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Fandom Castlevania: Night's Dirge [Closed]

Lucia, of course, agreed with Aveline’s sentiment, even if Alucard himself wasn’t much of a troublemaker. He had caused havoc for his parents when he was young, because of his powers. It wasn’t a phenomena that was strange to young supernaturals. Lucia only had the advantage of coming into her powers late, and slow. It wasn’t that way with all vampires, and it still didn’t feel like much of an advantage.

Aveline did explain how it had impacted her, just as well, likely saving Alucard some embarrassment as she took the amusement of the others. Apparently, she had grown an entire field and gotten lost in it. Lucia and Danica both chuckled, as Alucard did manage to get his own embarrassment under control.

Aveline found a more permanent escape from her own embarrassment. Alucard almost envied her it. Instead he found himself a bit envious of Johann and his family for so easily distracting her. Family of handsome blondes? He had to push the thought back. He’d talked with Lucia already. He knew he should wait. It would be fair on them both to wait.

That didn’t stop the pang of jealousy, even as Johann seemingly wanted no part of this. And he lost his coffee to boot.

He whined at Trevor’s lesson, but Danica only said, “I’ll make you another cup, Johann,” to ease his disappointment some.

“How large is your family, Johann?” Alucard decided to ask then.

“Well, my immediate family was just myself, my sister, and my two brothers. I guess my dad only acknowledges one of my brothers now,” he sighed. He knew they were all lucky to have survived, knew not many others could claim the same when a supernatural invaded their home, but it was still frustrating that his father couldn’t learn from seeing one of his own sons turned into a werewolf, and learn how to manage it.

It probably didn’t help that his other son ran off to become guard to a vampiress. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen them…I suppose I might have more siblings now,” though he somehow doubted it. His mother was up there in her years now.

“How long is a while?” Alucard didn’t quite know how long Johann had been in Lucia’s service; he wasn’t that old, so he knew it couldn’t be that long. Not compared to Danica, at least.

“Five years. I guess that doesn’t seem too long, said like that, but it feels like it sometimes.” He knew he was free to leave, if ever he wanted to. He didn’t really want to, though.

~***~

Sypha did take Aveline up, and showed her into Johann’s room, where the portrait was. They were all blonde. Even the wife, was blonde, so it was no wonder all the children ended up that way, but Sypha pointed to one of the men in the portrait, “Him,” she said. He was obviously the tallest, and seemed a bit more rugged than the others. He at least had scruff, something his other two brothers didn’t seem to have inherited.

His father did, though, and he’d let it grow out into a majestic beard.

He was still lean. If hunters were supposed to be broad and large like Trevor, none of these men would have ever passed, but the display of silver daggers and crossbows certainly suggested they were not the sort to brawl with the creatures of the night.

“But they all look just adorable! And that must be Johann,” baby-faced, clean, but with shorter hair, “and his sister,” in a pretty pink dress, ribbons and all, “And I guess that’s his youngest brother,” he looked to be about ten in the portrait, where Johann was perhaps 15 or 16, with the eldest clearly an adult already. Johann seemed to be the middle child even in his own family. “It’s so strange seeing a hunter family portrait, though. Knowing what they all must do.” Sypha mused.
 
Sypha had no lied, every last person in the picture was blonde and beautifully blonde at that. Maybe it was the way the portrait was drawn but Aveline swore it seemed like there was a bit of halo to each of the members, funny given that they were hunters and had most likely killed more magical beings than she liked to think about.

" Johann comes from good stock," Aveline chuckled, the elder brother was certainly handsome in a kind of rugged way. Something about the way he held himself in the picture, and maybe a bit because of the scruff, reminded her a bit of trevor. There was something roughish in his eyes, like he was good at what he did and he knew it. A confidant man with good looks was as dangerous as any monster.

However the rest of Johanns siblings were wonderful as well, all beautiful and promising in their own ways; she was certain this family would be full of heart breakers if they weren't already. The portrait was clearly outdated since Johann didn't look the same and even he himself had admitted to parting with his family years ago, just how many she didn't know though.

Aveline hummed along hearing Syphas comment, it was hard to imagine what this family was truly capable. They looked like any average, if not more well off, family around and yet they hide a secret that went back generations most likely.

" I bet Trevors portrait will be just like this," she mused, " though he did say he had a lot of sisters, so it'll be bigger."

Bigger the portrait would probably be but the core of the painting would be the same, they would see what looked like a normal family but they would also know the truth of that family.

" Trevor said he might have a portrait in his room," Sypha pointed out, but thinking about it again shouldn't he know for sure? Didn't he sleep in his room last night? " We can go see if it's there."

" No," Aveline spoke up with a small shake of her head, " I don't think Trevors ready for something like that yet." There was a reason why the man hadn't gone back to his room to check, she imagined he was still trying to prepare himself mentally for seeing the family he lost again even if it was in portrait form. If they went and saw the picture before even he was ready things wouldn't feel right. She wanted him to give his permission to look into his past just like Johann had done.

" Lets wait for Trevor to be ready, I want him to point out each of his sisters and tell us their names." she concluded with a smile as she walked back towards the door.

" True, we shouldn't rush him I suppose. Oh but we can tease Johann about his handsome older brother in the meantime!" the speaker suggested to which Aveline smirked coyly, " Sypha that was the plan from the moment I saw that man,"

~~~~~~~~~
" Five years?" Trevor repeated before taking a drink of Johanns, no now it was his, coffee. " That means you've been working for Lucia for less than 5 years?" he just wanted to make sure, it seemed impressive that somehow in 5 years Johann had left his family behind and found employment with a vampire. Not only that he earned that vampires trust so thoroughly that he traveled with them and donated blood to them. It was impressive.

" How did you two meet?"

Lucia had such good control over her land it was possible she knew the moment that Johann had entered her territory and arranged to meet him to gauge his intentions. However it was possible that they had already discussed this before and Trevor had forgotten, it was early in the morning.

The fact of the matter, however, was that Trevor was impressed that Johann split off from his family like he did. Hunter families carried alot of expectations and pressure with them, more often it was the good of the family name over the good of the family, and Trevor could only imagine the courage it took for Johann to leave his family behind and work for Lucia.

Trevor thought himself a strong man in many regards, but he was confidant that a 15 or 16 year old version of himself wouldn't of been able to escape his family. When his family had died he had been firmly under his fathers control and he might still be to this day had his father survived.
 
Johann and Lucia exchanged a look at Trevor’s surprise, before Johann opted to answer. “Well, I was hunting my brother, Iven.” That was the simple answer, “And it took me into her territory,” he hadn’t been unaware of the vampire in the area, but he hadn’t intended on meeting her, either. He had one problem: a werewolf. And no training at all to deal with a vampire, particularly one as old as Lucia. “Apparently, she was also hunting him, and she got there first.”

Johann hadn’t at all been happy with that, then. Stubborn and wanting to see his brother brought down honorably – when the silver net had fallen and his brother was all but immobilized underneath it, he had stormed forward with every foolish thought of taking down a vampire, when he’d never so much as seen one before, and he’d yelled at her in a tongue she didn’t know for a good while.

Johann’s face tinted red, as he struggled to find the words, and Lucia couldn’t help the chuckle as she saw his face, “Johann, ah…was rather…naïve back then.” To say the least. “I don’t know anything that he was yelling at me back then, but the fact he was trying to yell at me was a bit, well…amusing. He knew enough of my language for me to talk him down and convince him I wasn’t going to hurt his brother beyond the silver netting. I needed to subdue him until the full moon wore off.”

His blush deepened a bit, “I ended up staying at her manor until the morning, when Iven regained his form. It was a bit…I was taught that werewolves were evil, no matter what,” his gaze had dropped, briefly, before he looked up to Trevor, “Whatever it is that infects them, it changes them. I wasn’t expecting it to be…I wasn’t expecting him. But he was lucid, and he was aware, and he was wracked with guilt over what happened every time he changed, and when Lucia told him there was help – an entire pack of wolves just outside of Chernihiv that had ways of dealing with it and didn’t want to be a menace to society, I…I guess I had a lot to think about. My brother’s up there now. His pack leader is helping monitor Chernihiv and keep them safe from the demons.”

Alucard had heard of them, a time or two, and he gave a hum at the knowledge that they were still around and helping out. “I don’t know why so many werewolves want to linger in the frigid cold.” He also didn’t know how hunters got this idea that as soon as someone was turned, they lost themselves. As if they’d never been who they were.

Every werewolf he’d met had been basically human. So far as he knew, there was only a difference on full moon nights.

He knew Iven was certainly also assisting, and the rest of the pack, along with other allies that Lucia had pulled before she left. “I wrote back home to my father. I told him that he was still lucid, and that there were ways to live with the infection that didn’t harm, but my father told me I’d been tricked. It didn’t help this all came from a vampire,” he chuckled a bit, before sighing, “We got into a rather huge argument over letters, until he just stopped writing back. I knew I couldn’t go home.”

He had lingered in Chernihiv a few months, seeing the pack, seeing the truth, learning more about werewolves from those born into it, and those who had been turned. He learned about Lucia and started to learn the language.

He had planned to go home…until that silence, and the knowledge that he wouldn’t be accepted back. He might even be killed on sight.

The mood was disturbed by the return of Sypha and Aveline, as Sypha immediately greeted with, “So what is the name of your older brother, and is he single? Aveline wants to know,” she teased.

“His name is Iven, and no, he’s not,” yet another thing their father would disown him for was probably attending his brother’s marriage to another werewolf, but that was something his father never needed to know about. “He got married a few months ago.”

“Darn it!” Sypha huffed, and Danica laughed at that, unable to help it. “Who’s the lucky woman? Was it arranged? Love?”

“Oh, it was love,” Danica giggled, “I can still remember the stupid little grin that girl wore around him, and he was oblivious to it for so long. Like someone else I know,” she didn’t specify anyone, but she could think of a few, “and when it finally knocked him over the head, he was rather elated. Proposed just a month or two later, and then had a long engagement. The ceremony was beautiful,” Danica sighed, recalling it fondly. “Johann was best man, of course.”
 
Trevor hummed along as the story was told, some things made sense and others he could almost perfectly picture in his head. He hadn't seen what Johann looked like when he was teenager but it wasn't hard to imagine cheeks still full with baby fat and that lanky form that came with being too young to do what a stern hardened father tells you to do.

The story wasn't anything to laugh about, it sounded like the splitting of a family and the weakness inherent in most hunter families coming to light; still it was funny to picture some teen in over their head marching up to Lucia and yelling at them in a foreign language.

" Got a bit of a temper don't you?" He teased Johann who could only blush a bit more than he already was. Still he could only imagine what Johann had been feeling at that moment, he had wanted to do what he thought was a kindness for his older brother and honestly the situation was too easy for Trevor to conjure up for himself. His father had drilled into his head that no matter who it was if they were a vampire then they needed to die. He had taken too many beatings to count when he tried to weasel his way out of promising to kill his father, his mother, even his sisters if for some reason they had been turned.

The thing that sat worst with Trevor however was the fact Johanns family was still out there, but they were separated like this. He hadn't known Johann for long but he cared for the young man and it was clear that separation hurt him.

Trevor had spent his life missing a family he had no chances of getting back, but he had never thought about what it would be like to know his family was alive but out of his reach. It had to be maddening.

" At least you have your brother," Trevor offered up as a consolidation, though Johann probably thought his situation was a lose-lose in the end; he would always be missing some of his family. He wished he could say more or offer some help, but he was certain if something could of been done then Lucia had already thought it out. This was an issue for Johann and his family to solve, he had no room in another families affairs.

Plus after his families excommunication their reputation amongst even hunters had suffered, so he wouldn't be able to sway some old man into accepting his two sons. Generally the community felt some type of kinship since they were all doing the dirty business no one else would to protect the innocent, but the rumor that his family was involved in dark magics had tainted the name. He had been turned away by supposed allies one after another because they feared excommunication for helping him or truly believed he was involved in the dark arts, the bastards.

" Lets make sure you don't do something stupid like yelling at an unknown enemy again though," He suggested as he clapped a large hand on Johanns shoulder then ruffled his blond hair like a rough older brother would do. " I've been meaning to tell you this but you should study my families bestiary, the more well versed you are the better off you'll be."

Trevor sat back in his seat and grinned as some old techniques from his father came to mind. "I have some training exercises I can throw at you, I'll even tone down the corporal punishment a bit for you compared to what I went through as a kid." he chuckled as he rested his hands behind his neck. " I'll give you a scenario and you'll have 10 seconds to tell me what you think the culprit is, their weaknesses, and a plan of action. If you're wrong or fail the time limit i'll have to give you a good whack,"

" Wait what?" Aveline spoke up as she and Sypha entered the kitchen totally unsure what the others were talking about. " Why would you hit Johann?"

" Training," Is all Trevor said before Sypha went on to talk about Johanns handsome brother. However Aveline flushed and immediately defended herself when Sypha tried to pin all the curiosity on her, " I said I wanted to tease Johann, I don't want to be teased!"

Sypha waved her off mischievously but both girls looked a bit disappointed to hear Iven was off the market.

" The good ones are always married," Sypha complained as she retook her seat at the table.

Aveline took her seat with a curious look on her face, " You were the best man, Johann? Whats that like? What are wedding like in general? I've never been to one," Human or Fae she had never had a chance to attend a wedding, though she had heard of them for sure. " Were you dressed up and forced to dance?"

30
 
Lucia wasn’t certain she was keen on the method of teaching with violence, but she doubted, somehow, it would be a hard whack that Johann got. He would certainly need some time with the book, though. As much as he had learned in his family, and through being with her, he certainly had a lot more to learn. She would let Trevor handle it, though – she wasn’t a hunter.

As the girls returned to tease Johann over Iven, and his family, she did chuckle a bit.

Johann almost looked offended at the final question. “I wasn’t forced, I enjoy it,” he stated. He’d always rather enjoyed the more formal parts of his upbringing, the dancing and the dressing up, even if he was never destined to be heir. He still had to act like a proper lord. “It was nice after not being expected to be so noble for a while, and there were a lot of nice people there to talk with and dance with and get to know.”

Most werewolves. Some humans who were more accepting, and Danica, and some others of Lucia’s household, had been invited. Lucia herself had not been, due to the hour – they had wanted it done during the day of a full moon, for reasons Johann decided he wanted to know nothing about, so it had all wrapped up before dusk.

“But weddings can be pretty…hit or miss,” Johann said.

“For some it’s just a quiet ceremony in a church,” Danica was recalling her own, which had all the trappings of ‘perfect Christian wedding’ in it, “with just family and perhaps a few close friends. A more solemn event, rather than a raucous one, where the highlight is on the bond and the future of the couple, and all they’ll bring to the family. There’s not always an afterparty.” There hadn’t been for her. Just…joining her husband’s household, and the trauma of that.

Johann nodded, “In this case, there was a party. The ceremony itself was nice, it was all outside and in a wooded area. There was an actual Orthodox priest though, who was willing to marry them in the sight of god. As he put it, God allows for everything on this Earth, and that means werewolves – who was he to judge that? And if two werewolves wanted to still follow God, he was okay with marrying them in God’s sight. So it was still pretty religious, but I guess not in the usual way?” Not in the way he’d been used to.

He wasn’t sure what Catholics were used to, “Verina wore a beautiful blue dress, and my brother looked like his old self,” regal and as courtly as possible. Almost clean-shaven. His brother always liked his scruff, thought it set him apart from his ‘angelic’ counterparts. “After the two were brought together and spoke their vows, there was a huge feast laid out for us all, and some people gave speeches. I made one.”

“It was sweet.” Danica recalled it well. It had spoken to how much Johann had grown in his time, but also of the deep love he did have for Iven, and respect for Verina in dealing with Iven during the transitory period. “I still remember all the little cakes everyone brought and stacked up,” Danica hadn’t heard of that tradition before, “It was too tall for the couple to kiss over, but Iven was so determined – he started to stack chairs. They toppled the cakes by leaning into them from their chairs.”

Sypha laughed outright at mental image. “What? Why are they stacking cakes like that? Sounds like a lot of ruined icing!”

“It was,” Danica agreed, “But it’s a tradition for luck. I think the priest said something about resisting temptation and staying focused on important matters, for those of us not familiar.”

“So did they actually succeed in that part?” Alucard asked, a bit of a smirk on his lips.

“Yes,” they had kissed, before toppling into the pile of cakes. “But no one got cake.”

“There were a lot of other foods, though. A lot of werewolves came from other places, too – so we had an interesting variety of things.”

“And then there was plenty of dancing and revelry, before we all had to return. It seems werewolves have a ceremony that takes place for a wedding under the full moon, though I’m not quite sure how. I’ve had it explained many times that they do lose their minds and sense of self, but perhaps there is something present enough that allows them to recognize who they’ve chosen to bond themselves with,” Danica mused. It wasn’t for her to know – that much had been made clear. It was a tradition among their own.

“It does not sound too different from a traditional wedding,” Alucard noted, “I’ve not seen one, but my mother used to talk of how her wedding wasn’t traditional, so I’ve at least been told what is normal,” blessing and unionizing by a priest which, obviously, wasn’t done with Dracula being involved, and there hadn’t been much of an afterparty.

Really, it was more like eloping.
 
Aveline clasped her hands together and smiled as both Johann and Danica explained what the wedding had been like, it sounded like a wonderful thing. She could only imagine what it would be like to watch as two people who were in love bonded themselves together; she also had to guess about the religious aspects of it. Her understanding of Christianity were still a bit shaky even when it came to the basics so she had no clue what would be said or done at a wedding.

" Was the cake stacking something everyone does?" Aveline asked, that part was so unique though since Sypha didn't seem to know it about it that probably wasn't the cake.

" Almost every country or people have their own wedding traditions," Sypha spoke up since she had done more than her fair share of traveling the world with the speakers. " A speaker wedding for example doesn't do that." She couldn't imagine wasting a bunch of stacked cakes like that, not when getting speakers together normally meant have a very large party with many mouths to feed.

That peaked the interest of more than just Aveline, " What is a speaker wedding like?" Danica asked, she had never had the pleasure of attending one. " Oh they're big and loud," Sypha recalled with an immediate smile on her face.

" Caravans rarely come together for safety reasons but a wedding is union of two caravans as well as an exchange since in the end the husband moves into his wives caravan." Speaker societies were largely matrilineal in nature so it was the men who benefitted from marrying into a new caravan. " So Caravans will come together, we decorate the wagons with colored ribbon and there is a ceremony where husband and wife are reminded of their duties as speakers as well as their duties as spouses. An elder will do some ceremonial reciting then husband and wife are tied together with a rope by the leaders of their caravans to symbolize the union. Then we feast and dance for a few days before going separate days."

That caught Trevors attention, " Days? Speakers feast for days?" All he could conjure up mentally was the idea of old men in robes talking about history for days on end, it made him want to rip his hair out.

" Like i said we do not meet up often so when we do we swap stories, give warnings and suggestions if need, things like that." Sypha shrugged, she had grown up with it so there was nothing odd to her.

" I like the lack of religion in it, all the weddings i went to as a kid involved priests reading, a mass service, more readings, then putting flowers down in front of a statue of the virgin mary." Trevor sighed, those had bored the shit out of him as a kid though his sisters had loved the pretty dresses and welcomed a chance to get out of the house for a while.

" I hope you'll invite me to your future wedding one day Sypha, it sounds fun." Aveline had no doubts that Sypha would settle down one day, though what poor man would be able to put up with Syphas fiery temper and quick wit she wasn't totally sure. He had to be out there thought.

" Don't you mean 'if' she gets married?" Trevor teased, " I imagine it will be hard to find a husband that doesn't mind being threatened with fire on a near daily basis,"

Sypha huffed and glared at Trevor from her side of the table, " I imagine it will be hard to find a woman willing to marry a hunter who can't find a bar of soap most days," Trevor groaned but didn't even try to defend his hygiene. At this point he could take a bath every day and they would still tease him.

With a satisfied smirk Sypha grabbed the last piece of Bacon from the almost empty platter like it was some type of reward for shutting Trevor up.

" Anyway, If any of you get married in the future I expect an invitation," The speaker continued, they were all saving the world together she considered that a good enough reason to get invited to a wedding; even if years passed without them speaking to one another she would still consider the people in this room as close friends she could count on.

Aveline who had been quiet for a bit too long, clearly she had been thinking about something intently, spoke up " Can animals get married? I'd like Veidr to get married that way I know he's never alone. Maybe he'll even have children one day if he's up for the challenging,"

Trevor snorted and got up to deposit his dirty dishes in the sink, " He's a dog, dogs don't marry. They fuck, have pups, then move on."

" But he's as smart as any of us! I bet if I told him what a marriage was he'd at least think about it," Aveline insisted but Trevor laughed as he ruffled her hair just to make her mad, " You just said you've never been to a wedding, hard to explain something you know nothing about to another person. Maybe get Alucard or Sypha to explain marriage to your buddy then see what happens."

Aveline smacked Trevors hand away then threw some fruit at him as he returned to the kitchen counter and leaned against it, " Just for that I'm going to tell Veidr you called him a dog,"

" Oh no, how will I survive?" Trevor mocked as another piece of fruit came flying at him, but he caught that piece in his mouth with a cheeky smile. " Something good must have happened to you last night if you're being this cocky today," Aveline accused but Trevor didn't give anything away.

" I'm a simple man, a good nights sleep in a warm house and a full stomach will do that," he shrugged.
 
The talk of marriage shifted only slightly to talk of Veidr marrying, and Lucia laughed just as well. She could imagine Marius and Sulla were already quite familiar with the concept, and had no interest in it. Animals didn’t marry; even if Veidr were so intelligent, she didn’t imagine Veidr would care. “I suppose there’s no harm in trying,” Lucia did say as her laughter started to die off, Trevor declaring himself a simple man. It would likely convince them all, even Danica, if she weren’t aware of more.

But Danica added no additional tease as she began to move dishes away from the table to start cleaning up. “But don’t take this the wrong way, Aveline, but marriage is not the desire of every creature out there, nor do all find such happiness in it. I highly doubt Marius or Sulla would find any desire for it, regardless of their intelligence.”

“Given they’re nightmares, they’ve likely only seen how it can be a horror,” Alucard stated, “which would make anyone want to avoid it,” what people did to the ones they loved, sometimes, was indeed frightful. What Dracula was doing now…it would break Lisa’s heart. “Do they even reproduce in the traditional sense?”

“I haven’t asked,” Lucia didn’t need to know, though she imagined the answer was ‘no’. From what she knew, they were likely created, born, in dreams.

Sypha did say, “If Veidr ever does want to get married, and finds a mate, I’m sure the Speakers would be willing to do it! And we could implement whatever things he’d like, or you think he’d like, based on fae traditions,” Sypha offered. She was sure the Speakers wouldn’t mind – it’d be quite the story to carry on, after all!

“Seems we may have a future full of weddings to attend,” Danica chuckled, “but we do need to get to that future,” it was a gentle reminder, “Perhaps we should work towards that aim now?”

Lucia glanced to the window. She’d still been staying out of it directly, and she still looked quite wary about going out. If it cleared up too soon – the dawn or dusk suns were one things, but a noonday sun? She didn’t know how long she might last. “How far was your memory, Alucard?” Lucia asked.

Alucard could easily understand the trepidation. “Some ways…but this location seems to have plenty of houses around it. I think there were a few you could use for shelter if you needed to.”

Lucia managed a slight nod, but said, “I want to get Marius before continuing,” if it was needed, he was faster than she was. Even if he couldn’t step into the astral realm with her right then, it would still be better.

“The stables are a bit of a ways,” Sypha recalled.

“Yes, well, if I don’t come back you all know I hid or died,” she shrugged. She planned to shadow step as much as possible, anyways. “The rest of you can get dressed for the cold and prepare to go out,” Lucia suggested, so the time wouldn’t be wasted.
 
Aveline assisted Danica in gathering up the empty dishes left from breakfast, her mind for a moment on the idea of at least telling Veidr about the conversation they had today about marriage before she sobered.

All the talking and joking they had done last night and this morning, all their attempts to enjoy themselves while they could wouldn't last forever.

" At least we get to try out the cloaks Trevor made us," Sypha sighed softly, there would be few bright sides moving forward but she preferred to remain optimistic. However she could remember her own memory calling to her and the way it had frozen her in place, she was not eager to see what it was like to watch another fall under the same spell.

Trevor grabbed a near by dish cloth and hung it from his shoulder as he waited for Danica to hand him something to dry, " Yes, you'll all look be brandishing the signature Belmont look; fur, fur, and more fur." Though the cloaks were lacking a bit they weren't far from what he and his father generally wore on the regular, they were normally a bit more refined but he worked with what he had.

" I suppose that means pants for me," Aveline sighed as she popped the last berry from a near by bowl in her mouth then handed off the empty bowl to Danica to wash. " Or well as close to pants as i get," She would have to wrap strips of fabric around the open parts of her pants to close them, which while not idle was much better than actually putting on restrictive pants like Danica would prefer.

With less than their normal amount of playful banter breakfast was cleared up and the kitchen returned to how it looked before; then everyone split off to prepare for the bitter cold outside. Trevor had opened the front door for a second just to gauge what to prepare for and the biting bitter way the cold immediately seeped into the house told him nothing would be enough; they would have to make do and endure the rest.

" It had to be a magical storm," he complained as he bound his legs up to his knees and then his arms up to his elbows in some fabric he found, like he was tying a blanket to his most important parts to try and combat the cold. He wished he could do the same with his chest but that ran the risk of getting in the way of his throwing knives as well as snagging on his whip. " Magical cold has a way of slipping in through the cracks and getting in your bones in ways a natural cold never could,"

" That's just you complaining," Aveline teased as she tightly wove some spare fabric into a thin rope. She took that rope and wound it intricately around one of her legs until all the crissing and crossing of the rope left behind a particular shape that Sypha immediately caught onto, " That's a rune isn't it? This one-" the speaker traced what looked like a lightening bolt going from one side of the symbol to the other, " was in the scroll you showed me."

Aveline paused for a second, a feeling of pride and astonishment was washing over her, had Sypha really learned so quickly just from a glance at a scroll? " Yes it is, I mixed two runes together to create a kind of heating pad. As long as the fabric isn't cut then this will keep me at least a bit warmer."

Trevor raised a skeptical eyebrow " A bit of rope will keep you warmer?" but Aveline shrugged easily as she began the processing of weaving a thin rope again, she planned on adding these onto the outfits of anyone who wanted one. " You said it was a magical cold, might as well fight magic with magic."

After a second Trevor found himself nodding along, he didn't get magic in the least but only a man with a death wish would turn away any chance to be warmer in this freezing weather. "Can you put one of those on my whip arm?" he didn't think they'd need to fight, but if it came down to it then he needed all the advantages he could get.

Trevors concession seemed to be the last round of preparation the group needed. Aveline added her runes to the others in her own small attempt to help; the runes were a combination of a 'sun' rune and a 'stone' rune and felt like the natural warmth of the sun that came from being out from under the shade too long, but how that would stand up against the bitter cold outside no one would know until they actually stepped out.
 
Lucia was able to slip out into the cold. She didn’t feel the sun burning through the clouds, but she remained wary all the same, stepping through shadow after shadow until she made her way to where Marius and Sulla were, along Veidr. Marius immediately let out a curious sound, and came to the edge of his own stable. “We’re going to try and figure this out,” Lucia told him, approaching the door, “but it’s technically morning. The sun doesn’t seem to be burning me, but…,” that could change on a whim.

Marius seemed to understand, tossing his head in a way that implied nodding, and let Lucia touch his face to guide him out, “Sulla, you stay here. We still don’t know what’s going to happen, it may be good not to have all of us together,” even if all of those who could speak Romanian would be together.

The animals were smart.

She might not yet be certain how intelligent Veidr was, but she knew how intelligent Marius and Sulla were. The only reason they didn’t talk was that the physical world inhibited their ability to do so. Horse mouths didn’t work well for that.

She didn’t bother with tacking Marius, but as soon as they were out of the stables, she did lift herself onto his back. Perhaps it would have been good to get a change of clothes from the carriage, rather than continue in a dress, but the cold didn’t bother her, nor thoughts of modesty right then. The dress still draped down everything, no matter how bunched it was. She squeezed her legs and Marius moved forward, easily reading the directions given to get back to the house.

~***~

Johann and Danica went to get warmer attire for themselves, as Alucard dressed in what he had, knowing he’d still be appreciative of the cloak despite how he didn’t get that cold. Out there, he certainly did. Trevor said it best – a magical chill, leaving only Lucia unaffected.

When Johann returned to the room, he noted that Aveline seemed to be tying a string around Trevor’s arm, and he canted his head, “Uh…?”

“Heating rope!” Sypha explained immediately, “we don’t know what to expect out there, so it could be useful,” she wouldn’t ask for one, if only because she had her fire, “you’ll have to teach me after this,” she indicated. She was, of course, watching intently as the process went on, and as Danica and Alucard joined them.

Danica was quite fluffy then; layers of clothing were on, and she had as much of herself covered as she could, rivaling Johann, who wasn’t wearing that many layers, even if he had as much covered.

Alucard almost looked ridiculous to be in only his coat, and usual attire, though Aveline might have rivaled him for it, too. He hadn’t forgotten the comments earlier last night, though, and so he asked, rather than presumed, “Should I gather the cloaks to pass out?” He noticed that the others hadn’t done so yet, likely just rejoining the room, and Sypha seemed quite distracted with the new rune in play.

He’d wait for Trevor to answer, or see if Trevor went to do so himself. If Trevor didn’t, he would go and grab cloaks. Everyone would at least be able to identify their own by the buttons they had selected, so there would be no confusion or arguing.
 
Canting his wrist from side to side Trevor inspected the rope, what an interesting little thing this was. He had seen Aveline make it, she had torn some spare fabric into small strips and weaved them together so this was nothing abnormal. There had been no chanting involved, all she had done was wrap this make shift rope until it left a particular pattern and almost immediately after she had created the symbol a steady warmth appeared.

It wasn't anything that felt dangerous, he wasn't suddenly boiling under his sun; no It felt like he had fallen asleep under a spring time sun. The warmth even traveled up his arm into the rest of him, he suppose that was a bright side. He would of looked silly if Aveline needed to put one of these runes on every part of him that he wanted to keep warm.

" I'll grab the cloaks," he assured Alucard, he had been the one to make them and he was almost eager to hand them out. These in a way were gifts to his friends.

His back turned Aveline caught Alucards eye and smiled, just like they thought Trevor wanted to do the handing out. The older hunter might look gruff but there was no hiding his kind protective nature, even if it was protecting them against the cold he wanted to do what he could.

Aveline held up her spare room and shot Johann and Danica and inquisitive look, a wordless offer to bundle them up as well. " You're not wearing much Johann, would you like me to give you a rune too? You can ask Trevor, it's not bad."

" Feels like sleeping in the sun a bit," trevor called out over his shoulder as he bundled up the cloaks in his arms.

Aveline in her own way was also eager to help protect her friends, protecting was in her blood after all, so when Danica offered her own puffed up arm for the rune Aveline was more than happy to oblige. She even called Sypha over to show her what way to wrap the ropes to get the rune, but when it came to putting a rune of Johann she was still the one to do it. Sypha was a quick study but she'd rather Sypha practice on something that wasn't one of their friends first.

" Alucard?" Aveline asked, her offer open to him too. He didn't need it as much as the other did but she wanted him as comfortable as possible before they headed out. She also wanted him to be able to look at the rune and think of her, maybe it would keep him grounded against what ever came their way.

Sypha clapped as Trevor finally began to hand out the cloaks then immediately pulled hers on, " This is massive!" she laughed, her form almost lost within the cloak. The wolves had been large but Syphas small form certainly helped dwarf her. " You're just small," Trevor laughed as he continued to hand out the cloaks to Johann, then Danica, Alucard, then finally Aveline.

" I think they're just massive," Aveline agreed as she took quickly became almost buried under her cloak but Trevor again laughed as he threw on his own tried and true Cloak, " Nope. You and Sypha are just too small. You two need to bulk up, maybe drink some milk."

Aveline narrowed her eyes a bit as the memory of her cream incident came back, " Is that a joke?"

With another bark of laughter Trevor threw open the front door, the wind quickly darting in to steal all the warmth it could before it was shut out again, " Lets just get going already, I don't want to be out in the cold longer than necessary."

Stepping outside the group settled and waited for Alucard to lead the way to his memory.
 
Everyone was warmed by the magic, and Alucard did pause to observe, as well, as the rope was wrapped in the particular pattern around Johann and Danica. Sypha wasn’t yet allowed to try, likely for good reason. Alucard could only imagine how she might end up blowing someone’s arm off. Might be better for her to practice with a branch, until the day the branch didn’t catch fire.

At the look to himself and the offer, Alucard did give a slight nod, “It may be good; this cold even bothers me,” he confessed, even if that might be a welcome distraction from what he was soon to witness. The warmth might also serve as a distraction, too. They still had no idea what they were supposed to do with these memories, after all.

He at least had the cloak, and he wasn’t engulfed by it like Aveline or Sypha. Though Danica wasn’t much taller than either, she somehow wore it in a way that didn’t make it seem like she was engulfed.

Still, he held out his arm for her, pulling up his coat’s sleeve to allow Aveline to work on the rune, ignoring Trevor’s laughter and comment to get going. “I’m sure he just forgot,” Alucard wouldn’t put it past Trevor to make such a flippant comment and forget Aveline’s issues with milk. Though, her abstinence from milk and meat might have contributed to her smaller size – it couldn’t explain Sypha.


Outside, Lucia was waiting by the carriage, on Marius, and Johann looked up at it jealously. “Not fair you get the fire horse,” he grumbled, though Marius’s flames were hardly lit. Even his smoky mane seemed to be barely there under the cold wind and blowing snow.

He was still warm, though, and Lucia smirked at Johann, “You have a cloak, you don’t get to complain.”

“Still…you could have brought Sulla, too,” Johann apparently wanted to complain as he crossed his arms over his chest. The warmth did spread through him, but he thought this would help to keep him warmer, too. That, and stepping up to Marius’s side, where the horse’s own warmth radiated out from its body. “Sulla and Veidr are all right, right?”

Lucia nodded, “They seemed that way,” and Marius. The meat was all gone, that was for sure.

Danica just chuckled at his complaining. “We’ll do this as quick as we can, Johann,” she said, knowing they were all eager to get on with it, “We’ll have to be alert to figure out just what’s needed in these memories.” It was a task of sorts, after all. There had to be something to do, besides watch.

At least, Danica hoped. Then they could bring them to an end sooner. Alucard might suffer the most for having to endure it the longest, but once they figured it out, no one else would need to.
 
The group assembled Alucard begun to led the way, though how he knew where he was going was amazing to anyone without supernatural senses.

The snow storm felt more like a blizzard now that they were all together and it was impossible to look ahead for more than a moment, the flakes of snow and small pieces of hail were eager to fill any opening in clothes or even your eyes. The buildings were also little help, the town had been deserted after all so nothing was well kept. The dark decrypted shape of most of the buildings were lost and more often than not found until someone bumped up against an edge.

Even Aveline with her own enchanced senses who had actually been there when Alucard stumbled upon his memory wasn't totally sure where they were, but Alucard led them surely through the snow. She imagined it was like what happened last time, a voice calling out to him and leading him back to where he had became entranced by what ever magic was at work here.

" Are we almost there?" Sypha called out through the storm to Alucard, they were all as bunched together as possible so not to lose one another in the blinding snow but still it was so hard to see anything. Even the dark fur on the cloaks Trevor had made for them seemed to become lost in the blinding whiteness of Baba Yagas magical storm.

Aveline kept silent but she was confidant that the others would know when they arrived, just like how she had known something was wrong when Alucard first stumbled upon his memory. The hold these memories had on Alucard was strong, and in a way she felt grateful that she hadn't stumbled upon her own memories yet.

From what she heard it was only her and Either Johann or Danica that had yet to find the area that contained their memories; truthfully she didn't want to discover what memories had been selected for her to relive but she knew the others felt the same. Who would want to relive their past with an audience?

Suddenly Alucard stopped and Aveline bumped into his back a bit, had she been following too closely or had something simply caught his attention that quickly? She knew they were close then.

" Don't leave us behind," she said as she grabbed Alucards hand, the memory of how he had been ready to walk off on his own the first time he encountered these memories hit her hard. She was afraid to lose him in these dueling storms, between the snow and the rush of memories he would have to relive she refused to leave him in either alone.

" This is it?" Trevor mused, he tried looking around but there was nothing to see; the snow was too blinding and it all looked white to him.

However with the group together the snow seemed to die down, the biting cold that nipped at his nose was replaced and instead he could smell burning wood and in the distance there was the sound of a crowd.

No, that was the sound of a mob.
 
Even Alucard had been uncertain of the directions to take in the snow, but somehow, he managed to find his way through it. He knew, immediately, by the scent that first reached him – it wasn’t fire, it wasn’t even the unwashed masses – it was death. That smell had been so poignant, even as Lisa still stood, coughing, amidst the flames that it had ruined his resolve to try and move her from the pyre.

He felt Aveline bump into him as he came to a pause, and he glanced back to her, even though he could barely see. Her hand wrapped around his own, and he allowed it, a moment, before slowly pulling it away.

He had to remained focused, not sorrowful, not distracted. “This is it,” he confirmed as the snow started to fade away, revealing the scene as if it were in a snowglobe, for at the edges the storm could still be seen swirling around them, giving Alucard some momentary relief to know this wasn’t real. Or rather – it wasn’t real again.

Not that it lasted.


He could see himself in the crowd of people shouting at Lisa, condemning her for a witch, a harlot, Satan’s bride, and all other ill manner of lies. The clergy just stood back in observation as the flames rose higher, the smoke twisting above Lisa’s head, even though she was still easy to see; the flames did not yet obscure her, and he knew, she would be dead before they ever did. Her wracking cough said it all and spoke to the poisonous fumes she had already inhaled, and the slow, painful death she was undergoing.

A death likely not unlike what the Belmonts had endured.

Her watery eyes fell on Alucard – not the present one, but the one in the memory who had finally rushed towards the pyre, broken from his own reverie, his golden eyes wide and terrified as he thought to try and rush the pyre, even then, even knowing it was too late.

Even before his other self could push past someone, Lisa had noticed. “Don’t hurt them!” Her gaze turned up, as Alucard paused atop a stall, unnoticed by the crowd who was focused on Lisa. “They don’t understand!” Even at her end….


The present Alucard could feel his heart clench, even as it seemed to race with that old panic. He couldn’t keep his focus on the task of figuring out what he was supposed to do, to get them out of this memory, to put an end to Baba Yaga’s plans sooner; his own eyes were on Lisa, completely. He heard only her voice.

He wanted to drop then and there.

He wanted to shout out to her, to see if she’d hear him – to see if he might gain some response anew, some closure – anything else – but his throat was too tight, aware of the sob that would escape as he held himself stiffly.

Lucia was the one to move, though it was not with haste, and with no attempt to be obvious. She’d edged Marius around the crowd, and tried to make a move through them, but when Marius stepped forward, there was no budging. The crowd of people were like stones, and there was no interaction with them.

They didn’t notice him.

They didn’t notice Lucia.

There was no way to break the scene, it seemed. Even Johann tried to push past a few, only to get stuck in place where they were gathered, as they moved in closer around him, hearing Lisa speak, and jeering at her for trying to speak to Satan at the end.

If she was speaking to Satan, she was certainly still being nice and trying to protect them – and yet, they jeered.
 
There didn't seem to be a point to this, to rehashing these painful memories other than showing those who hadn't been there that day just what had happened. These were the actions that set in motion the end of the world.

Scanning the crowd Trevor vaguely noticed that the priest in charge of the whole thing was the same priest they had seen at Gresit, the one ready to kill the speakers to please god when in truth it wasn't god that needed to be satisfied.

" How awful," Aveline mumbled under her breath, her eyes hadn't moved from Lisa since she finally spotted the woman. That was Alucards mother, the woman who's death had spelled the end of humanity if Dracula had any say in it. This was possibly the worst time to see her, the woman coughing and calling out tut to someone unseen was likely only a fraction of the person she really was and yet this was the version she got to see.

She had always had hope in humanity, but in this moment as memories from a past that were not hers unfolded she felt herself sobered a bit more. Had she witnessed the murder of her father by a crowd of humans she did not know if she would have the strength Alucard did to continue to move forward and protect humanity, and yet he was.

What a good son Lisa raised.

" Just how long will this go on?" Trevor asked after a second, he wanted to know just how long Alucard had tortured himself. Had the Dhampir stood there until his mother was nothing more than ashes and the crowd had died down? Had he been there first hand as the vision of father appeared? Talk about family drama.

The vision did eventually fade a bit, like time was going by, and as the smoldering pile in front of them cast smoke into the sky and the mob started to disperse Draculas face appeared. Stone was thrown back and fire seemed to appear from hell itself and easily blew the hair of everyone in the present watching as Dracula spat his justified anger at the crowd.

Sypha and Aveline found themselves gulping a bit, this was the closest they had ever gotten to seeing Dracula up until now and his raw power as well as the way his voice traveled was something to behold. This was the man they would have to defeat?

The memory finally faded in it's entirety as Draculas warning echoed through a crowd, one year he would give Wallachia a year as he prepared his army. Then just as his words faded so did the world around them until the group was returned to the empty whiteness that was their snow storm, but it wasn't like they were given back to reality. Like a snow globe it felt like they were protected from the snow, what ever Baba Yaga wanted from them by showing them this memory wasn't done.

" Why would she make us see that?" Aveline finally asked softly now that they could move without bumping into Alucards memory. What would they get from seeing what pained Alucard the most? Pity? No Alucard would never want pity, all he ever asked for was understanding and cooperation.

Trevor called out over his shoulder as he wandered the space, " You mean other than just being a crazy bitch?" he asked as he flicked his finger against the invisible boundary that kept them inside and the snow out.

" Maybe don't call the extremely powerful force of nature that's trapped us here a bitch," Sypha suggested with a sigh though she couldn't help but agree, what a bitch.

Trevor shrugged a bit, he never claimed to be smart enough to not piss off the things he was fighting. generally he found pissing them off worked in his favor, but he could see Syphas point. " If I wasn't so suspicious i'd say she wanted us to learn from the past, like one of those legends she's featured in." Baba Yaga was a creature from myth after all, maybe there was some truth to her trying to teach the 'youth' in some of her stories.
 
Alucard had indeed stayed to hear his father’s declaration, to see the end of his mother. It was the least he could do for her, to let her know that one person in the crowd cared for her, and witnessed her, to the end. He might have left then, were it not for Dracula’s appearance in the flames and his words.

Only then did Alucard rush home, and so the memory had faded.

He had wanted to stop his father, of course – but as they all knew, it was in vain.

He heard the voices around him, more distant than the memory had been, complaining about how they still seemed stuck there. No snow blew against his face, no chill wind, but he still felt frozen having to see it all again, having to remember what had occurred and recall his helplessness.

A helplessness that felt all the more intense given they were still stuck here, in this bubble, and he feared it may start again. Again, and again, and again, until it was figured out. What was the point?

Fire was on his own tongue, towards Baba Yaga, towards Trevor and everyone else complaining, and as he lifted his head to breathe life into it, a chilled hand fell upon his shoulder and his gaze shifted immediately to Lucia, who had descended from Marius and come to his side. Her nails dug a bit into the back of his shoulder; as the others were looking for ways out, or complaining of Baba Yaga, she had come to his side instead.

She’d already tried her luck before all of this with Marius and her own shadow-stepping abilities. She knew how pointless it was to try and break through this, but that hadn’t been what bothered her.

Alucard’s palms were bleeding.

Just as his jaw had set, his hands had clenched into tight fists at his side. He hadn’t even noticed the blood dripping down into the snow, but of course, Lucia smelled it. “Breathe, Alucard.”

He didn’t look like he wanted to listen. His golden eyes burned like fire as he looked at her, the shock coming off of him to return to the anger he felt, but he did it – a deep inhale, that came out heavy, but slow. “Lisa was, without question, better than all of us. I had known her strength before, but still this surprised me.” To still plea, to be conscious enough to plea, “the smoke had already poisoned her but she still thought to spare them…there was nothing you could have done.”

She felt him try to pull away at that, and her grip only tightened.

It would, no doubt, be a long time before Alucard accepted that. “She was dead. Even I recognized it in this memory.” It just hadn’t hit Lisa yet, but she was – a poison that could not be reversed.

She took the note that this might be about learning from the past. If this was the memory chosen…and with how recent it was, with how set Alucard was on his mission, there had never been any question of the guilt he felt, and it shone in his response.

“If I was there sooner—”

“You weren’t,” Danica said, though her own voice was strangely timid then, still shaken by the sight.

“If I had talked to my father—” he’d mentioned these things, with Aveline, but even so – it was not an easy thing to accept.

“You tried. You nearly died, Alucard.” Sypha stated, “We all saw that scar.” When he came out of his tomb. “You did everything you could have done!”

“Then why are we here?!” There was no masking how heavy his grief was in the question, or the depths of his own sense of failure and guilt. The memory had broken his guards quite effectively.
 
As Trevor settled his curiousity he returned from the edges of this bubble, like the others he found himself drifting towards Alucard. He was the center of all this, this memory had been his and if Trevors guess was correct then Alucard would be their only way out of here.

And yet it was hard to see Alucard like this. Unlike Lucia and Aveline who had seen Alucard broken the others had never seen more from their dutiful soldier than what he allowed them to see. It drove home just how human Alucard was, it was so easy to forget when what one saw first was his supernatural beauty and fighting abilities.

Aveline found herself by his side, even after he had taken his hand from hers she had never left, but hesitant to take his hand again. They were bleeding and while she was willing to accept any physical pain he gave her, the pain of being brushed off again would be harder to recover from.

Instead she rested a comforting hand on his upper arm, her thumb rubbing small circles in an attempt to at first calm his rapidly rising temper but then as Alucards guard was let down she just wanted to offer him any comfort she could.

Off to the side Trevor shifted his weight from one foot to the other, he wasn't good with this kind of thing. All this guilt and regret, they were beasts he was all too familiar with and truly anything that he said could be thrown back at him. Alucard was hurting and he didn't doubt for a moment that if he tried to offer advise that Alucard would throw it back in his face; it was easy to offer advise but living what you preach was different.

Regardless of all that the question was still in the air, why were they trapped here? Why had Baba Yaga made them watch this memory and why would she continue to make them watch these memories?

" Why are we here," Trevor repeated, " I think that's pretty clear Alucard. Right now we're here to tell you that the only person that blames you, is you. It's possible that Baba Yaga is trying to tell us that the only way to move forward out of this village is to move forward mentally as well, i don't personally give a rats ass about what she wants." he walked towards Alucard then leveled the Dhampir with a serious gaze. " I know this is a pot meet kettle situation, but all this guilt will destroy you one day if you let it. Plus you're immortal, so I can only imagine how much that would suck."

" Alucard, we can't change the past," Aveline stated, " I don't think for a moment that a single person here doesn't wish that they could."

She had spoken big to him yesterday in his room, she had talked about moving on and time lessening the pain but she was no fool. Talking was easy, doing was an entirely different beast. She also couldn't assume to know what Baba Yaga wanted, but if there was anything to learn from both Alucards memory and his responses so far; then they were here to talk him out of his self inflected guilt.

" There's nothing wrong with missing your mother, but this guilt that you feel it's not healthy." It could easily get out of hand, and there was that fear of just what would happen to Alucard when their mission was complete. If Alucard already felt guilt now over not saving his mother and not stopping his father the first time, then how would he feel when the deed was done and his father dead?
 
Why were they there? To confront the past, to come to some grand epiphany? Everything being said were things Alucard had heard before, in some manner, or thought. He did scoff as Trevor tried to add his own two cents, though he didn’t break his gaze from the other man, and he did listen to him as he suggested the guilt was terribly unhealthy. As they all seemed to say it was, and he was undeserving of it.

Again, and again, they reassured, and even though the pressure on his arm from Aveline was a comfort, he still felt a building rage as he wanted to lash out at them. Each and every one of them would feel guilt in his situation – Trevor like had for years by now. Perhaps Alucard would be kinder to him, to indeed say much the same – that his guilt was undeserved, but it didn’t banish it.

And there was more yet to come; his father’s promise to those citizens rang in his ears. It was a promise he had made good on, as he continued to ravage the world.

“In my shoes, you would all blame yourselves, just as well. You would all see the ways this could be different, if just one thing had changed – if you had just changed one action.” His gaze was on Trevor more than the others, though. He knew. Without question, he knew, “Like the pot calling the kettle black – and I would tell you all the same thing, that you’re wrong, that you’re not at fault, but it doesn’t really matter, does it?” There was a hiss in his words now, as he kept his voice lowered so as not to yell.

The anger still vented out through his tight jaw. “Deep in your soul, you’ll always feel you didn’t do enough.” Trevor was living proof of that. “It doesn’t just go away.” It would haunt him, for the rest of his life. He would have to learn to deal with it. He was prepared to learn to deal with it, to fight back the thought with those reassurances others gave to him, but to end it?

No, he didn’t think that was possible.

Lucia let herself remain silent. Though Alucard didn’t say it, it was clear his address wasn’t to the group, it was to Trevor, the one he got along with the least, and it was clear why: he feared that Trevor was his future, that he would end up as desolate and purposeless as him, when this was over.

Besides, there was no way Lucia had to counter it; she was not one who worked with immediate solutions to emotional traumas. She had always been fairly…slow.

And it did make her wonder, indeed, what Baba sought from this.

She certainly didn’t feel guilty for her memory with Dimas, and she knew she was healing from it. She was playing music again. She had opened up more to Trevor after being burned by both Dimas and Carmilla. She was, in general, refashioning and relearning herself after the event. ‘So what are we supposed to find here?’ Would it be different for them all?
 
Through all of Alucards words, all his hissed anger, Trevors gaze did not waver. He knew these words were meant for him more than anything else, and he could feel in his gut what this was about.

Because for all that he and Alucard butted heads they were more similar than they wanted to admit. It did not matter that their up bringing or the fact that they were opposites in every way they were connected in a way that neither cared to acknowledge.

" Alucard, you're young enough that you can prevent your guilt from controlling you." If Trevor could use his life as a learning experience or even a horror story to prevent others from doing what he did, then maybe he could find some solace in that.

Realizing what Trevor was trying to get across, but also eager to keep things from boiling over Sypha stepped forward. " I think what Trevor is trying to say is that we wish we could take this pain from you Alucard, but we cannot. I see now that trying to absolve you of your guilt would be close to impossible, no one is safe from guilt. However whether you let your guilt dictate your life or not, that is something you can control. The only person that can keep your regret from festering and rotting and well turning you into Trevor-"

" Hey!" Trevor piped up, it was one thing for him to telling Alucard to be better than he ever was it was another for Sypha to just say it.

" Oh hush, I was just saying what you were not ballsy enough to." Sypha scolded him with a small dismissive wave in Trevors direction, this wasn't about Trevors feelings so he could muscle through for Alucards sake. " As I was saying, You can let your guilt control you and sour life like it did Trevor or you can keep your mind open and keep moving forward."

That was probably all a person could do, they were fools to think they could logically talk Alucard out of his guilt. All they could do was support Alucard and be there for him as he hopefully kept trying to live his life. If he stayed hung up on his guilt then he could get frozen in time or allow himself to be twisted into a sad shell of a man.

Perhaps it was selfish but Aveline had hoped that after Dracula was defeated she and Alucard could just enjoy themselves, no end of the world to make them feel guilty for joking and no friends to tease her; but if Alucard was stuck in the past focusing on what could have been she was worried he'd miss out on everything that could still be.

" Alucard," she spoke up as her grip on his jacket tightened a fraction, " It's ok to feel guilty and I don't need some big promise. I just want to know that you'll look forward to the future. We are planning to stick together when everything is said and done, I want to know that you're looking forward to it just as much as I am."

She didn't need some promise to over come his guilt or to keep his past from ruling him, but just an acknowledgment that he was going to keep on living his life when their mission was done was enough for her. As long as he didn't plan to spend his immortal life beating himself up then she would count that as a win.
 
Alucard could have easily snapped more at Trevor. The soothing gestures of Aveline, and the presence of Lucia – close enough to grab him – likely helped to keep him from snapping even vocally. Sypha stepped up, and stepped in, though. Her words were like a balm to the wound pulled open; the others didn’t like his pain, of course, and there was little they could do about it – except be there, and remind him, there was life outside.

He had already begun to consider that, of course. He made plans to let Aveline live with him, when all was said and done. He had imagined that might force him into something of a life, too – and the thought of pursuing something more than a friendship with her, if the feelings held after all of this, lingered.

Underneath that, though, was the consideration that Aveline would soon leave. Lucia would handle the vampire world, and he would…fade.

Trevor and Sypha would die soon, after all.

Aveline would find her happiness elsewhere.

Lucia might yet remember him, might yet visit, but she might end up too caught up in the act of trying to keep the vampire world from imploding. He wasn’t certain what he would do after…not really. His gaze shifted down to Aveline as he felt her grip on his jacket tighten, and he let out a breath. His posture relaxed, enough that Lucia stepped back towards Marius and put a hand on his back.

“I look forward to an end to what Dracula is doing to the world,” that much was true, “and I look forward to seeing what future that entails for us all, but it will be hard,” that much was easy to admit, “I suppose I may have very well become a sad shell of a man when you all went your separate ways. It would have been easy.”

“We wouldn’t have left you alone long enough for that,” Danica noted. “There is a future out there for you, Alucard. Even if you don’t know what it is. I certainly never thought I’d be working with a vampiress when I was a teenager, but here I am.”

“Same,” Johann echoed, and it brought a small smile to Alucard’s lips.

He supposed his future might be uncertain, and he might wish for it to be a thousand other things…but that didn’t mean he had to spend it wallowing in his guilt and wishing for things he couldn’t change. He gave an inclination of his head, “I promise I won’t spend all of my time moping in the castle.”
 
It had been hard talking Alucard through his issues and truly his issues would never be gone, but they at least had a promise that he would try to live his life when Dracula was defeated; though promising not to mop like a teenager wasn't much. However Avelines words about staying with Alucard were a quiet solace for them all, if Aveline was around it seemed almost impossible to mop; Alucard would be ok with her around.

However before Sypha could clap or Aveline could smile like a needle Alucards words seemed to pierce the peaceful and almost otherworldly sphere they were trapped in; the weather suddenly came rushing in; there was almost not enough time for the group to enjoy their small victory.

The snow rushed to fill the space it was previously denied and immediately the group was once again pelted with heavy snow, however there was a slight difference to it. The snow storm wasn't as heavy as it was before, it was actually possible to see your hand a few feet in front of you now, though it was still certainly impossible for them to leave the town like this.

" Guess that was what Baba Yaga wanted to hear," Sypha spoke up as she once again lit a flame and held it close for both warmth and guiding light.

" And the storm did let up a bit, so we're onto something," Trevor added. It had been a logical guess that these memories were connected to the storm trapping them here, but now they had proof and a plan of action they knew would work; they would continue to confront their memories until the storm was gone.

Still the question of just what had worked was in the air, clearly Baba Yaga had wanted Alucard to keep looking towards the future but if she wanted something similar from the rest of them they wouldn't know until they did this a few more times; it was possible she'd ask for something different depending on the person which was an unfortunate thought for Trevor. What part of his past would she put on display and what did she want him to realize? Was he even ready to accept whatever lesson she was trying to force on him?

He wasn't sure, and something told him that even if he put off confrotning his memory until the last second he still wouldn't be.

It was Sypha who started moving first, the small light of her flame barely visible this time around unlike when they first set out, " We should continue to the next memory, there are alot of us and time is precious." Belmont Estate was so close, they just had to get out of this town and continue along the path up the mountain, which meant the key to defeating Dracula was possibly within their reach.

" Are you leading us to yours?" Aveline called out to Sypha, with the storm still as strong as it was talking to Sypha at the front of the group was a bit difficult but at the same time Aveline had no plans on leaving Alucards side soon after what he just did.

Sypha nodded, then thought better of it and called back " Yes, mine was back towards the front of the village but i can only assume getting someone to willingly volunteer will be like pulling teeth and i'd rather not stay out in this cold for too long," There was a sheepish chuckle from Aveline and Trevor quickly looked away trying to fake innocence, Sypha was too good at reading them.

" The rest of you should start thinking about who's going next, it will have to happen eventually." Baba Yaga was making it very clear, they could not run from their pasts here so it would benifit them all if they as a group would just get this over with; at least thats why Sypha decided to go next. She had an idea of what her memory would be and while it was an old painful memory she did not think her comfort was more important than stopping Dracula; the others would need to realize and accept this as well.
 
The storm slapped them all in the face again, and Lucia was on Marius in less than a second. Though the storm had slackened, it hadn’t slackened enough. At least, Lucia didn’t feel the rays of a burning sun on her yet. While the lightening of the storm seemed to relieve the others, it hardly relieved her. How many would they have to endure before the sun came out just enough?

Or would it wait until the last one?

The question didn’t get asked, of course. Sypha started to move, and the group naturally began to follow her as she took point, planning to show them to her memory next. She hadn’t expected anyone to easily volunteer, so she just took the initiative. Admirable. Now it was up to them to figure out the order as they followed Sypha.

Lucia already knew Trevor would hesitate, and she had already made an offer before to go ahead of him. So, she said, “I’ll go next,” waiting would not make this any easier, “I’m not certain how long I can be out anyway if the storm keeps clearing up.” Obviously, they might not be able to proceed at all if they weren’t all together, but she’d still rather have hers done with sooner than later.

“Are you sure?” Danica was the one to ask, and Lucia just gave a nod.

“It doesn’t get any easier.”

Danica took a breath, but nodded, “I’ll go after Lucia, then,” she knew their situations weren’t exact replicas, but there had been similarities enough – both controlled by men they were supposed to care for, or had once cared for. They had both escaped it with violence. Perhaps it would be easier, in some ways, to see her own after seeing Lucia’s.

There was no question in Danica’s mind about what would be chosen for her.

Just as Johann knew there was no other memory for him, but one. “I guess I can go after Danica,” he didn’t sound enthused, though, “Unless someone else is wanting to call the spot?” He wasn’t quite hopeful, but he was offering all the same.

They were approaching Sypha’s memory, of course, but none of them quite knew what to expect with it from what they knew of the Speaker. Whereas Alucard, and even Trevor, seemed obvious – and likely something with Aveline’s mother for her, Sypha’s did not seem so straightforward. She always seemed to have her head well on her shoulders, after all. Even with the pyromania.
 
Lucias offer to go after Sypha tensed Trevor up, he remembered their talk easily enough; her memory was something that had taken her centuries to come to terms with but still wasn't something she wanted to put on display, and yet she was. He wanted to be able to do the same, but he hadn't had centuries. Technically he had had decades but even then he hadn't tried to actively confront or get over his past until just recentally.

He wanted to keep running but that was impossible, even if they would escape from this village somehow without him showing the others his past his families estate was their next stop. Seeing what was once his family home and remembering what once was would be difficult, but it was selfish to think only of himself and his feelings when everyone was suffering.

Noticing the internal struggle Trevor was going through Aveline swallowed down her own heistancy and spoke up, " I'll go after Johann then, Trevor you'll have to be last." Maybe the time it would take to get to his memory would allow himself to steel himself, but even if it didn't it felt cruel to make an unwilling man with decades of pain go through this. She could buy him just a little more time, whether that was a good idea or not.

" We're close," Sypha called out as the smell of the desert hit her nose, and slowly as the snow around the group began to once again encircle them like some type of prison the chill in the air lessened just a bit.

The smell of smoke hit the group again, similar in a way to Alucards own memory, as shapes formed and figures revealed.


The group stood before a smoking charred caravan in the middle of a night time desert while bodies clad in classic speaker robes lay dead on the ground; the sand had absorbed as much blood as it could handle but even then puddles had formed.

It was a massacre, clearly led by the group of bandits standing around and looking through bags and boxes they had pulled from the wagon before setting it ablaze. They weren't paying attention to a small bush off to the side, didn't notice as a small child slipped out, then realized too late their mistake.

One man was set ablaze with flames too powerful to be anything but magical, then another, and another. One by one each bandit died burning, until the only person left standing was the badly shaking form of a traumatized Sypha who couldn't be older than 12.

Then as the memory faded, not a single word spoken up to this point other than the screams of the dying men, the young sypha in the memory dropped to her knees and cried by herself surrounded only by the dead.


Present Sypha looked away from the younger shape of herself as her hands shook, she could feel fire on her finger tips just as strongly as she had that day when her caravan was killed. Finally she spoke, " I've kept living my life after that day, it took time but after i was found by my grandfathers caravan he helped me find a reason to keep living." she explained with the hopes of narrowing down what ever reason Baba Yaga had for this memory.

She wasn't suffering like Alucard had, she wasn't stuck in the past. However as she looked at her hands and felt the magic in her veins she couldn't help but think it wasn't enough; she wasn't enough. She had been weak back then, and right now with the huge task ahead of them she worried she'd be too weak again.
 
No one would take Johann’s place, but Aveline did agree to go after, leaving Trevor the last one. It was somehow what Lucia expected, and what Alucard expected, as well. Trevor had been suffering this entire journey with what happened to the Belmonts, and he was already taking them to his ancestral home…it was no wonder he would not be keen to face things in this fashion.

Sypha’s memory eventually washed over them, colder than the storm, but so much drier, as the desert came into focus and a multitude of dead Speakers. “Why…?” Danica found herself asking, horrified to see the slaughter.

What did Speakers truly carry with them that would cause such slaughter by these bandits? Danica had never known them to travel with riches, beyond their knowledge. Just what was needed for survival. There was no answer for the senselessness, of course. They did not get to observe the bandits finding anything, or making it obvious – the young Sypha came out of hiding, magic on her fingertips, and she destroyed them all, their screams echoing as they burned, until there was nothing left.

Just Sypha.

Sypha, who was eventually found by her grandfather, and who had to move by this moment. She did not seem quite so stuck as Alucard, nor even so affected by the moment as some of the others. Danica’s eyes had watered.

“I’m glad he found you,” Johann murmured, “So this was when you figured your magic?” He could tell, even then, that it wasn’t well trained in her. She’d practically just been running into them to put her burning hand on them, to catch them aflame and destroy them. It was hardly the honed power she wielded now.

Sypha gave a nod. “If I had known it before…this wouldn’t have happened.” She had found out too late. “I know – I know it’s not my fault,” she chuckled, but it wasn’t quite sincere. This didn’t feel like a matter of guilt for her, “but I can’t help but think if I had been stronger then, or if I was stronger now, so much could have prevented.”

“You’re preaching to the choir,” Alucard couldn’t help his own dry comment. Obviously, he wished he had been quite a bit stronger, too. Enough to prevent Dracula from starting this mad war.

Lucia managed a light nod. That sentiment, she understood. “I learned my own powers late, as well.” Late, in that so much had already happened, so much life lost, wasted.
 
The death surrounding them had been shocking, that this was Syphas past was equally shocking. She was so well put together, she seemed to be a very happy and cheerful person despite this bleakness in her past; however since this was the memory that was chosen clearly there was something here that Sypha still carried with her to this day.

" I think you were quite strong back then, Sypha." Aveline spoke up as she placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, and after a moment Sypha found the strength to look over her shoulder at her. "You were young, but what you did was the most you could do. It wasn't much, but you still did what you could. We in the present shouldn't look back on the past and compare, it will drive us crazy."

While it was quickly becoming a common theme amongst these memories everyone would need to learn to not blame themselves for things they could no change; and Sypha knew that to a certain degree. " I know, Aveline, and every time I think back to that memory I tell myself that."

Sypha grabbed Avelines hand and squeezed it, if Aveline thought Syphas hands were teetering just on the side of too hot she didn't say anything about it, " I haven't spoken to any of you about this but i'm worried that history will repeat itself. I do not want to be left standing, surrounded by your corpses, thinking I could have done more if I had been stronger!"

Like that it was realized Syphas past and present were more connected than any of them could of initially realized; she had learned well enough from losing her family but what she feared the most of a repeat of history.

And what could they say to that? How could they assure her that things would work out when the possibility of being killed was very possible.

When the group came together to defeat Dracula they had all acknowledged that regardless of the cost they needed to succeed, but they weren't really friends back then. Now they had been traveling together, laughing together, growing together. Sypha had left her caravan to travel with them and felt like she had made new family members in a way, now she worried about losing them like she had lost her own family years ago.
 
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