Alucard allowed Leon to get his bearings, mind still reeling over the sudden news. Mathias was on a rampage, yet again, though this time his goal included killing many, many people. And Alucard (Adrian?), the vam- dhampir before him was Mathias's son. But if he lived so long, surely that meant his parents, at least his mother, cared for him? Would she not stop Mathias? Or... was she not human anymore? When Leon let go of their handshake, he had to leave his hands on his hips to keep from pacing.
"But, wait," he said aloud. "Your human mother?"
"Ah. Mother." Alucard appeared uncomfortable. "I'm afraid it's rather like the story Trevor told you before. And mother was the only one keeping him from a bloody rage, it seems."
"Dead?" Leon asked faintly.
Alucard nodded. Fuck.
Another wife taken, another raging tantrum from Mat- Dracula, taking innocent people with it. Only, this time it was many, many more casualties. Leon had to help.
"What is the plan?" he asked.
If Alucard was surprised by the change in topic, he didn't show it.
"You need to sleep first. Once you look less like a night creature and more like the human you claim to be, we can discuss options."
Leon snorted, but Alucard's tone was soft enough, likely with hidden concern, so Leon folded.
"Alright. Lead the way."
They walked back down the stairs to the hold, sinking below the sun as the cool shadows enveloped them once again. Leon glanced up once more, taking in the crumbling remains of the Belmont home, bathed in the golden-pink brush of dawn, before moving further down and allowing the entrance stone magic to reactivate.
"That is rather clever," Alucard mentioned without looking back. "Though I have to admit I am rather surprised you use dark magic."
"Dark?" Speaking of dark, it was almost impossible to see in front of him without Leon's torch. Only some lighting from lower down trickled up the stairs.
"Yes. Similar to what some night creatures might be familiar with, or witches and dark magicians."
"You mean alchemy?"
Alucard turned his head, giving Leon a squinted look that Leon didn't think had anything to do with the lack of light. Even so, Leon raised the hand with his enchanted glove and pushed some simple energy into it, giving it a faint yellow glow-he didn't shape it, just allowed it to brighten the space.
"That isn't alchemy," Alucard pointed out.
"No. But the glove was enchanted in that way. And I can utilize it by either gathering natural magics in it, or pushing my... my own will into it, I suppose."
Alucard hummed and kept walking. Leon kept pace easier with his ability to see the stairs.
"That sounds like how Sypha uses her magic."
"Does it? That's a bit how the Speakers described it when they visited the area. Helpful people. Good story tellers. A little uh..." Leon coughed nervously. "Free with their bodies."
"Free?" Alucard asked, tone full of mirth.
But Leon was too embarrassed to describe it much more. He had been raised with the standard of covering one's body except to the one you would share intimacy with. Or unless bathing with battle comrades and old friends who shared your gender. Of course, Leon knew how that could end up, regardless of what the church had said on the matter.
He wiped a hand down his face, embarrassed and overwhelmed. His emotions flung themselves back and forth, from joy to sorrow with no pause, and it was tiring. Actually, it may have been because he was so tired that he had such little control over himself and his own thoughts and emotions. Luckily, Alucard changed their discussion.
"I'm sure Sypha would love to speak with you on the subject," he said. "She seemed rather fascinated by everything within the hold, all the knowledge and languages. I'm certain she would love to speak with you on many topics."
"That sounds fine," Leon said. "If I can be of help, I would like to."
Alucard nodded.
They reached the bottom of the stairs then, and Leon let his light fade out as they opened the door to the hold.
It had been an exhausting night, and Leon felt ready to fall right into bed. Though... this wasn't a home, just a place for storing knowledge and artifacts. But surely there had to be enough supplies to allow for sleep, right?
"I hate to ask," Leon said, "but do you happen to have an extra bedroll I might borrow for the- well, not night, but for the time I sleep?"
"I do not think we actually have much in the way of bedrolls," Alucard said. He placed a finger to his chin. "We left without many supplies. Slept in the wagon. I haven't found anything worth sleeping on down here. But I haven't been looking," he admitted.
Leon nodded, exhaustion creeping into his bones. "If you could help me search, I would be grateful. I have slept on enough hard surfaces to know I will be far less help when I wake up from it."
Alucard nodded. "Fine. I don't sleep much anyway."
Leon raised his eyebrows, looking pointedly at the skin starting to deepen around the dhampir's eyes, but said nothing. They ended up at the lectern, flipping through to see if there was anything which could be used that wouldn't classify as dangerous or priceless.
"I don't think something which makes me even more tired is what I'm looking for," Leon mumbled, yawning. "This is the worst organization."
Alucard laughed. "It is your family's system." Leon grumbled.
Trevor walked from around a corner and saw them there, freezing like a caught deer. "Oh," he said. And that was all.
Leon blinked blearily. Usually, he was sleeping around this time, whether because he had finished with a nighttime hunt or because he'd finally gotten some solid nighttime-to-late-morning sleep. Trefor knew better than to try and wake him during the sun's first light; Even though Leon had been a morning person before, it had been ripped from him with his new career. His mind was slow, like dripping sap in winter, and Leon couldn't seem to form proper ideas before they came tumbling out of his mouth.
"Trevor," he said, a good start. "I need some blankets."
"Um? Okay." Trevor looked over to Alucard as if asking for an explanation.
"It appears your ancestor is in desperate need of some sleep."
"Oh. Right. Well I did find a blanket-"
"Yes!" Leon's cheer was quiet, like a stage whisper. He slammed the book on the lectern closed-or tried to; he did flip a good number of pages over. "Where?"
"Like where is it now, or-?"
Leon stumbled over to Trevor, his knees finally giving out as he let out a bone-cracking yawn. "Oh," he cursed around it, "Sweet Mary Magdalene."
Trevor had his arms around Leon then, one of Leon's over his shoulders, and a nervous sounding laugh came out of him. "Right. Let's, let's get that blanket."
Leon hummed his assent.
"Coming fangs?"
"Course he is," Leon said with a frown, the same time Alucard replied, "No, Bel- Trevor."
Leon turned his squinting-faced frown back at Alucard as the dhampir said, "I will be studying more. There are some sections I haven't looked through which may be helpful, and we are low on time."
For a few moments there was silence, and Leon looked at Trevor too, finding his eyes looking back at him, some sort of decision being made. Trevor shifted, and Leon thought he was going to walk away.
"A good hunter knows to rest between hunts," he said instead.
"Fortunate then," Alucard said quietly, "that I am not a hunter. Good rest to you both."
He strode off then. Leon frowned harder, but let up when Trevor patted the hand slung over his shoulders. "He'll be fine."
"He's tired," Leon pointed out.
"We all are. I'll throw Sypha at him later."
Leon grinned. If anyone could bully someone into taking care of themselves, it was probably her. So Leon allowed Trevor to lead him through the shelves, up one set of stairs to a little nook with a lantern. There was a blanket-crumpled on the floor and more than a bit dusty.
It looked like heaven to Leon. He sank down to the floor with Trevor's help, then took off his coat and bundled it under his head. The wood wasn't comfortable, but wrapping the blanket around himself helped. Leon sneezed at the dust as Trevor patted him, motions awkward.
Leon closed his eyes and let himself sink into sleep.
He'd arrived in the future, his descendant by his side. Leon was terrified, but he trusted that they could all sit down and tackle it once he'd woken up. And so, with his fears laid aside for a moment, Leon settled into the blanket-old but still warm-and slept.
And that's the end of a day! Can't believe everything I wrote in this fic so far has taken place over like, an evening and a night. ^^;
But hey, Leon needs some sleep to process. It's been a long and confusing and exhausting night.
The others will use that time as well, and we'll get some more heart-to-hearts and strategizing in the next few chapters. :D (Hopefully, haha) Keeping everything going plot-wise is... getting more complicated. At least in my mind.
Also, please let me know if I've written anything odd! I am now having to keep a chart of "Which character knows what" so that they react appropriately.
I recently found that I wrote Leon dropping his whip in one fight scene only to use it a few paragraphs later, so that was fun. (#`ε´# )ゞ
Other than that, I would love to hear your thoughts and theories! They make me incredibly happy, and let me know if I'm writing things out well. ʚ ⃛ɞ(ू•ᴗ•ू❁) And it makes opening my email exciting hehehe.
