Good Evening,

This is a 30 AU challenge with the Mad Child! This is 16 out of 30. Afterwards, please go check out the Mad Child's version of this AU if you hadn't already!

The theme for this AU is: locked together!

Alucard, Seras, and Sebastian ARE HUMAN in this!

Oxford Not Brogues

The Rekindling

It was an extremely rough time for Alucard, Seras, and Sebastian. For the last three years all had been going very well with their peculiar relationship. A year in of dating, they moved into together, finding a nice big flat for all three of them to live in comfortably. They got along well and were very happy. Rarely any fights broke out. But as of lately, things were different. Seras was distancing herself from them more and more each day. Of course, Alucard and Sebastian tried to get her to talk about what's bothering her, but she would merely shrug her shoulders, say that she was fine, and would leave the room. She was clearly depressed and was avoiding talking to them. What was she trying to figure out all by herself? Why was she no longer happy being with them? They tried talking to her so many times, but it got to the point that she would start to get frustrated at them for constantly asking her and result in her leaving the flat to clear her head. Was she going to break up with them? They couldn't help but wonder.

After a while they started to realize that Seras didn't sleep much at night any more. It was probably from whatever was bothering her. And now with the constant thought that their world was crumbling around them, Alucard and Sebastian were having a difficult time falling asleep. Neither of them could remember the last time they kissed her. They've tried on several occasions, but she always somehow managed to escape before their lips could touch hers. This has been going on for about two months and each day she was getting worse. They knew she was a ticking bomb, getting ready at any moment to explode and just dump their asses. But why? Were they at least going to know why she fell out of love with them? Was it them? Had they done something wrong? Hoping to save their relationship, Alucard and Sebastian tried to take her out on romantic dates like they used to.

At first, she rejected every single time they suggested it. But after a while she started agreeing, most likely because they kept pushing it and she wanted to finally 'shut them up'. They did their best to make it a special night and to at least get her to crack a smile, but if anything she was all the more depressed and distant. They took her to see a comedy that she did not laugh at once. Their Seras would have been dying of laughter. They took her to dinner where she sat there forking her food. Their Seras would have participated in the conversation with such a gleam in her eyes and a bright smile on her face. They strolled through the park with her to moon gaze, but the ground seemed to be far more interesting to her. Their Seras wouldn't have been able to take her eyes off of the sky. This wasn't their Seras. She was…different, she had changed drastically, and they were tired of this person that's been living with them for the past two months.

Perhaps a breakup was best if she never reverts back to her old self? They gave it a good try. They tried hard to talk with her, to cheer her up, and to do something special for her, but she was starting to drain them of their energy, patience, and happiness. Since the life had been sucked out of her, it's like she was trying to suck the life out of them now. And they couldn't deal with that. They couldn't take any more of this negativity. She either needed to talk to them or they needed to breakup. But neither of them could do it. Neither of them could find their guts to look her in the eye and tell her that it was over. They still loved her. Alucard and Sebastian were both so stiff and silent as they stood behind Seras in the elevator that was taking them to the floor of their flat. The girl looked like she was trying to huddle into herself. Her arms were crossed over her chest so tightly and her head was lowered. She always looked like this anymore, like she wanted to curl up into a tight ball and just die. It pained them to see her like that, but, at the same time; they couldn't recognize the woman before them anymore. She just wasn't their Seras. Sebastian took a deep breath when he finally gained the strength to say what he's wanted to say to her for the past half hour.

"I think we should take some time apart, Seras." Was his polite way of saying that it was over between them. For the first time in weeks, there was actually a response from her. They couldn't see her face, but they watched as her hands tightened around her arms, grasping them so tightly that her whole body started to tremble and her knuckles turned a pure white. At first they thought she was angry. They were ready to hear her start screaming and yelling at them. They even thought for a moment that she would punch the elevator doors out of her pain and fury. But instead they were met with the sounds of her soft sobs. Hearing it instantly pierced their hearts and tore Sebastian up on the inside for breaking his girl. He lifted a hand, wanting to pull her into a hug, but he was stopped when the elevator made a strange whirring sound. The males glanced around them when the elevator gently shook before coming to a dead stop. Michaelis' first instinct was to press the button to open the elevator doors, but that didn't work.

"I think we're stuck," He muttered before he picked the emergency phone off the hook and brought it to his ear. He waited a second before a responder came on. "Yes, the elevator has stopped." There were a few seconds of silence. "Three of us," He answered and then another few seconds of silence. "Thank you," After that, he hung up and looked at Alucard since Seras was a complete mess and wasn't even aware that the elevator had stopped. "He has to call the fire department, but he doesn't know how long it will be until they arrive." Alucard said nothing as he slowly looked back at the small blonde.

"Seras," He whispered her name with a deep sigh. "Please stop crying," She shook her head at him while she tried using her sleeve to wipe away her tears.

"I can't handle this," She whispered as she stumbled to the side to slide down the wall. "I can't," She gently curled her fingers in her hair while she continued to cry. "I am so tired," She whispered. She looked so very exhausted. They knew it was from her lack of asleep. There were bags under her eyes. Her face was pale and tears ran down her cheeks. She sniffed while she continued to try and clean her face. Seras looked up at them. It was the first time she looked at them, truly looked at them, in weeks. "Is it really over between us?" She asked them calmly. Her eyes flickered between them while she waited patiently for an answer. The males slowly lowered themselves to the floor to sit with her.

"I don't know," Sebastian answered her softly. He looked so disappointed and confused. He didn't know what to think anymore. It was the most she's talked to them in forever. He shook his head at her. "We don't want it to be over, Seras."

"I don't want it to be over either!" She assured them instantly with a violent shake of her head.

"You still...want to be with us?" Alucard asked her with furrowed brows. Seras stared deeply into his eyes for a long minute.

"I would…give up everything to be with you guys. I love you both," She answered, but for some reason this answer made her burst into tears all over again. "But I feel so wrong…so dirty! I love you guys…but I think I screwed up. I am so confused and just so tired. I don't know what to do anymore or what to feel."

"You screwed up?" Sebastian repeated with an arched brow. "What are you talking about, Seras? How did you screw up?" She shook her head at him while she again tried cleaning her face. She stared at her jeans as she attempted to gather her thoughts. She had such a headache, but she was trying hard to think properly.

"Do you remember a couple of weeks ago when I went over to my parents' place to visit them?" She asked them.

"They said that they wanted to talk to you." Sebastian recalled. It was about two months ago, just about the same time when this weird behavior of hers started.

"What did they want to talk to you about?" Alucard asked carefully. He wanted to hold her hand since she was in clear pain, but he didn't know what to do. So he kept his hands to himself for now. Seras absently shook her head while she stared intently at her pants. It just kept replaying over and over again in her head. More tears slid down her cheeks, but she didn't seem aware of it this time.

"They disowned me," She whispered. "I'd…never seen my dad so angry before, like he actually wanted to hit me or something. He was shaking and his hands were balled into fists. And my mum…she wouldn't…couldn't stop crying." Her face paled further if possible. She felt sick to her stomach, but she didn't come out of that trance like state. Alucard and Sebastian could only sit there and stare at her in disbelief. It bewildered them to hear that her parents had disowned her. She had always been so close with her parents, it seemed practically impossible for anything to come between them. What happened?

"Seras?" Sebastian whispered as he reached out to take her hand. Seras finally blinked and she instinctively grabbed his hand to hold it tightly in her trembling one. "Why did they…What happened?" He asked.

"They…found out about us." She whispered. "They knew that I had…two boyfriends…and they…disapproved." She shrugged with a soft laugh, like it was all some sort of joke. But pain still glistened in her eyes. She licked over her lips and lowered her head. "Dad…demanded that I breakup with the both of you. I tried…I tried so hard to convince them…to tell them how much I loved you guys. I told them how long we've been together and that we were even living together. But…it only repulsed them more. They thought it was…some stupid phase and that what we had wasn't a real, healthy relationship. He even went as far as calling you both toxic, saying that you guys were just using me and that eventually you guys will break my heart. When they realized I wasn't going to give you guys up, he told me to leave…and to never show my face in their home again. So…I just…left. I left," Seras then reached into her pocket to pull out her phone. She flipped it open only to see that she didn't have a single notification. "Is it stupid…wishing that they will call? Like…they will just wake up and suddenly approve of our relationship?"

"It's not stupid at all, Seras." Alucard responded immediately. He closed her flip phone and forced her to set it down just so he could take her hand. "You did nothing wrong, so why do you keep beating yourself up?"

"Because I gave my family up for love," She whispered while she tried to keep her lip from trembling or her voice from breaking.

"They may be your family, but we're your family too." Sebastian reminded her. "They can't ignore you forever. They can't pretend that you just don't exist." Seras shot her head up to stare at him. Hot tears poured down her face as she started breaking all over again in front of them.

"But how do you know that for sure?" She asked him. "How do you know that it will get better between us, Sebastian? You weren't there when it happened. You didn't see the look on their faces, in their eyes! They…hated me."

"That's going a bit far, Seras." Sebastian whispered as he brushed his thumb over the back of her hand soothingly. "They don't hate you. They could never hate you. They're just confused and don't understand what you feel. This relationship is odd and…abnormal to them." He then smiled warmly at her. "And they can't ignore you. You want to know why?" His girl slowly nodded her head. "Because they will want to have contact with their grandchildren. They need to be in contact with the mother and fathers before having contact with the children." That thought brought a small smile to Seras' face. She laughed under her breath and wiped away her tears.

"If you don't mind, but I have an idea. What if we were to meet them?" Alucard suggested with a gentle smile. "I know they won't be quick to warm up to us, but perhaps if they were to meet with us and they saw that you were truly happy being with us, maybe they will be a little more understanding." Seras' smile fell from her face and she was quick to shake her head.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Alucard. I'm sure that my dad will punch you both in the face, and he has a gun in the house. He's liable to commit a crime." She confessed.

"They've probably calmed down after all it's been two months." Sebastian spoke while he reached forward to brush strands of hair out of her face. "Perhaps you should try getting back in contact with them first before they try meeting with us." Seras merely shrugged her shoulders and looked away. She was afraid to try. She wouldn't be able to handle it if another fight broke out between them.

"What about your parents?" Seras asked as she lifted her head to glance between Alucard and Sebastian. "Does either of your parents know about us?"

"My father hasn't spoken to me in years," Alucard reminded her with a shrug. "But I believe my mother has caught onto our relationship, though she hasn't said anything to me about it. I think she's alright with our relationship because she likes you and she knows I'm not in a sexual relationship with Sebastian." He chuckled. Seras raised her brows in amazement.

"And my mother does know about us. In fact, she invited us over for dinner on Friday night so she can officially meet you and Alucard." Sebastian answered with a small smirk. He knew that his mother was going to love both of them, especially Seras. The only issue was his mother was going to try to feed Seras a lot because she was so damn thin. He could only imagine the big dinner his mother will cook for her. That thought caused him to laugh. "I think you'll like her." Seras smiled at him.

"I know that I'm going to." She laughed in agreeance. Whenever Sebastian got a call from his mother, which was once a week, she would force him to put Seras on the phone. Her and his mother would take a good thirty minutes before her son was allowed to speak with his mother again. It was quite endearing how close the two were. Sometimes they would talk about Sebastian or how his mother's book club was going or Seras' work. And she would be asked at least a dozen times while she was on the phone if she was eating right and if she had eaten today. Almost as if his mother didn't believe her, she would make Seras tell her exactly what she ate that day which would result in her saying 'you need more food, child'. "I already love your mum," Seras thought out loud with a bright smile.

"See, Seras, you have a family and it's growing slowly." Sebastian reminded her as he cupped her cheek.

"Perhaps we can invite my mother over sometime so you can finally meet her." Alucard added to make her feel better. Seras held his hand tighter and raised it to her face to kiss over his knuckles.

"I would love that, Alucard." She whispered. The small blonde then moved. She crawled closer towards them and shifted to sit between the loves of her life. She wrapped her arm around Sebastian's and rested her head against Alucard's shoulder.

"We've missed you, Seras." Alucard whispered while he rested his cheek on top of her head. Her blonde strands tickled his flesh, but he enjoyed breathing in the familiar strawberry scent.

"I've missed you guys, too." She whispered.

The End

I hope you guys enjoyed this AU. Please go check out the Mad Child's version of this AU if you hadn't already!

Oxford Not Brogues