About an hour had passed since Crina and her father left Alucard at the castle and they just pulled in to their home, their conversation mostly consisting of the typical topic of what knowledge Nero had acquired and what had changed in the cities he went to. For this trip, Nero returned from Germany, who was still stuck in the middle of the Burgundian Wars, hence why he looked so disheveled when he teleported, as he tried to teleport out of the area before a strike occurred.

"I see…so the reason why you ended up at the castle was because of your focus being on getting out of there, and to go just anywhere away from the battlefield" Crina said as she got off the wagon to help her father unload all they had. "I get it now. Sorry for my attitude, Father" she said, head lowering a little.

Nero just smiled, "It's alright, I should've explained myself a bit better" he said. But then his face turned to a serious semi-glare, "But now YOU need to explain what's going on with you and that young man we met. Alucard, was it?" he said, giving the look a father would give when suspecting trouble.

Crina paused and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "We're just friends, Father. Nothing more. I worked to gain his trust to get him to meet Grandfather, and Grandfather asked Alucard to help me with things that I needed help with. We've been on adventures and such ever since. I plan on taking him to the Gateway at the end of the month, which is this coming Monday, about a week from now" she explained in the shortest way possible.

Nero looked at his daughter suspiciously, "I think that there is more going on between you two. More specifically, I think you two are growing awfully close, wouldn't you say?" he said, eyeing Crina, making a face that looked like the deep stare of a Nokken.

Crina gave a small cringe, "Father, you're really creepy when you look at me like that…" she said as she carried in a box of steins from the wagon to the house.

Just as Crina opened the door, both Max and Anna came out and started to gather around Nero, who was carrying a few boxes of items himself.

"Yes, yes, hello kids. Let me inside so I can put this stuff down, alright?" he said as he made his way past the dogs so he could get in the kitchen.

Once inside, both Crina and Nero set the boxes down on the table, Nero gave the dogs a pat on the head while Crina went back out to gather more of the boxes her father brought with her. During this time, Maria and Edmund came into the room to welcome Nero back from his travels. Once everything was unloaded, the presents were separated and placed in everyone's bedrooms for when the reunion came. As for the present company, the gifts were handed out accordingly.

Maria received a gift of a beautiful new gown consisting of wools dyed blue with accents of green and light purple, all which brought out the shine and color of her eyes out more than before. Edmund's gift consisted of a cane carved out of sturdy Beech wood with both wooden carvings and metal artwork, a perfect gift for an elderly man whose cane is growing weak with use and age.

Crina received her gift of three books written by Marco Polo detailing his journey throughout Europe and along the silk road. With these books in hand, she gently put them in her own personal library within her bedroom right next to her section on travel and just before her section on alchemic notes. Of all the places in her room, that particular area of her room was always organized compared to her desk which was completely overtaken by various documents, letters, requests and research notes. Though it wasn't the biggest room, as that was saved for her parent's, her room was still a good size, big enough to house her own crafting desk as well as a small trove of armor in the back corner and a closet dresser filled with alchemy materials in the other back corner near the window. Her bed was a modest size, enough to fit two people, but simple in design, set in a frame of black locust with flower ornate carvings all around the head board and foot board. Laying on the bed was a plain brown wool blanket and a simple white wool pillow stuffed with more wool.

"Hmmm…I wonder if Alucard would like to read one of these…" Crina thought out loud. But just as she said that, she frowned a little, "Then again, he could have all of Marco Polo's collection with his father's library and all the knowledge it contains…" she said out loud again. She gave a sigh and moved the book back to the shelf, "It's just a thought" she said out loud. But as she put the book away, she realized then that the hand she used to put the book away was the hand that Alucard treated earlier. She looked at the bandage for a moment and then thought back to Alucard's face. The way his smile warmed others like a candle in the darkness, how his gentle golden eyes showed nothing but kindness, and how his touch felt like cold yet soft flower petals against the skin of her calloused hand. Everything about him that showed nothing but a warm and giving soul that wanted nothing more than to help others. As she gently caressed the bandage on her hand and her thoughts stayed on Alucard's kind soul, she smiled and felt her heart race in her chest.

'Alucard…' she thought to herself, feeling her face grow a little warm.

"Crina?"

The black haired alchemist jumped in shock and fear at hearing her name out of nowhere and feeling a tap on her shoulder as she turned to see the source of the voice, being that of her father.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you my dear" he said apologetically.

"It…It's fine, Father. I didn't hear you enter the room" Crina said, after taking a few breaths to calm down.

"I did knock a few times, but I didn't hear a response, so I came in and tried to get your attention" her father clarified.

Crina gave a look that was of slight embarrassment, "Oh, I see. Sorry about that" she said, scratching the back of her head.

Nero chuckled, "It's alright. Anyway, could you come and keep your Grandfather company? I would but your Mother wants some help in the garden and she wants to talk to me about all that has happened since I have been away" he said.

Crina nodded, "Sure. Besides, I think it's my turn to care for him anyway" she said.

After a moment of catching her breath more, Crina and Nero made their way down to the gathering hall and the kitchen respectively. As Crina turned the corner, she saw her Grandfather looking closely at his new cane, taking in the designs that were carved into the wood. Smiling at her Grandfather's curiosity, she made her way over and sat near him.

"Enjoying your new cane, Grandfather?" she asked.

Edmund turned to his granddaughter and nodded, "Yes indeed. I don't remember seeing such a cane like this. I mean look at this thing" he said, holding the cane up.

Crina got a better look at it and could tell that it was indeed a work of art. Crafted with both intricate carvings and high quality metal art mainly consisting of animals and plants. Overall, while she did find the design a bit excessive, as long as it made her Grandfather happy and was indeed useful for its purpose, she was fine with it.

"It's true test will come when you officially use it, right?" she said with a smile, moving a small strand of hair out of her face with her bandaged hand.

Edmund nodded, "Yes, and I have a feeling that it will make a good cane for me" he said with a smile. However, it was then that he noticed Crina's hand. "What happened, child?" he asked.

"Hm? What do you mean?" Crina asked, unsure of what he meant.

Edmund then moved his hand to point to hers, "Your hand. What happened?" he asked.

Crina then looked at her hand and saw the bandage, "Oh that…Alucard healed my hand for me. I told him that I could fix my hand just fine with alchemy, but he was persistent about healing it, so I let him do it" she explained.

Edmund gave an amused huff, "Seems like you two are growing closer by the day" he said, "Before long, you two could be married by the winter solstice" he added with a laugh.

Crina blushed and looked away, "He…He's just a friend…that's all…and besides, I don't want a repeat of what happened to Lumin" she said. However, the moment she said that, she thought back to Yohei's words about not recalling that night. Her face turned from one of poorly hidden denial to one of both concern and slight depression.

Edmund noticed this and gave a sigh, moving his cane to where he held the center of the stick and gave his granddaughter a soft whack on the top of the head, which got a strong reaction.

"Arrrgh, Grandfather, what was that for?" Crina asked as she rubbed the now growing sore spot on her head.

"You're honorable, Crina, but you are also honorably stubborn. You deserve happiness, even if you don't think you do. It's been five years since that incident and I can tell how depressed you've been during that time. But after finding and spending time with Adie, I can tell that you've changed. Your eyes are no longer the color of dead plants, like how they have been these past few years. Now, they are bright green with a new life and a new outlook. I think you know that what you say isn't true, but something is holding you back. So, what is it?" Edmund said, starting out with a scolding but then slowly turning it into a worried conversation.

Crina looked at her Grandfather slightly shocked that he would bring this topic up, but then she looked back to her hands. Along with being shocked, she also felt a sickening feeling in her stomach from thinking of what could possibly be holding her back. Wait, sickening? No…maybe…guilt? No, that wasn't it either. She was feeling something that made her feel strange, but she couldn't put the name on this emotion. She felt happy that life wasn't as depressing as before, but at the same time, she felt fear. A fear that had lingered deep within her that she didn't even realize until now. The fear of having Alucard end up the same way as Lumin, seeing him staked on her arms and disintegrating to nothing but a corpse of ash uttering his last words to her while she had no memory of what happened to lead up to that point.

Wait…that was it…the fact that she doesn't remember what made her kill Lumin that night. Not recalling what was the trigger…what events lead to that whole murder. That was it, it wasn't something that was there that was holding her back from moving on, but it was the fact that there was nothing there to remember that made her stop.

Finally figuring it out, she gave a sigh.

"Grandfather…what's holding me back…is what isn't there" she said, speaking in a serious yet somewhat depressing tone.

"Hm? What do you mean?" he asked.

"I….I can't remember anything about that night that Lumin died…" she started, trailing off. "The only thing that I do remember is Lumin's corpse staked on my arms with him breathily saying his last words to me before he finally took his last breath. But that's all I remember…not the night that happened…or what even triggered that whole thing…" she said.

Her memory then flashed to that same image again, the sight of Lumin's corpse, his last words to her, all of that violent and traumatizing memory flashed before her. And once again she felt her breath grow shallow as her eyes widened from fright and agony as her body shook from her nervous breakdown. Reaching into a small drawer that was on the table right in front of them, she uncorked a small bottle and smelled the contents, the scent of lavender and clove filling her nose and distracting her from her ordeal. After a few more breaths, she finally calmed down to where she could breath easy. However, she also inhaled the faint but noticeable scent of the bandage she was wearing and almost immediately Alucard's face came to replace the dark and traumatizing face of her past lover. The image of his sunlight blonde hair shaping his sharp yet delicate face, his warm golden eyes filling her soul with peace and the bright yet gentle glow of his smile providing her a sense of comfort. With the image of him in her mind, her last few breaths were graced with a small smile upon her own face and her heart racing slightly again but this time not in a painful panic, rather more of an uplifting yet calming rhythm. She was about to speak again as she turned to look at her Grandfather but she stopped at the strange expression upon his face.

"Um, Grandfather…what's with that-"

"You thought about Adie just now, didn't you?" Edmund asked in a teasing tone.

Crina's face twisted from confusion to shock while her face turned bright red from both embarrassment and realization.

"W-Wait! What? N-No, no… it's not like-… w-well I mean…what I mean to say is….arrgh, oh my god, that's not what-" Crina tried to tell him otherwise, but sadly her words fell out in a stuttering vomit of sounds before she just put her face in her hands and groaned, feeling her face heat up more in embarrassment.

Edmund watched his Granddaughter's poor attempt at trying to tell him otherwise and couldn't help but let out the bubbling laughter that was forming in his chest. The moment he let it out, it echoed through the room to the kitchen and even out to the back where Maria and Nero were. However, after a few moments, Edmund started coughing a fit.

Crina snapped out of her embarrassment trance and it turned to concern as she rubbed and patted her Grandfather's back to try and calm the coughing.

"Are you alright, Bunic?" she asked.

Edmund coughed a few times before he finally settled down, "Yes. I'm fine…I must have choked on something there…" he said, calming down after a bit. "But, in all seriousness, you thought about Adie the same way you thought about Lumin all those years ago" he said with a smile, "It seems that love has given you a second chance. I know that you're still scared by what happened, but Adie is helping you heal and because of that, love has started to blossom between you two. At least, it looks like love, wouldn't you say?" he added.

Crina paused as she thought about that, thinking back on her times with Alucard. From her conversations with him at the castle to their adventures with the imps and fairies, all those times that she had come to treasure deeply, all of which he was there and brought light into her dark times. She then thought to all the times she denied herself the feeling of love when she didn't even know why she did it. But now she knew why. It wasn't because she didn't want it, it was more of that she was afraid of having history repeat itself and with her not even remembering about it. After thinking about it a few more minutes in deciding where to go from here, she came to a decision and sighed.

"Even if it is, Grandfather, I can't go for it…not yet at least" she started.

Edmund narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "Crina…" he was about to continue when Crina raised her hand.

"Not until I figure out what exactly happened that night and what lead to me killing Lumin. I have to take responsibility for this and see that I put the past behind me. But if I can't find the answers for that, I fear that I won't be able to bring Lumin's spirit peace, as well as myself" she said, looking at him with determination and conviction, like a gentle fire had been relit in her eyes.

Edmund was shocked at hearing her say this and wanting to make such a big step in recovering from this whole ordeal.

"Crina…are you sure you're ready for this? It'll probably be a long journey to fix this whole thing" he said, unsure if his Granddaughter was being impulsive or not.

Crina's gaze hardened, "I have to be. After all, I've been carrying this burden for five years, so it's about time that I work to get myself into a healthier state than what I am now. And not just with that, but also with improving my fighting" she said as her hands became fists, "When we go to the Gateway next week, I'm going to talk to Commander Satoru to see if I can get some sort of training that allows me to get back to what my strength was before the incident. I know that I can fight night creatures, but it's not enough. I also want to protect those I care about and hunting alone isn't going to help with that. Besides, I have a feeling that Alucard would also want to take part in the Brotherhood, or at least take part in a few training sessions to improve his fighting skills since he's been alone for a long time, and it's better to do things like that with people you're familiar with. Right?" Crina asked, looking at her Grandfather.

Edmund took in her words and thought about how Alucard has been since their reunion. She was right, Alucard did indeed feel a bit lonely since his family died, so it seemed fair to at least let him see about possible training. He then looked to his Granddaughter and nodded.

"Yes, I believe you're right" he said.

"Crina? Father? Supper's ready" Nero said as he came into the archway to the main sitting room and informed the two there.

Crina nodded, "Coming father" she said. She then moved to help her Grandfather up and walk to the kitchen to the bigger table, the smell of beef curry rice filling the air as well as both their noses and their hungry stomachs. While the conversation between grandfather and granddaughter ended, a new one began with the tales of what Nero did while he was away as well as what happened with Maria, Edmund and Crina while he was gone from the house.

_*v*v*v*v*v*v*v*v*v*_

Hours later, Crina managed to return to her room after helping clean up dinner, getting her Grandfather ready for bed and saying her goodnights to both her parents. With the door closed, she gave a sigh as she sat the candelabra on her bedside table and prepared to head to bed. Slipping out of her usual clothes and trading them for a knee length, long sleeved nightgown, she then took her clothes, folded them and set them off to the side. She then let her braids loose, allowing her long wavy black hair to cascade around her again, just as how it did every night. Taking a brush made in Spain that she got as a Christmas gift from one of her siblings last year, she gently brushed her hair, working to get any knots or tangles out. As she did so, she thought about what her Grandfather said, about how love was blossoming between her and Alucard. Even at the thought of seeing him again, her heart started to race again, giving her that calming rhythm that she felt before, bringing a smile to her face.

'Is this...oh..' Crina thought as she recalled the feeling, the signs of being in love, 'It had been five years…I guess I forgot what it was like falling in love after so long' she added, feeling a sense of nostalgia fill her heart as these feelings re-emerged after so long. But then her face changed to one of seriousness and she closed her eyes in thought

'But now that these feelings have emerged, I can't tell Alucard about it…at least not yet. We're still friends…but…maybe I could try to be more forward?...No, no, take things slow. Don't overwhelm him. Besides, you got a lot coming up, so it's better to focus priorities for now. But…maybe once he settles down from the whole experience of the Gateway, if he calms down from it, maybe we can talk. Until then,…I'll have to try and control my heart for now…' she said to herself, working out a plan for what may lie ahead.

'However, it'll be hard…because…' she thought to herself, giving a sigh with a growing smile and turning to look out her window at the moon pouring its light into the room.

'…because…', Alucard's unheard thoughts moved on the wind as both Crina and the young dhampir both looked at the moon above, feeling the warm moonlight upon their skin as both their heartbeats and minds align like those of the stars in the Summer Solstice as a single phrase comes to both of their minds.

'…he/she makes falling in love far too easy'

Notes:

NO MORE CLIFFHANGER!

Also, sorry about the late update. I was off this past week and had a lot going on, including a family visit, so I couldn't focus too much on this story. Apologies, but it's here now.

So here we have both Alucard and Crina coming to realize their feelings for each other, but due to their senses of responsibility, they both decide to put their love on the back burner and focus on what is important to both of them. I also wanted to give a sense that the two of them really are falling in love, as many psychology sites explain that one of the signs that one is in love is when both their heart and their lovers heart beat at the same time. The real question though is how long that will last? What do you guys think? Anyway, I'll try to be more prompt about uploading now that I'm getting back into work routine, but we'll see how that goes.

Now for the fun facts (not too many but still),
-Bunic is Romanian for Grandfather. Figured that I had to include some Romanian into this story at some point, so I thought this was a good time.
-Curry rice is a Japanese dish, and it did start to become popular during the Meiji Era, it's an easy and quick dish that I thought would work for someone who didn't have much time to cook after a traveling (and possibly hungry) husband arrives back from his trip.
-Don't have an exact picture of Edmund's cane, so I'll leave that up to the imagination.
- A nokken is a water creature that lures its victims into its body of water where it slowly drowns them to death before devouring them.
-Marco Polo's books would've been popular around the Medieval time, so I figured that it would suit Crina to have a few copies for research and reading.

And I think that's it. Let me know if I have missed anything. Also, it seems that the question didn't get answered from before and I apologize if I was too selfish in asking. However, let me just say that all comments are appreciated. As one who often lives alone, it's good to talk to someone after a long day, and I mostly get that through comments due to the pandemic keeping us apart. So in the end, I appreciate all comments (Long, short, funny, serious, etc), and please don't feel pressure if you don't want to comment. No forcing here. Anyway it's almost midnight here, so time for bed. See you all soon and hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks again, guys.