Catch All

[cryptsleeper]

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[cryptsleeper]

If there's an emergency, it'll force me out of the room?

[Alucard ignores the carrot. Food is his least favorite thing.]

Blue flame.

[He understands what that means. The color burns hotter and brighter. There'd be no bones with sustained flame of that color, and that? That means an awful lot.]

Thank you. I shouldn't have made you do that, but...[He breathes out, body shuddering with the breath.] Thank you.

[miraclewhip]

Burning bodies is- kind of what we do, these days. Another two won't hurt.

[ He reaches for Alucard's hand and catches himself. And then he keeps going, intentionally this time. Because it seems like the right thing to do right now, rather than just because he's got too used to what Sypha needs. ]

Whatever the fuck happened, we're here. It's over.

[cryptsleeper]

It's only begun.

[He doesn't register that Trevor's taken his hand. Only that he himself is starting to shake more than just a little. There's no sobs. Just fear.]

They were never the first to do this. They won't be the last. It's why the castle moved.

[miraclewhip]

Why the castle moved.

[ He repeats that carefully. He knows why the castle moved. Because Leon. Because of the Belmonts.

Oh.

He's the problem, isn't he?

He lets go of Alucard's hand. ]

We'll go when the burns are healed. I'll bring you meals at morning and evening until then. Tell one of us if they get worse.

[cryptsleeper]

Hunters. Always.

[Not just Belmonts.

But he chases that after the hand. Latches onto it.]

[miraclewhip]

The fuck do you expect me to say to that?

[ There's an edge to his voice. He knows better. He knows not to rise to Alucard's jobs about his family. He knows that this isn't one of those anyway. He doesn't even know what happened, what he's being accused of-

-but his fingers close around Alucard's hand, even as his voice goes cold. ]

This- whatever the fuck this is- this isn't what we did. Don't you fucking dare-

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard doesn't actually rise to the anger. He stares into the blankets instead.]

You never lied in the hunt.

[miraclewhip]

We never hunted something that didn't need hunting.

[ He doesn't know why he's still holding Alucard's hand. He doesn't know why Alucard isn't letting him go. Distantly, this feels like an attempt to drive him away. He's not even sure Alucard has it in him to try that right now. ]

I'm not going to talk shit about your father. But he wasn't a deer. And he wasn't you. And we never-

[ They lied. Of course they lied. The easist way to find a vampire is to get yourself kidnapped by one. They used every tool they had, because the alternative was just dying. ]

-I let you call us witches. I'm not letting you call us this.

[cryptsleeper]

I'm not calling anything.

[He's not. At least not from the precarious place where he sits, which is closer to a ledge than it's ever been before.]

You wouldn't have done it like this.

[That's all. Whatever this is, and surely, surely they must have figured it out.]

[miraclewhip]

[ They havn't. Not all of it, anyway. They've figured out fragments, and he's been trying not to assume the worst. ]

We wouldn't have.

[ He looks down at his hand. ]

Do you want me here or not? Because all of that sounded like an instruction to go away.

[cryptsleeper]

You haven't asked what happened.

[He manages that much as a matter of fact rather than something obvious.]

I was trying....

[miraclewhip]

I don't need to know. I'll listen, but I'm not going to go poking around where I'm not wanted. That's her job.

[ That wasn't an answer. But he reaches out his other hand anyway. Doesn't touch Alucard, just reaches for him. ]

[cryptsleeper]

[Somehow? That second hand does everything for Alucard. He shifts the direction of his slump, the whole of the dhampir just crashing against the Belmont. He's sad and miserable and covered in blankets and just collapsed against Trevor's side.

There's no words, but he's doing this much.]

[miraclewhip]

[ It's awkward, but he gathers up Alucard in his arms. Holds him. Pulls him close. ]

I'm here. We're here.

[ He still doesn't know if he's wanted, but he's here. ]

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard just lets himself be liquid. He's just clinging to Trevor, and--

--and there's one sob. And another follows. And maybe Alucard feels bad having a full break down against Trevor but that's what it is.]

[miraclewhip]

[ He doesn't know how he'd seen this going, but this isn't it. He lets his hands settle against Alucard's back, below the monster that is his hair right now. Strokes softly. Tries to shove aside his own bullshit for long enough to hold Alucard through his, the same way he's been trying to do for Sypha.

(It's hard. He's angry, still. He wants to shout. To leave. To point out that Dracula hurt people, that if he made the castle move because he was afraid then good. But he wants to keep holding Alucard, too. To make this right.) ]

We're here.

[cryptsleeper]

[They're here, but Alucard doesn't know what that means yet. They're here, but Alucard isn't. There's only a shell of fear and sobbing and blind fucking terror. A shell that clings to Trevor for all it can, the tears now coming out as they have so many nights alone.

He doesn't shake. His entire body shudders. Then the noises come, horrible and strangled and pressed into Trevor's chest, until Alucard's throat aches for all the effort of it.]

[miraclewhip]

[ Sypha's going to come look for him if he doesn't go back. But she'll understand. She'll know that he can't be left like this.

He just keeps holding Alucard. When the shudders start, he wriggles an arm free and pulls the blankets around them both. A cocoon of misery. When the noises begin, that hand moves to his hair, idly trying to comb it back into at least some sort of order. He doesn't say anything. ]

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard's hair cooperates. A little. It's an utter mess that needs a good bath, and the static of the blanket helps absolutely nothing. Yet he is doing far more and emoting more than he has since the two of them arrived.

When the sobs stop, Alucard still clings. Mutters something that might be an I'm sorry. It's unclear.]

You both deserve better than this.

[miraclewhip]

As if it ever mattered what anyone deserves.

[ He doesn't know about the idea of the reward. But he'd have no patience for it if he did. He doesn't let go. ]

You're an asshole. We've known that for a while. If we objected to you being an asshole, we wouldn't have come back.

[cryptsleeper]

I'm not an asshole. I'm worse.

[So much worse. Alucard doesn't say that though. He just stays there against Trevor. Resting. Quiet.]

That's why.

[miraclewhip]

If we're going to be talking about what kind of awful you are, I'll need time to prepare notes.

[ He sighs. ]

I don't need to know what happened. I'm not going to ask. But if you want me to know- if you want me to tell you that it was bullshit and wrong and- I'll listen.

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard shakes his head.]

I don't need that. [He knows that much.]

I don't know how to not react like him.

[miraclewhip]

React like him.

[ He doesn't let go, at that, but he does pull back. Far enough to look Alucard in the eyes. ]

Tell me what that means.

[ Because that could be anything from just 'be angry' to 'end humanity' and he'd like to know where on the scale they're talking here and just how much more awkward this hug is going to become. ]

[cryptsleeper]

You already saw.

[He can't meet Trevor's eyes. His head hangs in absolute shame.]

That was my instinct, Trevor. To try and keep myself safe.