Chapter Text
Call him crazy, honestly he probably was. And it’s not like he hadn’t gotten that before, crazy, brute, ignorant, arrogant, he’d heard it all thank you very much but could you blame him after all the bullshit he’d seen in the last year alone? Sypha helped of course because she’s pretty and funny and really does bring the best out of him but he’s still probably at least a little bit unstable. Okay so a lot unstable but once again, in the past year alone he’d gone from being a lonely and dishonored drunk to a proper hero with a beautiful slave driving spell caster keeping him in check, not to mention that he’d defeated Dracula, something that would make his family proud, and in the process befriended a vampire, something that would probably earn him disenharientence if his family was still alive. Yeah there was also his family being dead and with the recent adventure causing him to lose most if not all faith in humanity call him crazy but he kinda envies them.
So maybe he is a little insane, but why else would he, Trevor Belmont, the last of infamous monster hunters, feel some type of happiness when he sees Dracula- no- Alucard’s castle gleaming in the distance.
It’s been a long wagon ride here and Sypha hasn’t been herself since they left that god forsaken village and never looked back, but even she’s perking up at the sight, or more likely what the building holds for them.
Because in that stupid castle that Trevor doesn’t actually hate anymore is Alucard. In all his golden hair glory. Probably still looking as stunning as the day they left him and fuck, Trevor still can’t figure out why they left him.
Of course there’s protecting very important knowledge that could be burned or stolen and in the wrong hands the information in both Dracula’s study and the Belmont Hold could be very dangerous and more than likely needed to be protected, of course he knew that. But he didn’t see why Alucard had to do it by himself. Couldn’t they have sealed it all off? Sypha could’ve cast a spell, they could’ve locked everything away or, he doesn’t know, something other than leaving the half breed there by himself for over a year.
It’s one of Trevor’s few regrets, but they’re back now and Sypha has that spark in her eyes that he hasn’t seen in weeks and that’s all that really matters right now.
The spark in her eyes and the promise of Alucard.
“Do you think he will be happy to see us?” she asks. She sounds happier, likely seeing their friend is taking her mind off of what happened. Like tiny little children’s shoes that-
Trevor nods. “I’m sure he will be.”
They’re maybe half an hour away before it hits him.
He’s not sure what at first, but something is off. Animals still stir around, but they’re sneaking. Almost as if they’re afraid to be caught drinking from the water. It’s eerie and off putting, and it makes Trevor grip his whip a little tighter.
When they’re thirty feet away from the entrance he understands why his gut has been twisting.
At first it looks like Alucard just put some signs out on the lawn, but then the signs start looking a lot more like people. The smell of rotting flesh hits first, and then the shock of half human skulls being picked at by crows. Sypha grips his arms. They lock eyes.
Surely Alucard didn’t do this. Not their Alucard.
“We need to approach with cation. We don’t know he did this, for all we know he could be dead in there as well.”
Sypha nods, but her brows are furrowed. “It was a mistake to leave him by himself, huh?”
Trevor nods, at least they’re agreeing again.
If the bodies outside aren’t creepy enough, the way the castle doors creak open sure as hell is. Almost like no one had used them in months. Like the place had been abandoned. It’s cleaner than they left it, no more bloody walls or rotting corpses, but cobwebs litter the entrance hall, it smells like no one had been there in decades, let alone three months. Even more disturbing than the smell of lifelessness is the eerie quiet that stretches long after the doors have moaned their way shut.
Trevor takes the first few steps forward, clearing his throat before calling out into empty space. “Alucard!”
“We’re home!” Sypha adds after a moment.
They’re met with that stupid deafening quiet that’s beginning to piss Trevor off.
“Where are you, you stupid bastard! We didn’t come all this way for nothing!”
But nothing is what they get. Sypha meets his eyes, they nod in unison. If Alucard wanted to play hide and seek, then they would drag him out into the open.
Climbing up the staircase and going their separate ways, they search. There’s a kitchen that looks almost used, spoiled and rotting food left on plates and two puppets that Trevor makes note of. He ignores the pinch of guilt when he realizes they’re him and Sypha. He takes the dolls with him, not wanting them to collect dust like the rest of the bloody place. Two somewhat used bedrooms, one filled with unfamiliar clothing, bows and other weapons that don’t look like that belong anywhere in Wallachia, but sitting on a desk with a drawing of Alucard and two others neither of them recognize. In the other, an unmade and bloody bed, silver restraints, brown stains on otherwise spotless floors and walls. They leave that room feeling more worried than before, an urgency in their steps.
By the time they’re done it’s late into the night, but Alucard is nowhere to be found. He wasn’t in the countless bedrooms, the engine room, what appeared to be an alchemy lab, none of the viewing rooms, neither of the forgemasters work spaces, not in what was Dracula’s office, none of the fire rooms, not the dungeon, no where in the fucking castle. They’re reclining in one of the living rooms when Sypha voices what he’s been thinking.
“Maybe he’s gone out for a bit...he’ll have to return sooner or later. We should wait for him.”
It’s hopeful thinking, to say the least. But it’s the type of thinking Trevor wants to believe, so he nods.
“We’ll wait. It’s Alucard we’re talking about. He never strays too far.”
He can be patient. He can hold his tongue and deal with Alucard’s little disappearing act… He’s a Belmont, a trained hunter. And part of hunting is laying in wait….he can do that.
Three days later and Sypha has informed him that he is the most impatient being she’s ever had the misfortune of being around.
“Honestly Trevor! You’re worse now than you are when you haven’t had sex or booze for a week!”
“I am not!”
It earns him a look he’s learned to perceive as trouble.
“You’ve been pacing in the same spot for four hours, you took the whole day to hunt yesterday and came back with almost nothing, not to mention that you couldn’t even look in Alucard’s room when I cleaned it the first day here.”
And just like that, Trevor was caught. Curse Sypha’s way of ruining whatever he tried to hide from her. One look into those big eyes and he was gone.
“I’m worried, okay? This isn’t like him. This whole thing is weird and I don’t like it.”
Sypha softens a little, putting down her current book on top of the others. Some stack from Dracula’s library that was apparently quite remarkable. She crosses over to him, stroking his arm almost like she’s trying to ground him. Unfortunately, Trevor can’t seem to get away from the situation so the circular motions are only making it more real.
“He will come back to us. I’m sure of it.”
Quiet fills the room again, but only for a moment. Trevor can’t imagine how Alucard dealt with it for so long. Sypha distracts him with a kiss.
“For now, I’ll make dinner. Why don’t you go see if he ever fixed the staircase to the Belmont hold? It would feel good to see it again, yes?”
Trevor nods. Maybe his family is what he needed right now, maybe something in the hold would point to where their friend had gone off to. He’s not sure what has him rushing out faster, a lead to Alucard or to see his family treasure one more time.
A lift of some sort is hanging at the top, not too difficult to figure out and soon Trevor is facing the doors to the library all over again. Only this time he’s alone and he can feel it in his bones. Doesn’t stop him from pushing the doors wide open. He could admit to being impatient, but never a coward.
Inside is a mess, much like the castle. Partially cleaned, mostly left alone. There’s a pile of burned weapons by the door, the remains looking somewhat similar to the bows in the mystery room. Trevor ignores it in favor of climbing down the steps and reliving the horrors of the last time he was down here.
The monster was coming down too quick, Trevor reached for the Morning Star, praying it was enough right as Sypha came running. He had to protect her-
Glowing hair in candle light distracted him from the book he was trying to focus on. He wanted to be of use dammit! But that stupid moping….
“Look, I get that you’re not exactly happy to be here and that we’re about to kill your dad and all but would it kill you to-”
“Children, Belmont.”
Alucard didn’t turn to face him, golden eyes never leaving the book in his hand.
“Excuse me?”
“In the case, the one with countless vampire skulls. Do you know what’s in there?”
Trevor rolled his eyes, ‘It was a long time ago and-”
“There are children’s skulls in that case. Your family killed children. Vampire or not, it’s not right to hurt innocents, and what are children other than the purest of pure.” The perfect facade cracks with a sneer. “It’s repulsive-"
He can see the bags forming under her eyes, and if that doesn’t speak to how tired Sypha is, her shaking hands say enough.
“Tired.”
“Sleep then.”
She pauses. “A bit....lonely...”
Trevor sighs, “There’s room enough under this cloak for two...and no one was ever lonely in this house.”
Sypha smiles at him and soon they’re huddled under his cloak. It’s nice, to be this close to another, to share the warmth and intimacy. Comforting almost. He longs to speak more, but she’s out far too fast. It makes him chuckle-
“What exactly are you doing anyways?”
Once again he’s met with Alucard’s back. It’s not a bad sight, not with his coat gone and the usual mean air replaced with some sort of focus. His view has changed since his talk with Sypha last night, and he can see it now. Alucard’s sadness.
The man takes no notice of him, eyes straight ahead and focused on carving some symbol into the broken mirror. But that wouldn’t do, would it?
“Hey! Fangs! I’m talking to you! You can’t ignore me in my own house!”
An outburst, yes, something he’s been trying to work on, but it’s enough to get the half-blood’s attention on him. Usually it would get a snide comment, some rude remark that would start some sort of fight between them, but when Alucard looks at him there’s excitement in his eyes. It dims a little as Trevor approaches, but doesn’t quite fade into the usual stoic face.
“Oh, if it isn’t Belmont. What do you want?”
Trevor bites back the rude remark on his tongue, trying desperately to keep Sypha’s ‘be nice’ in the back of his mind.
“I asked what you were doing, I don’t really get how it can be of use to us.”
He expects some comment on how stupid he is, but then the light is back in Alucard’s eyes.
“It’s a distance mirror, Belmont. If I can get it working then we can see Dracula’s castle, maybe even Dracula himself. It lets us find out where he is, what he’s planning...it could give us the upper hand! An advantage! And the way this is made is amazing and so magical and beautiful and look at the marking craftsmanship!”
Trevor hasn’t seen this side of Alucard like this, not looking like a scholar on the brink of discovery, his eyes all lit up and lips actually smiling. It’s almost attractiv-
“Do you think he’ll be okay after it all…”
Trevor fixes her with a look, “What in the fuck are you talking about?”
Sypha hits his arms, lightly, but the ‘be nice’ implication is still there.
“He’s going to have to kill his own father. That can’t be an easy task, Treffy.”
“I thought we agreed that name was awful.”
“You’re missing the point.”
He’s placed once again under the power of those big honest eyes and he can’t look away.
“Alucard loves his parents, but he’s putting that aside for humans. Even you, someone he has every right to hate. Up until a year ago he was in a happy home it seems, and now he’s dealing with it all by himself...it must be hard, no?”
Trevor racks his brain, trying to find something to put her mind- and his own- at ease. There’s something unsettling about the idea of Alucard hurting…
“He’s not alone though. Is he? We’re not much, but he still has us-"
So many memories held one corridor alone, Trevor’s not sure he can stand to be down here for much longer if all he’s going to find is regrets. He’s getting ready to leave when he senses it. A life force, somewhere near him. Somewhere inside the hold. His hand is on his whip in an instant, all his senses on high alert, taking his next steps very carefully.The force is weak, maybe a dying animal that’s been trapped inside, an unlucky rabbit that happened to fall.
He rounds a corner, sure to find something to take back to Sypha and claim he got lucky on his way back.
What he doesn’t expect is dirty golden hair to get caught under his boot.
The man is lying on the floor, wounds on his wrists and some gash on his cheek. His clothes stink, worse than Trevor had ever smelled, torn and stained in several places. Limp and unmoving, the hunter isn’t even sure if he’s breathing, but none of that matters.
Because he had found Alucard.