Follows animated series, not game lore - Castlevania season IV spoilers (sort of)
Timing: post-Castlevania season IV events
Umm... I don't know, I was thinking about how something like this would go, if it were to happen.
I... like angst?
The night was ripe with fragrant, flowering spring, and the sleepy forest shivered under a mild wind traveling from across the mountains. Alucard rose to his feet, standing upon a high vantage point on the castle battlements overlooking the town of Belmont. He closed his eyes as a gust of fresh, pine-scented air breathed through his hair and snapped at his cape. When he opened them, the stranger was still there.
His eyes narrowed. Many years had passed, and the community surrounding the castle thrived, having been met with few to no drawbacks or subsequent attacks. The village had been built, in time growing in trade and owed to the knowledge contained in the Vault and the castle, soon evolved into a town of repute, frequented by scholars and seekers of knowledge from across the land and beyond.
And now, this foreign presence had been lurking about its streets ever since evening settled, and even from this distance and height, Alucard could discern its nature.
Vampire. He followed the cloaked figure with his gaze as it slowly took the road leading to the castle. The scent was unmistakable, familiar to one having lived and reached maturity among their kind - after all, it was part of his own legacy. At first, Alucard had been alarmed and thought to act before the creature attacked anyone, but from his observation thus far, it was not on a prowl in search of victims. Perhaps this vampire was a stray, seeking the castle for whatever base reason, in memory of days past. Perhaps it was insane, who could know?
He would not wait to find out. Alucard took flight, and in a long, graceful leap landed on his feet before the tall gates of the castle as the stranger reached them.
The dhampir looked ahead, but the vampire neared on slow, determined steps. The foreigner was tall, and strong if his initial assessment was anything to go by. His hand tightened on the hilt of his sword. Alucard had made a promise long ago. He would not allow anyone, or anything, to ruin their home or endanger the community and peace they all toiled to build and maintain.
The vampire approached, but try as he did, Alucard could not discern the features hidden beneath his shadowed hood.
"I'd stop where you are, if I were you," he warned, standing before the stairs of the castle and drawing his sword.
The stranger appeared to take heed, for he stopped a few paces away.
"You will have to find your prey elsewhere," Alucard continued, his tone cold as a winter's day. "Leave this place now - or I will be forced to make you." The light of the moon reflected sharply on his long blade.
The other remained silent and made no move to reveal himself, or retrace his steps.
Tiresome, Alucard thought, but two could play this game. He was patient, would not attack first. At the first sign of foul play, however, his sword would slash through the other's chest. "Very well, we can stand here all night, if you like. I'm in no particular hurry," he said.
The stranger lowered his head. If Alucard did not know any better, he'd say the vampire was smiling beneath his hood.
"I like what you've done with the place," came the words.
The voice was soft, but it struck like lightning through the core of his very being. Slowly, the stranger lifted his hands and drew back his hood to reveal his face.
Alucard gasped, and for the first time in his life, the sword dropped from his hand, clattering uselessly on the stone covered ground. His heart burst in his ears, and he watched the ghostly sight before him with widened, fearful eyes.
He'd lost his voice, and thoughts refused to form, but somehow Alucard spoke. A single choked word struggled past his lips, an echo of pain and loss. "F- father?"
"Son."
Alucard blinked away the surging flare of emotion and tears brimming to the surface. This was not reality, it was some spell meant to weaken his defence - a chimera; it had to be. It had to… Anger swelled within him at the poorly played scheme. His palm splayed as the sword sprang back in his hand, cold in his grip. "You're not him," he hissed, and lunged at the vampire.
He struck with all his might, but with awe and a new sense of overwhelming terror, Alucard saw the tip of his blade had been caught between two clawed fingers, held easily as though it were a flower stalk.
Close as they were, he ground his teeth and stared into the vampire's eyes. Memories flooded him, pain engulfed him at the sight of those all too familiar features, the crimson light in that dark gaze, the scent he now knew, deep in his bones. Still, he pushed harder, would not yield—
"Adrian?"
The sound of his name snapped him out of his fury, and Alucard looked beyond the vampire's shoulder.
She stood there, tall and cloaked, her hands worrying at her chest; moonlight shone over her silver-streaked hair. The last time Alucard had heard her voice, it was wrought with agony.
"Are we alive?!"
Alucard looked back at the vision of his father, then retreated as if burnt, gaping at them both. "What… what is this?"
The woman neared, and though his mind refused to work and grasp what was before him, his heart hammered like a storm at the care in her eyes. Alucard barely noticed that he sank to his knees as memories of her slashed through him, and unable to look anymore, he brought his head in his hands. "This is not happening, you are not real, either of you… please, leave me be… please…"
She rushed forward and knelt before his curled form, and her arms wound around him.
Alucard stared emptily at the ground but without thought, his forehead rested on her shoulder, and all he could do was shiver. His shoulders shook. "How…?" he asked, over and over, "How?..."
Lisa took his face in her palms. "My boy… my beautiful, beautiful boy," she murmured, her deep blue eyes glistening with tears.
Heart hammering and thoughts muddled, Alucard crumpled at the sound of her voice, the sight of her face. She looked to be past her prime in appearance, but not by much; slight lines graced her fine features at the corners of her eyes and mouth when she smiled. His lip quivered, and Alucard buried his face into her.
"It's all right," his mother whispered into his hair, her hold tightening. "It's all right. We're here, Adrian. We found you. We're here."
"How…" Alucard repeated wretchedly, clutching at her as though she were a fitful dream, fearful she would fade, that all this was yet another nightmare out of many that haunted his troubled nights along the years. In some, he was killing his father, the stake gushing dark blood and drowning him before the appalled eyes of his mother; other times he'd watch, helpless, as his parents struggled and shrieked and cried, trapped in the rotting body of the Rebis. But never this. It was never like this.
With the weight of his father's gentle hand stroking his hair, the tide he'd been stemming swelled and crashed with all the memories, the guilt and misery, and he fell against Lisa in a spent heap of confusion and relief; sobbing like a child.
"We're here," his mother repeated, drawing soothing motions across his bent back as his tears stained her clothes. Alucard nodded, like he did during his short childhood when she'd quell his sadness with her words. Lisa said no more, instead humming an old tune she would sing to him in their times together, and held him as he wept.