more freaked out, but pain and blood loss. He’ll process this new bullshit later. ]
It wouldn’t have survived the journey. Not without something to inhabit. It needed a place where God is not welcome.
[ And where has God ever been less welcome than in a speaker’s heart?
Not involved in Sypha’s version of events: the fact that she was only trying to remove the heart from the rest of the castle in order to keep it safe so it could regrow elsewhere. This just happened when she separated it. ]
[No. Stop. Not a priority. Alucard sighs heavily, shaking his head. Right now it is easier to focus on Trevor, but he meets Sypha's eyes for one moment more:]
We're talking about this later.
[Right. Alucard sighs, walking over to Trevor and running his hand over the wound itself.]
Medical instruments, thread, needle, alcohol and bandages. Warmth and light are already seen to. Trevor, you're free to pass out at this point.
[ Sypha nods, taking the needed items from the medicine cabinet. Before long, she’s managed to get everything that’s been asked from either there or other fragments of castle and she’s moved on to sterilising the instruments by running them between her very on fire fingers. Trevor groans. By the time he’s back on the table, he’s started to fall quiet. The fresh pain from falling off the table is kind of overpowering, taken in tandem with the bullet wound. He jostled it too much. ]
Thanks for giving me permission.
[ He’s worn down enough that that actually sounds sincere rather than sarcastic. Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t last much longer before blanking out.
[Alucard shouldn't be taking that so seriously. But he does, and then the work comes next.
He watched his mother do this before, dress wounds. They're cleaned with alcohol, so is the needle and thread, and then all gets sewn up. But first he removes the bullet with very sterile tweezers, the focus on the task at hand alleviating the millions of questions he has for Sypha's new situation.
There's no words said. The bullet comes out, and then there's blood. There's a little bit of blood that gets on Alucard's fingers, and that? That takes effort to not lick and consume. Sypha's presence helps.
Everything gets sewn quickly. Patched. Bandaged, and then Alucard sighs.]
There.
[But then ALucard looks to Sypha, blazing so bright.]
Are you going to be able to separate, when you must? You can't merge with this building, it isn't safe.
I think so. I hope so. Once it's stronger and we have a proper building for it to use.
[ That's a comforting amount of certainty, right? She looks down at her dark, angular, ever-spinning heart. Honestly, the only thing keeping her from panicking more right now is the fact that this makes her feel so energised, so powerful. ]
It was dying. I thought if I pulled this part out and sustained it with magic, then it could at least survive and eventually regrow. But the second I touched it it lashed out. I think it didn't see me, just saw something it could consume to survive. I tried to stop it, and- [ she spreads her arms in an annoyed sort of helpless gesture. ] -this happened. I'm a castle, now.
[ She huffs. The entire castle huffs, grumpily shrugging dust off itself. ]
[That isn't comforting at all. Alucard's quiet as Sypha explains, his eyes on the spinning heart. He wants to reach out and touch it, but it feels like a very bad idea.]
It wanted to survive, and knew you could make that happen. [It's only a guess, but it feels correct.]
But to do even that much requires a certain level of compatibility. Your fire and flames, perhaps. That may have represented energy in it's mind.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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The dhampir is as still as the grave, unable to move. Caught between two times, screaming at both in terror for very different reasons.
We're not dead.]
Okay. [He breathes out. Centering himself. Returning to the present.] We'll go there.
[They have to move. That's good.]
Put your arms around my neck.
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[ It's still unsteady, the way he moves his arms, and he has to move them one at a time. But he gets them around Alucard's neck, holding on as tightly as he can manage.
And it's- strange. More than most things so far. The moment was too panicked before, in the burning cottage, to appreciate the fact that this coffin man, the man he's been dragging around with him all his life, is alive. Alive and real and dragging him around in turn.
He doesn't know how to feel about being protected, but it seems. Nice. He's got a hole in him and he's bleeding and fuck if he's going to have anything close to a peaceful sleep for the next month no matter how much he drinks. And yet it's nice, to know that he can be at least a little weak right now, if only physically. ]
You're looking for a stream - you don't need to cross it. [ Alucard has already crossed water. That was very much a thing he did. They were in a boat. But still. ] Follow it until everything gets really fucking overgrown.
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No. He can't imagine what it'd be like, walking away from a burning wreck. Someone in his arms, gloriously alive instead of all the variations on the other option. He has to stay focused and in the moment. Eyes ahead. Ignoring the scent of blood in the air.]
I can cross streams, Belmont.
[The tone is soft. Chiding. And so Alucard keeps moving them both, to the stream. Along to the undergrowth.]
Keep talking to me, so I know you're not passed out of blood loss.
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[ Hey, last time he made an assumption about what you could do it almost ended badly. ]
I don't know what the fuck to say. I- [ How does one make small talk. He tries to come up with topics that aren't awful or related to drinking or- anything like that. And it's a combination of the lack of things to say that aren't awful and the dizziness from blood loss that leads to- ]
Have you seen her, whenever she gets a blanket, or the cloak, or anything? [ He laughs, then regrets it. It's fond and also fucking painful. ] Like a caterpillar, if instead of turning into butterflies they just got morning hair.
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[That much isn't a lie. Alucard keeps moving, listening.]
You like her, don't you?
[Alucard's figured out that much. He keeps them moving, listening to the running water.
Nothing is overgrown enough yet.]
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[ Trevor nobody in this party is immune to morning hair. ]
It’s nice, this. Except for the bullet. Been doing this shit on my own for so long, I forgot that sometimes people wrap themselves up in blankets weird and it makes all of this worth it.
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[It's worse Trevor.]
At the risk of sentiment, you're not currently alone. Although I don't like all the blood in the air.
[There he said it.]
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[ Wait shit what. ]
Shit. You’re not going to go into some sort of blood frenzy, are you?
[ KIND OF A RUDE QUESTION. ] Or- shit. Do you need- Have we been starving you?
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[For a moment, Alucard bounces Trevor, shifting the distribution of weight. And there they are. The stream. It's overgrown and--]
Okay. I'm going to put you down for a moment.
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Well shit. If I'd known about an hour ago-
[ He can't really offer much blood right now other than what he's losing already. ]
-Can't do much about that for a couple days, now, unless you want to wring out my tunic to get all the blood that's got into that.
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--the wind picks up. Slow at first and then wildly, tree branches flying. Rocks coming soon after. The ground rumbling, furious and cracking and heralding something terrible.
For the first time, the castle appears as itself. It is jet black, the spires crumbling. Wearing it's age, and yet even then, it imposes.
Alucard breathes out. Nudges Trevor gently.]
Ready?
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[ Familiar, in a way nothing should ever be. In a way that it wasn't whn it was the abbey or the cottage. It doesn't feel like returning to a long-lost home, that's not even close to what this edifice is, but the strength of it is the same. The sense of calling. It's the end of a nine-century journey, the culmination of a quest that's lasted more lifetimes then he's lived years or scars. ]
-that's what it looks like, without the mask on. Fuck. [ For a second, he's forgotten the lump of metal lodged in his side. Forgotten that they need to find blood for the vampire. Forgotten everything but the thing looming over them. ]
Yeah. Ready.
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[That's all Alucard says before walking through the door. It is good, seeing the castle again even if it is ailing. It is home, far better than the masks it wore. And as it is home, the entrance is a little grander. A little warmer. A wing has manifested, and it has a kitchen.
So the kitchen is where Alucard carries Trevor to, knowing that it's the only operating theatre available to them now.]
I'll have to get supplies before I try to remove the bullet. What I'll do is place you down on the kitchen table, and then go get what's needed. Promise me that you'll stay awake.
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[ Something's wrong, he can feel it as they enter. But for the life of him, he can't place his finger on what. Between the pain and the bloodloss and the sheer fucking awe, thinking is like moving through knee-deep mud right now.
Perhaps it's just that the place- it's nowhere near in good repair now, but it's a lot healthier than it was a few hours ago. Cracks in the walls are sealed with something that he knows can't really be molten rock but that certainly looks the part, glowing softly in the darker parts of the rafters. Furniture that had been broken from centuries of disrepair is now only very, very worn from centuries of disrepair. The kitchen is cleaner than any of the parts that the castle grew before were, free of dust if not of wear. ]
Go find your shit. Don't worry, I'm not about to get up and go anywhere while you're gone.
[ No matter how overwarm the kitchen's fire is. Sypha will no doubt show up eventually, and he'll ask her to get it down to a bearable level.
...where is Sypha? ]
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[Alucard's face sours, and he disappears down the corridor they came down. As he walks, he tries to will the castle to manifest something useful. His father's labs. His mother's. Something that has bandages and alcohol so that the wound can get seen to.
The castle offers nothing. Just corridor. Corridor that shakes, making it clear the castle is trying so, so hard.
He's far from Trevor.]
Please. Anything you can manage.
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Or, he probably deserves to stew figuratively. Not literally, as is happening right now. Why is that fire so hot? And why is it moving like that? ]
I am trying!
[ The voice is the kind of frustrated that one can only ever be with oneself. It’s also mostly Sypha’s, with an undercurrent of settling earth. Then from the kicthen there’s a thump and a yell of pain and surprise that sound very much like a Belmont has fallen off the table ]
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Don't remove the bullet yet, I don't have any bandages!
[He yells it out into the corridor, praying that the voice will carry.]
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The flames come together into something more solid, into softly glowing skin, and most of Sypha is standing before them. What is missing of her is a large section of her chest on the left side, and the inside of her body is made up of that molten rock like substance. Inside that cavity, where her heard ought to be, that many-sided heart of the castle spins. ]
I told you, I am trying to find them!
[ And she reaches out, hand sinking into the wall behind her, and tears it away as if splashing a pond to disturb the reflection. When it settles, it’s a wall from a different room. One, it seems, with a medicine cabinet. ]
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...Sypha. Emerging from flames like a phoenix, and Alucard can only stare. Words try to form. Fail. Try again.
It happens for what feels like an eternity, the dhampir simply struck dumb with true awe. And so he manages, finally:]
What the fuck.
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[ Trevor relaxes at that, flopping down unto his side. Yup. That’s Sypha. He should probably be a little more freaked out, but pain and blood loss. He’ll process this new bullshit later. ]
It wouldn’t have survived the journey. Not without something to inhabit. It needed a place where God is not welcome.
[ And where has God ever been less welcome than in a speaker’s heart?
Not involved in Sypha’s version of events: the fact that she was only trying to remove the heart from the rest of the castle in order to keep it safe so it could regrow elsewhere. This just happened when she separated it. ]
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[Alucard stops, looking at the castle itself.]
Of all the things. You can't tie a lifeline to--
[No. Stop. Not a priority. Alucard sighs heavily, shaking his head. Right now it is easier to focus on Trevor, but he meets Sypha's eyes for one moment more:]
We're talking about this later.
[Right. Alucard sighs, walking over to Trevor and running his hand over the wound itself.]
Medical instruments, thread, needle, alcohol and bandages. Warmth and light are already seen to. Trevor, you're free to pass out at this point.
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Thanks for giving me permission.
[ He’s worn down enough that that actually sounds sincere rather than sarcastic. Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t last much longer before blanking out.
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[Alucard shouldn't be taking that so seriously. But he does, and then the work comes next.
He watched his mother do this before, dress wounds. They're cleaned with alcohol, so is the needle and thread, and then all gets sewn up. But first he removes the bullet with very sterile tweezers, the focus on the task at hand alleviating the millions of questions he has for Sypha's new situation.
There's no words said. The bullet comes out, and then there's blood. There's a little bit of blood that gets on Alucard's fingers, and that? That takes effort to not lick and consume. Sypha's presence helps.
Everything gets sewn quickly. Patched. Bandaged, and then Alucard sighs.]
There.
[But then ALucard looks to Sypha, blazing so bright.]
Are you going to be able to separate, when you must? You can't merge with this building, it isn't safe.
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[ That's a comforting amount of certainty, right? She looks down at her dark, angular, ever-spinning heart. Honestly, the only thing keeping her from panicking more right now is the fact that this makes her feel so energised, so powerful. ]
It was dying. I thought if I pulled this part out and sustained it with magic, then it could at least survive and eventually regrow. But the second I touched it it lashed out. I think it didn't see me, just saw something it could consume to survive. I tried to stop it, and- [ she spreads her arms in an annoyed sort of helpless gesture. ] -this happened. I'm a castle, now.
[ She huffs. The entire castle huffs, grumpily shrugging dust off itself. ]
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It wanted to survive, and knew you could make that happen. [It's only a guess, but it feels correct.]
But to do even that much requires a certain level of compatibility. Your fire and flames, perhaps. That may have represented energy in it's mind.
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WAIT SHIT THIS ONE SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRST
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