Catch All

[cryptsleeper]

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[miraclewhip]

[ He heads for the library when he returns, but doesn't end up there. The castle likes to put things where they ought to be, after all, and the way to the library instead takes him to Alucard's room.

He knocks. He doesn't do that often. ]

Adrian. I'm back.

[cryptsleeper]

Come in.

[Alucard is sitting in the little window nook of cozy furniture in his room, blanket draped over his legs. It isn't cold, and the way Alucard's hands run over the fabric, it's about the texture and comfort rather than warmth.

He looks up at Trevor and smiles weakly.]

So you are.

[miraclewhip]

[ He moves over, standing by the window rather than sitting in one of the chairs, looking down over the half-froxen world below the castle. The castle's windows don't always line up with where the room is. This afternoon this window was looking out to the south. Now it's night, and it overlooks the main doors of the castle. ]

You're going to watch him going?

[cryptsleeper]

I'll be at the main gate. I can't not be.

[Alucard didn't ask things like how his father would transport into Faerie and how he'd avoid landing in sunlight. He's happier not knowing.]

Will you please come with me?

[miraclewhip]

[ He knows, or at least knows how Dracula came by the bulk of that knowledge. Belmonts make good threats for interrogations, after all. ]

Of course. Lead on.

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard sighs.]

In a few more moments.

[He pats the spot beside him.]

We didn't yell or fight or anything.

[miraclewhip]

[ He sits down, tugging the blanket over the both of them. ]

And that’s- a good thing? A bad thing? A- just a thing?

[ Some days getting the shit beaten out of you by Dracula seems like a more comfortable prospect than interacting with Dracula in any other way. ]

[cryptsleeper]

Good. I think.

[Alucard's hand slips under the blanket, and there. There's Trevor's hand.]

He's scared too. Won't admit it, but it's there.

[miraclewhip]

[ He closes his hand around Alucard’s, and it’s something he’s done a thousand times before but it’s never felt quite so much like being a kite string in a hurricane before. Not since Lisa left. ]

We’ll see to it that he has no reason to be.

[cryptsleeper]

[If the window wasn't there, he'd lean over and kiss Trevor. Alucard stays so very still instead, running his thumb over Trevor's knuckle.]

I believe you.

[But a few minutes march by, and Alucard feels his shoulders slink.]

I think I need to put the damn thing on and go downstairs.

[miraclewhip]

Right.

[ He stands first, pulling the blanket away and folding it before hanging it from the arm of the seat. Then he heads for the dresser. He picks up the crown, bringing it over. ]

Bow your head?

[cryptsleeper]

Hold on.

[Alucard's hair has been hanging down all day, and he isn't going to fix that now. He simply makes sure that he has hair framing his face on either side, and that the rest of the hair in back is orderly. Once satisfied, Alucard does as instructed.]

We'll have to sit in court the rest of the night.

[miraclewhip]

[ Slowly, he lowers the crown onto Alucard’s head. The weight of it is followed by a light, delicate kiss to the forehead. ]

My Prince.

[cryptsleeper]

[The crown doesn't weight too terribly much. It's enchanted to make it so, but the weight is present all the same. When Alucard lifts his head up, it's with the last little bit of himself before he has to be Everyone Else's Prince.]

My Belmont.

[He kisses Trevor's forehead in turn.]

Do you have what you need?

[miraclewhip]

[ He sets his hand on Alucard's shoulder, squeezing softly. ]

Everything I've ever needed.

[ It's warm, accompanied by the sort of tired-but-present smile that might almost make up for the fact that he follows that up by looking around. ]

But- uh. They probably will expect me to have the armour on. Let me find it.

[cryptsleeper]

[Fuck. Alucard's never seen that look on Trevor's face before, or at least he hasn't in recent memory. It's...it's a lot to look at and take in. It's so much that he feels his heart pound in a way that is definitely not normal, but Alucard ignores it for Trevor himself.]

I think it's on or beside my dresser.

[miraclewhip]

[ Sure enough, it's not difficult to find the armour. It takes a little longer to adjust the straps of it and get it around his shoulders properly. Normally he might ask Alucard to help, with them being short on time right now, but it doesn't seem quite right to do so while the crown's on his head. It doesn't take too long anyway, just longer than it might with an extra pair of hands. ]

Ready.

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard watches. Waits for Trevor to ask for help but it just never comes to pass. That makes him frown. Dracula hasn't left yet and things are changing. He hates it. Deeply. And yet he says nothing, just stands there with his eyes on Trevor, awaiting a request that never comes.

And so there they are. Ready.

He opens the door.]

Do you have to walk in front or behind me?

[miraclewhip]

Behind, until we come to the door. Let me open it, then walk through. I'll follow.

[ Appearances and practicality demand the same thing, here. It's important that Alucard is seen leading. It's more important that at no point is he out of Trevor's sight. He doesn't have vampire senses, after all. ]

[cryptsleeper]

Understood.

[But not liked, based on how Alucard's nose scrunches up in distaste. He steps through the door, and there. They're in a corridor that leads down to the main gate.

Alucard's boots are silent over the stones. He moves with grace and practiced perfection, all ice and knowing that these moments are critical. He must be immovable stone, or else everything is at risk.

So he moves them both to the front gate, where most of the court has gathered already.]

[miraclewhip]

[ At the last door, he moves to open it - both for appearances sake and so whatever lies behind can target him first. It's all second nature by now, the kind of thing that he's known he ought to be doing for years but that until now he could get away with relaxing on.

Not anymore.

There are murmurs as they approach. Dracula could silence them with so much as a raised finger, of course, but-

-it's important that he does not. That this is them, and not him. ]

Silence.

[ It's not a shout, but his voice carries. The chatter dies down. He has their attention, but it'll have to be Alucard who keeps it. ] Your Prince approaches.

[cryptsleeper]

[Internally, Alucard flinches. Outwardly he is statue-esque, all the more so when he takes his place at the very front of this group. All eyes are on him, and in turn all of Alucard is tense. Watching and waiting for someone to say or do something. But that never comes, and only a few moments later?

Dracula is already mounted on his hellish steed, fire in it's eyes, it's flank the darkest night. The Headless Horseman could be so envious. There's a snarl in the creature's mouth that demands to escape, but Dracula keeps the thing in check.

He is dressed as a man of his office, dark blood reds and blacks with silver accents expressed in fur and detail. His crown is a simpler one than one used in court, and the reasons for it are obvious: one does not enter the land of the fae that kingly. But oh there is iron in that crown, just as there is on the rest of the horse. He's riding a weapon into their lands, ready and capable of defending himself.

Dracula lingers for only a moment before addressing the group.]

I will return with my wife. Should you defy my son, who speaks with my voice and acts with my authority while I am gone, you will beg me to let you meet the sun. For those of you from foreign lands, that very same threat holds.

You shall greet me as appropriate upon my return.

[There. That's it. The horse know to move forward and so it does. No lingering good byes. No knowing glances. Only cold focus on the goal at hand as Dracula departs into the night.]

[miraclewhip]

[ And like that, he's gone. Trevor watches, face betraying nothing, as the nightmarish horse fades into the night. Dracula's most loyal go with him, leaving a court of whispers behind him.

What follows is long and agonising and frankly not really interesting enough to justify how awful it is. At least if someone tried something stupid something would have happened. Instead it's hours of watching Alucard twisted into a shape that he was never meant to be. People want answers about how things will be in his father's absence. He gives those answers, almost identical to the word to those that Dracula must have given to the same questions only days before. When it ends, he's the one to dismiss the crowd. A few remain at the castle for another day. Most set off for their own territories.

They leave last, and he holds the door for Alucard before following. ]

[cryptsleeper]

[Everything is a blur. The questions that are asked get stock answers, ones that have been prepared well ahead of this. Alucard's able to make them not sound route. Give them a moment or two of consideration before replying. It works.

It keeps working until the wee hours of the morning. To those who intend to depart in the daylight, Alucard takes care of farewells. There will be a small departure feast tomorrow evening, and then all things will settle into a more normal pace.

But there. His room. Alucard waits until the door is closed to let his shoulders slump forward, and to automatically shed the heavy cloak draped over his shoulders.]

It can't be this exhausting every day.

[The cloak gets draped over the chest at the foot of his bed.]

[miraclewhip]

It'll get easier. Has to.

[ Please let it get easier.

He removes the neck armour, once again without asking for help, and sets it aside. His own shoulders haven't sunk yet, still standing like a soldier. ]

Tell me what to do.

[ How can I make this better? ]