The rest of the day passed in a lazy fashion, though with an undercurrent of tension as everyone tried their best to find what was needed to take on Dracula. Alucard took this to mean he should mess with the mirror, so he knelt down to recheck the runes along the bottom part of the frame. Trevor wandered off, maybe to find Sypha, since he went the same direction. Leon passed the others occasionally, Sypha always offering a quick smile before diving back into the books. Trevor found invaluable weapons and supplies. Alucard kept fiddling with the mirror, occasionally testing it, though he was only able to get views of the outside. He also wandered away a few times to help search in the books.

Once or twice, to Leon's surprise, he asked Leon about a tome. "And what are these 'alchemical orbs', exactly? I've seen it referenced a few times in personal accounts from other Belmonts, but they seem to think it doesn't need explaining."

"Ah," Leon said. As surprising as it was, it also made Leon's heart warm, so he tried his best to be helpful. Though not as knowledgeable in magical languages yet, he had had a crash course in battle alchemy and refined it as time went on. "I suppose they must have passed it on so thoroughly no one felt the need to continue to write out the definition. Well, from what I was told by a friend, who worked closely in the field of alchemy-"

They compared techniques they knew, and Leon offered his insights on the things he had come across in Walter's castle, or the way many vampires tended to fight. It turned out, while Alucard had personal experience with his and his father's abilities, and had been trained quite well, he had never needed to fight off powerful vampires.

When Leon thought about his position as Dracula's son, it made more sense. So Leon gave Alucard information of vampires' weakest points, tricks to undermine what seemed like their advantages, and the way they treated many of their opponents in battle. (As weaker, generally.) He also mentioned that the more powerful vampires were, the less likely they were to work as a team. Trevor sometimes walked in on those conversations and listened, taking obvious mental notes.

To Sypha's exasperation, Leon and Trevor did a couple sparring sessions. After the first one, they quickly relocated outdoors. Leon found them very helpful in determining Trevor's skill set and style of battle-easier to understand and plan when he wasn't fighting all three at once.

Trevor was a brilliant fighter, and Leon didn't think so just because Trevor was family. The way he easily swapped weapons between hands showed good training and skill for both sides of his body, and his thought process moved as quickly as his reflexes, adapting for whatever Leon threw at him. That's not to say Trevor never got hit, he was still human, and Leon was also well experienced, but Trevor's instincts for battle were only put to good use because of the practice he'd had.

It made Leon wonder, just a bit. Without a family-and the idea still upset him-Trevor would have needed to fight the monsters with no backup. How had he started? Why?

The scars Leon knew covered Trevor's torso, and perhaps even more of his body, proclaimed victory, but also struggle. Had he wanted to do it? Been forced to? Perhaps now wasn't the best time to ask; Not with both Belmonts still getting used to each other. Instead, Leon decided to offer an olive branch.

"I have a few things I believe you should know, before we get to the castle," Leon said, feinting forward to get a thrust at Trevor's side.

Trevor dodged it at the last moment, using his momentum to try a strike of his own, their dance back and forth giving no ground to either. "I don't suppose it's more battle tactics, is it? Not while we're already practicing."

"Not quite, we'll get to that. No, it's a more personal nature." Leon, using one of Trevor's moves, switched his sword to his off hand before channeling ambient magic to it, making the whole blade shimmer. For one moment, the blade blended into the air around it, so that when it reappeared, it appeared to have blinked through space. Trevor handled it well, as Leon hoped-he was watching Leon's body movements, so though the move surprised him, he accurately determined where it would reappear for his own counter. Trevor's composure and flexibility made Leon feel like he was a pot bubbling over with giddiness.

"Personal?" Trevor questioned. He pushed Leon's blade down and jumped back to give himself some space.

"Yes. I didn't wish you to be surprised by it. We don't know when exactly we will start traveling there, or when we will arrive, but..."

Leon watched as Trevor's footwork took him in a gentle arc around Leon, one which Leon had to mirror so as not to expose his sides. "I get it. So. Go on then."

Leon's grin felt vaguely aggressive, due to their continued sparring. Lunging forward, Leon used several quick strikes to take Trevor's attention. Immediately, he followed by dropping to the ground and sweeping his leg around, catching Trevor's calves. In a move of both skill and instinct, Trevor moved his own sword around as he was falling, catching Leon's and pushing it to an unfavorable angle for attacking. Instead of falling to the ground, Trevor caught himself in a roll back to his feet.

"As I'm sure you gathered, there is the possibility that Dracula is also another vampire, the one I chased. The reason I settled in Wallachia, but more than that, the reason I began fighting creatures of the night to begin with. I had been only nobility, only a knight, before."

"Really?" Trevor caught his breath, already moving again. "Guess that gives him more of a history with our family than I expected."

The joy of hearing "our family" could only lift Leon's spirits a little from what he was about to say. He mirrored Trevor again, the two circling each other. "Yes. Though it's..." Despite himself, Leon found himself hesitating to speak. It wasn't quite the same speaking to his descendent as the other two. There was a tight, uncomfortable feeling of nerves each time he tried to come up with the proper words. Trevor didn't push him, even when Leon started into another series of moves instead of continuing to speak.

After fending off several counter-moves from Trevor involving his fists and a sword slicing Leon's sleeve, Leon finally found the courage to speak again. "...complicated." Sort of.

Trevor snorted, maybe in an attempt to lighten the mood. "That's the sort of thing ex-lovers say."

Leon's next swipe was thrown so far off that he actually drove his blade into a tree. He tugged. It was stuck fast. Though he needn't have worried about getting hit while his guard was down. Trevor's arms were lowered, his mouth agape.

"No."

Leon grimaced.

"Wh- Y- With Dracula?"

Leon sighed. He'd been unsure about his descendant's reaction to such a thing, which was why he hadn't brought it up. He hadn't meant to give it away accidentally either, but Trevor constantly surprised him. Since it was too late to back out of the conversation, Leon steeled himself; He gave one more pull to remove his sword from the tree, looking at the sap on the blade instead of directly at Trevor.

"Is that so odd?"

Trevor ran one hand through his hair in an agitated motion. "This isn't some revenge for a jilted lover, right? Tell me that's not the family legacy."

"No. Not quite." Leon rubbed at the sap using a corner of his coat. "It's- Of course we- We were close. Before he moved to Wallachia and called himself Dracula, we were close."

"Lovers," Trevor insisted, though it also sounded like a question.

"...Yes." Leon cleared his throat. He didn't exactly want to get into the details of what their relationship had been, how many conventions it broke, and how many were surprisingly encouraged. That intimacy was between himself and Mathias. So he moved the conversation along. "You know I was a knight. So was he. We went into battle together, watched each other's backs. He was... a brilliant strategist. But more prone to emotional hurt than I suppose I recognized. He did things I could not forgive him for. And so, I chased him, to stop whatever schemes I could."

Trevor tapped the flat side of his blade against his leg, tossed the sword to his other hand, and spun it before lowering it to once more tap at a leg. Finally, he said, "Alright, okay, so you knew each other. Makes a little more sense as to how and why you followed him across countries. But... a knight? Did the church not know what he was? Did you?"

"Ah. My mistake." Leon lowered his own sword, mostly clean. "No, the church would not have had an issue with that. He was not vampire at the time, only human."

Trevor made a sound in his throat, something startled and high pitched, but questioning too. Leon placed his sword back in its sheath.

"The way he chose to change himself to vampire, his- his descent into a blinding madness, that is the reason I had to become a hunter of monsters. The reason I chose to make that a legacy for our family. I had hoped though..." Leon trailed off.

Of course he'd never wanted his family to have that one goal, dangling above their heads for generations. Of course he'd hoped Mathias would have been stopped, that Leon's descendants wouldn't have to pay for his friend's mistakes for so long. That they could simply be a beacon of hope for people. That they could be protectors, doing real good for their lands.

Leon tightened his grip on his sword sheath.

"Right. Okay." Trevor spun his sword around and around in his grip, before following Leon's lead and sheathing his blade too. "So. Dracula. You knew him before he was Dracula."

"Yes."

"And he was human, then."

"Yes."

"And you- you were lovers."

"I-..." Leon rubbed his thumb up and down the design of his sword's crossguard. Trevor's eyes bore into him, even as his fingers tapped, tapped, tapped on his own crossed arms. "...Yes."

Trevor blew out a breath. "What the fuck."

"Trevor, in that time, being together as-"

"Nope," Trevor cut him off, "no."

Leon's free hand clenched. "You have to understand. Knights had relationships which-"

"I don't want to hear it," Trevor said, arms uncrossing to allow his hands to cut through the air.

"You-"

"Not even a little. Nope. None."

"Trevor!" Leon was stomping forward a few steps then, something hot and ugly burning in his chest. "I understand what the church has to say on the matter, and perhaps things have changed in these years, but there is simply nothing wrong with two people who care for each other sh-"

"Wait, what?"

"...What?"

"That's not it."

"It, it isn't? Then what...?"

Trevor shook his head, pacing back and forth. "I don't need to hear about my however-many-greats-grandfather talking about his intimate relationship with Alucard's fucking father." Trevor buried his face in his hands and groaned.

Leon blinked. The fire in his veins turned into a sort of tickle, and he had to bite his lips to keep the laughter in. "So. So it's the family aspect which bothers you."

Trevor grumbled and resurfaced from behind his palms. "I think that should stay your business. Behind your historical closed doors and all that."

"I- I wasn't going to give you s-sordid details!" Leon flushed.

"Well good!" Trevor said, also red in the face. "Because I don't want to hear them."

Leon threw his hands up and walked away, making a large circle back to give his face time to cool down. By the time he'd made it back, Trevor had taken a seat on a nearby fallen log and was checking some of his throwing knives. Leon stopped in front of him and cleared his throat.

"So," he said.

"So," Trevor replied, not looking up.

"You can understand that if we meet face to face there might be some tension."

"Oh my god."

"Not-! I mean, there is history there, because we had known each other for years and years. We fought in several crusades together. And when he-" Leon paused to clear his throat, his voice quieter. "The last time we saw each other was when he had chosen to become vampire. I could not forgive what he sacrificed to gain such power. And I swore to hunt him. All his allies. Anything which would harm like he did. And I chased him, but never saw him again."

Trevor waited a moment to respond, flipping his knife around and around before he spoke, just as quiet. "But you time traveled here. He didn't. Do you... I don't know how this works. What if he did see you again?"

An odd question. But a pertinent one. "I'm, I'm not sure. I don't think it would make much of a difference in our mission. I simply wanted to say I don't know how he would react to me, should he see me."

Trevor nodded. "Not any better than any other Belmont, I guess. If the stories are accurate."

Leon sat down heavily on the log as well. "How many...?"

"Not as many as you think. We're resourceful. Besides, once the family found Dracula, he came up with the way to move his castle pretty quick. Only took one generation. Then we couldn't stage large assaults. Only take out pawns before he noticed us coming."

Leon let out a long breath, the cold air stinging his lungs. "Good. That's good."

"That... we couldn't catch him?"

"No. No I mean-" Leon looked at Trevor, at the furrow between his brow and hunched shoulders. "This family is more important to me than personal revenge. I, I'd hope the rest of the family knew that too."

"...Maybe they did," Trevor whispered. "I don't know."

Leon fiddled with his fingers, hands in his lap. From the conversations they'd had, Trevor seemed tense around the subject of duty. What had the family thought of him? After so many years, had he become a symbol? The strict patriarch who determined the family course? It would be impossible to pass down accurate stories after so many generations. Even less so, the will of a single person. Leon had sworn personal revenge, and justice for those wronged, and to keep his family safe into distant generations.

What had he actually accomplished?

Leon startled as a hand settled on his shoulder. Trevor patted once, then paused, hovering over him, before following with two more pats in succession. Leon's descendant was trying to comfort him. Allowing a sigh to escape him, taking some unhelpful thoughts with it, Leon leaned into Trevor. When Trevor didn't move-and Leon worried he wasn't breathing either-Leon looped his own arm around Trevor's shoulders, squeezing.

A few moments passed. Trevor held still, mind working so hard Leon could practically hear the spinning. Then, slowly, hesitantly, Trevor looped his own arm around Leon's back in return.

"What you said," Trevor ventured, breaking the silence, "about what he sacrificed to become a vampire." Leon tensed, but Trevor went on. "It was personal, wasn't it? You didn't mean some metaphorical shit, like his 'morals' or something."

Moments passed, before breath came back to Leon's chest, before he blinked the burning from his eyes, before his tongue fought off the weight upon it enough to answer. "...Yes."

"Shit."

Leon laughed, not a boisterous thing, but honest as it was small. Trevor did not ask for any more clarification though, so they sat in comfortable silence, drawing strength from each other. In the quiet, a small worry dug itself out of Leon and into the air.

"It seems he is destined to repeat himself, to fall into grief and lash out, over and over," Leon whispered.

Trevor patted the shoulder his hand rested on. "We'll stop him."

"We shall have to. He could not survive another loss such as these, not without destroying everyone around him."

"Another loss?" Trevor wondered aloud.

"His wife." At Trevor's startled look, Leon clarified. "It was the reason he became vampire, and the same reason he kills so many of humanity now. Alucard told me."

Trevor ran his free hand through his hair, eyes dancing back to the forest. "That's... still drastic."

"Which is why we shall stop him."

Trevor hummed. Another minute passed in silence-Leon presumed Trevor was thinking of the future, but perhaps it was the past which held his mind. Leon himself attempted to move his mind back to the present; What mattered most now was assisting these three-the three who were choosing to save Wallachia-as they fought Dracula. Which meant-

"So." Trevor abruptly stood. "Are we going to train with whips?"

Ignoring the feeling of emptiness at his side, Leon agreed, and they both moved back into fighting stances. In this way, and several others, they passed the rest of the daylight hours.

Eventually though, the day came to an end, and Leon got all three of his (friends?) acquaintances to agree to sleep. No one wanted to, but Leon pointed out the need for rest, so they at least agreed to sleep two at a time.

Sypha and Leon went first, then once Leon woke, he convinced Trevor to get some sleep as well. Sypha managed to bully Alucard into more before returning to her studies. Alucard did not sleep as well as the night previous, which Leon suspected had something to do with the lack of a blanket-or maybe that specific blanket? Either way, everyone woke far before the sun had risen, too anxious to sleep any longer.

Leon himself sat at a table, barely paying attention to the book on rare vampiric abilities he'd picked up.

Instead, his mind was filled with thoughts on the three he had found himself working with in this distant future. What would the coming confrontation bring? Victory, hopefully, but perhaps also, whispered a small bit of Leon's mind, a deep sorrow.

The thought stuck with him in the deep night.

So now Trevor is finally aware! Not just of Leon's motives, but some of the more personal stuff too. Whoops. Haha, I'm sure he's glad to have all those thoughts in his head now. - u-;;

Anyway, cross my fingers, I hope to finish up the next chapter this month too, because it is nowhere near as long.

I hope you all enjoyed this one though! Please let me know what you thought! ,､'`(❛ヮ❛✿),､'`'`,､