It wasn't much later Leon found the mirror, behind a fallen shelf of books, some assorted artifacts, and covered with a dusty old sheet. The mirror was tall, a little more than Leon himself, and cracked, the imperfections spider-webbing out from two points of impact. It looked as though it had once been a grand object-even the runes along the side, worn from time, looked sufficiently important. Unfortunate that many were illegible.
He tested its weight a few times, nodded to himself, and set about using a small bit of magic to lift and keep the mirror steady.
It took some effort to reach the stairs, so Leon took a break, setting the mirror down. When he caught sight of Sypha and called her name, she looked up, saw the object at his side, and beamed.
"You found it! Excellent. Do you want help bringing it down?"
"I've got it," said a low voice behind him. Leon spun around to find Alucard standing there, looking frustrated, but not angry.
"Did you eat?" was the first thing to come out of Leon's mouth. Oddly enough, Alucard's eyes blinked wide at the question, then his brows furrowed in confusion, then he got a hint of pink on the tops of his cheeks before he cleared his throat.
"The porridge, right? You brought that for me?"
"Yes. You slept through breakfast."
"So I was told." Alucard's face still held a hint of confusion, as though he didn't understand how that could happen.
"I told you, you were tired," Leon said, trying for a joking tone.
"I didn't think I was," Alucard muttered. "At least not that much. Anyway, I'll take the mirror down."
"Thank you."
"It's no-" Alucard paused. "You're welcome."
Bemused, Leon watched as Alucard picked up the artifact and easily lifted it, using his ability to float to take it over the railing and down to where Sypha was. Trevor appeared around the corner soon after, and Leon raised a brow at him.
"You look... not like you've been punched but."
"Yeah, uh, so apparently, fangs doesn't like to be woken up by having the blanket ripped away from him, and he gets..." Trevor shrugged. "He threw me into a bookshelf."
Leon winced and reached out. "Are you alright?"
"Fine," Trevor said, trying to wave him off. "Nothing I haven't had before."
"Still, " Leon insisted, turning him and running hands up and down his back. "It's best to get healed up before battle."
"Right..."
Trevor winced at a few spots where Leon's hands went, so Leon herded his descendant to an area where he had found well-preserved ingredients for healing salves. "Amazing what the family came up with," Leon said excitedly as he put together one of the simpler recipes.
Trevor was hesitant to remove his shirt, but did eventually give in to Leon's prodding. Trevor had many scars, some cutting through the hair on his torso in a manner which suggested Trevor was skilled enough to live through some rough hits. Leon felt his heart clench at the same time pride puffed up in his chest. Trevor was a true hunter.
Further than the scars though, Leon was glad to see Trevor had been keeping up with training, as he had some well-formed muscles on his back-a working man's muscles, covered in a little fat, but not as much as Leon would have hoped.
He himself knew about the difficulty of finding good food from his warring days, but he'd hoped his descendants would not.
Either way, it made Leon extra careful as he removed his gloves to apply a proper poultice to the bruises still appearing on Trevor's back in blues and purples. He then wrapped them gently with bandages to keep them in place, and patted Trevor on his shoulder.
"Maybe be careful with the vampire, huh?"
Trevor snorted. "I've had worse."
"From waking someone up?"
Trevor looked over his shoulder, face pinched like he wasn't sure how to answer. "Um..."
Leon shook his head. "Never mind." It would either be horribly embarrassing or sad, neither of which Leon was ready for at the moment. "Let's go see what Alucard and Sypha have managed to do with that mirror."
Trevor agreed, relief obvious in his expression. So he put all his gear back on-and Leon thought faintly that they should probably wash his clothes some time soon-and they headed down to where the mirror and other two of their group were.
Alucard was carefully carving out worn sections of the frame's runes with a sharpened nail. Sypha watched the proceedings in-between looking through a specific tome and muttering, "Interesting."
"Will it work?" Leon asked at the same time Trevor said, "What is it?"
"Distance mirror," Alucard answered, "and yes, once I'm finished. It is old though."
"It's to be expected here," Sypha said. "I haven't heard much of these artifacts before, so I can't imagine they are made very often, or even in nearby regions."
"I think the last mirror made in the area is in my father's study. Though it is larger and has more uses."
"More?" Trevor leaned up against a table to watch, Leon following suit.
He thought about Mathias viewing distant places from his castle, alone; It sounded exactly like something he would do. Even while human he hadn't been actively social, spending far too much time studying by himself rather than learning in the field. At least, in Leon's opinion.
"I'm not certain this one will even be able to properly view a location, though I suppose we shall see."
The short answer was yes, they could see. Alucard, once fixing up all the runes he could, was able to bring an image of the castle to the screen. Sypha clapped her hands in joy, looking thrilled by the magic and the information. Trevor himself leaned in, looking intrigued, and Leon couldn't help following his example.
Dracula's castle. Where Mathias, lost as a vampire and grieving for the second time, resided.
Leon had to stop him. It was already terrible when Mathias felt the need to betray his best friend to a vampire lord and sacrifice the well-being of his friend's betrothed, and it was horrific now that he was slaughtering so many innocent people in his blind rage. It would hurt Leon to kill him, but it was necessary.
"Looks like it's just sitting in the wilderness somewhere," Trevor commented. "Can't say I recognize it, aside from the fact it's not in the mountains."
"Near Pitești maybe?" Sypha thought aloud, a hand to her chin. "It looks similar."
"It doesn't really matter," Alucard interjected. "Not if it travels again when we get close."
"It can do that?" Leon asked, astonished.
"Yes, it can transport itself through magical means. It's part of the reason the Belmonts were not able to stage full attacks on him these past few hundred years."
Leon sank back. He had a lot more work to do than he thought.
"That's partially what I'm working on," Sypha said. "I had hoped there would be a way to move directly to the castle so they wouldn't see us coming, or to trap the castle itself."
"It seems unlikely, though I suppose if anywhere had research on it..." Alucard shrugged.
"Hey," Trevor interjected, "if this mirror can view his castle from here, can't we see the inside? We could make better plans with the layout-"
"-And an idea of how many troops are inside," Leon finished, perking up. "An excellent idea." Trevor pinked and coughed a cough so obviously fake it only pulled more attention to his sudden shyness.
"As helpful as that would be, it doesn't appear the mirror is capable of that," Alucard said with a frown. "It could be because of age, though I suspect it was not a complex mirror to begin with. There isn't enough magic here to point it within specific rooms, or even at people."
"It's lacking magic?" Sypha wondered. "Did it simply lose it over time?"
"Perhaps. It is also broken." He pointed to the cracks with his chin. "Some magic may have escaped or been lessened. It is hard to say."
"Wait wait, back up a little bit." Trevor held up his hands, looking concerned. "People? Your father has a mirror that can find specific people? And you didn't think to tell us?"
"Trevor," Sypha began.
"He could have been watching us this entire time!"
Leon's stomach flipped, and he looked to Alucard for answers.
"He has not."
"How do you know?" Trevor shrugged off the hand Sypha had put out for him, missing her frustrated frown.
"It takes a great amount of magic to watch specific people. First, you have to be certain who you are looking for, and my father should not have heard of us by now, nor know who I am traveling with, even if so." Alucard waited for any objections, but Trevor just crossed his arms and gestured with one for him to continue. "Also, the mirror my father usually uses to view distant places will create a portal in space, allowing both sides to be seen. We would have noticed the sudden appearance of any peeping vampires."
Trevor's shoulders slumped, and he gave a strained sigh. "Alright then."
"You should trust us more," Sypha admonished. "Even if it did not create a portal, I'm certain I would have felt the presence of such powerful magic at work."
"Yeah, fine," Trevor said, but he was smiling.
Leon felt himself also relax at the answer to the previous idea, especially since his own occurred to him. "Besides that, I can't imagine a foreign mirror being able to look past the wards myself, Trefor, and a few Speaker-magicians placed on the Hold. It took knowledge and skill to open it without being told how."
Leon smiled as Sypha puffed up in pleasure. "You see? Someone appreciates my talents."
"So," Leon said as he turned to Alucard, bringing back a previous topic, "we cannot use this to gather any information from the inside?"
"No." Alucard let it hang in the air for a few moments before he said, "Well, perhaps if there was an active mirror within the castle, I could connect to it. But there is nothing now, as far as I can tell."
"That's alright," Sypha said. "This is already a good step forward. I may be able to use this to cast a spell with a proper focus."
And just like that, she was walking away to go find another volume. Leon watched her go.
"You two are both quite lucky. There are not many people out there who are so learned and willing to work so hard." Leon found both of the gazes looking at him, blue and gold, and made sure to hold each of them. "She's working for a better world, I can see the fire in her. But she's also the type to get carried away in the moment. I... may have personal experience with that." Leon felt bashful as Trevor smirked and Alucard huffed a laugh.
"I am not surprised the Belmont patriarch has compulsion problems." Leon frowned, even at the teasing in the tone. "But I wouldn't let her feel unappreciated," Alucard swore.
Trevor looked past Leon to where Sypha disappeared. "I don't know if anyone can stop her from getting carried away." But I'll try, his tone implied.
Leon nodded at the both of them. "Well, let's make ourselves useful."
Okay, okay, we're so close guys, the mirror is up and running! But no night creatures yet. ( ॣ•͈૦•͈ ॣ)
I headcanon the trio was in the Belmont Hold for several days during the show, so looks like they are moving faster in the timeline for my fic. Gj Leon!
Also, Leon is doing a great job being the mom friend without even realizing it. xD Amazing.
Also also, spoiler for the fic, because this will probably never be written in it: The reason the mirror is broken, in this au I've made, is that once Leon gets back to his time and actually obtains the mirror, he uses it to check up on 400-years-past!Dracula. He hits the mirror out of a little frustration he can't change anything in the past, and Dracula isn't in the best mindspace still, : but also because he doesn't want Dracula to think he can contact Leon whenever/spy on his family. ^^;;