Confidant
Disclaimer: Castlevania belongs to Konami, not me. I am making £0.00 out of this fic, it is written purely because I have a burning need to create. Although I would like to own Alucard . . . then he'd be mine.
Rating: PG-13
Part: Two of four
Authoress Note: sooooo, I fancied playing with this a bit more.
Italics = thoughts and flashbacks
Chapter Two
Work Text:
Everything was on fire.
He didn't recall the why or the how, but it didn't matter when everything around him was burning. Soma put his hands to his face, his heart hammering in a chest so tight it felt like a vise. His claws dug into his cheeks as he raked them down his own face. Black spots danced across his vision. All he could hear was his own rapid heartbeat and the roar of the flames. Then, over the deep roar of the fire, came a high-pitched scream.
Instantly Soma moved, his motion jerky but impossibly fast. He raced forwards, towards the scream. Gulping in rapid breaths, the air burned his throat. He could feel his throat blistering. How could fire burn this hot?
The scream came again, high pitched and desperate. It cut off abruptly and Soma's legs almost gave out from under him. A wall of flame stopped him in his tracks. He had to get through. Pulling his cloak tight about himself, he hurled himself forward into the flame. Everything turned white hot for a second before he landed on the other side. A loud creak and a crash had him falling backwards as beams fell from the ceiling. A statue of the virgin Mary fell. Soma looked around rapidly, searching. The surrounding church continued to burn, the floor burning the soles of his feet through his boots; the air blistering his throat and lungs. He looked rapidly around, finally spotting a slight form slumped at the Sanctuary altar. Leaping forwards the fallen beams stopped him. Without thinking, he reached into the flames, took a grip of the burning wood and hefted it aside. The beams hurtled backwards, smashing into pews and breaking them apart.
The form was tiny when he reached it, breakable, a child. When he lifted it a mop of ash and blood covered blond hair covered its face. The child was so very still. He had to run. He had to get them out.
"Soma?" the voice that spoke was deep, too deep to be the child. "Soma?"
Suddenly, the fire was gone.
The surrounding air didn't burn, the smell of smoke was gone, the world was eerily quiet after the roar of the flames and the cracks of the burning church. An icy hand gripped his shoulder firmly. Genya.
"Uhh," Soma managed. He coughed and wiped at his face, which was drenched in sweat and tears.
"You were having a nightmare," Genya said.
"I fell asleep?" Soma took a steading breath through his nose. His heart still hammered in his chest.
"A few hours ago." Soma frowned at Genya but Genya said nothing else.
"Just a nightmare." Soma was suddenly more aware of his sweat-soaked clothes clinging to him. "There, there was a fire. A church, I think." Genya said nothing, but he was very still, even for him. "I had to get…"
"You should shower." Genya stood up. It was then that Soma realised he had been kneeling next to him. Soma nodded, looking around. He was still in Genya's waiting room-esk living room. "It's through there," Genya pointed and stalked off in the kitchen's direction.
Cold sweat is probably the worst sweat, so Soma did not argue and headed into the bathroom. Within moments, he was standing under the warm water.
Shower's, while having a physical benefit, also had a mental one, and after only a few minutes of standing under the warm water, Soma felt his heart rate return to normal. His limbs eased their trembling, and he could breathe easy.
Feeling better, he felt brave enough to think about his nightmare. He'd had nightmares before, but since discovering his true nature, they had become more vivid. He had felt the heat of the flames and vividly remembered the stink of the old church going up in flames around him. He'd felt the lightweight of the child in his arms, the cool, unnatural stillness of the slight frame and the deep bone-crushing despair which had fallen over him just before waking.
He knew without question that the nightmare was something to do with Dracula. He'd never had nightmares about fire before, he'd had scary dreams about monsters, or about being lost, unable to find his parents, maybe the odd spider filled nightmare. But never fire.
Genya had said he was likely getting subconscious emotions more so than memories. Soma made a mental note to talk to him about the nightmares. Genya had admitted to knowing Dracula. Perhaps he could explain it. Perhaps this was a memory. Maybe Genya would know what had happened.
Soma felt his face heat as he recounted the conversation he'd had with Genya last night, how he'd broken down at the end. He hadn't even realised he was crying until Genya pointed it out. Then, when he had realised, he could explain it. Why would Genya saying that he didn't hate him, make him cry, it wasn't like he was some fawning maiden who needed the handsome stranger's approval to feel validated?
Still feeling embarrassed, Soma stepped out of the shower and instantly stopped. His clothes were gone, and he could hear the distant rumble-whirr or a washing machine through the bathroom door. Had Genya come in and stolen his clothes? In their place were soft-looking black pyjama pants and a t-shirt that would undoubtedly be too big for Soma. He sniggered as he pulled them on, having to roll up the trouser legs quite a bit. How freakishly long were Genya's legs, anyway?
"I am surprised you even own a t-shirt." Soma stepped back into the living room. "I thought such a garment would be beneath…" he stopped in his tracks, seeing Genya standing at an open window, smoking. "Oh, hell no."
Genya turned to face him, eyebrow raised, probably questioning Soma's sudden angry tone. Soma stalked across the room and snatched the cigarette from the agent's mouth and flicked it out the window.
"What do you think…" Genya frowned at him, reaching into his pocket for the pack.
"Smoking is bad for you," Soma said firmly, reaching for the pack in Genya's hand. Genya raised his arm easily above Soma's reach. For a moment Soma felt the world spin, suddenly discombobulated.
In what world was Adrian taller than him? He towered over everyone; the top of Adrian's head barely reached his shoulders.
"Disobedient child," he surged upwards, seizing the cigarettes and hurling them out of the window. How dare Adrian put something so uncalled for into his body, something designed to make him sick? What was the boy thinking? What… What was…
A powerful arm around his shoulders snapped Soma back to reality. Genya was still frowning at him, but the tone of the expression had changed from annoyance to concern.
"Your lungs will be black," Soma mumbled, confused. The sudden flare of concerned anger he had felt at seeing Genya with the cancer stick in his mouth fading as suddenly as it had come.
"Soma," Genya said, steering him towards the sofa. "What just happened?"
"What do you mean?" Soma said, blinking rapidly, trying to clear his head and refocus on the world around him. That had been very strange. He'd felt emotions before, emotions that he was not convinced were his own, but never had it been so consuming. He'd always been able to identify what were and were not his feelings. But that, that had been like he was someone else in his own body.
"You know what I mean," Genya said. "Don't avoid my question."
"I dreamt about fire. I've had nightmares before, everyone does, but lately, some of my dreams, they've been so vivid."
"Soma?" Genya sounded far away.
"There was a church, it was burning, and there was a boy in the church. I was so afraid."
"Soma." Genya snapped his fingers Infront of Soma's face, making the boy flinch.
"Pack it in." Soma pushed Genya's hand away. "I'm fine, I probably just had the shower a bit too hot and coming out into the cold air made me go woozy."
"You threw my cigarettes out the window."
"Yeah, well smoking's bad for you, you're supposed to be smart. Why do you do that, anyway?"
"Got stuck on them in the '60s," Genya said. "They help me relax."
"You know they increase your heart rate, right?" Soma said.
"Stop trying to change the subject. You were commenting on the clothes then…" Genya trailed off. "You've not been telling me everything."
"I have." Soma hated how sullen his tone sounded. "I just, sometimes it catches me by surprise."
"My smoking made you angry?" Genya said.
"Yeah, it did. I overreacted though, sorry about your cigarettes."
"You can buy me a replacement." Genya offered. Soma snorted, a spark of that anger flaring back. Like hell he would.
"No, you're stopping that habit."
Genya muttered something under his breath that Soma missed, but he heard the amused snort at the end. Soma frowned at him. "It's been a long time since anyone called me disobedient."
"Yeah, well, you are and…" Soma said. "I mean, sorry."
"I'm not offended," Genya said. "I'm concerned. You said before that you were feeling emotions you didn't identify as your own, but you made it sound like they were separate from you. Separate alien emotion does not explain that outburst."
"I can't explain it," Soma said. "I just, look, that's never happened before. I've always been able to tell what was mine and what I think is his, but that, that was different." Genya went still.
"You're not him, Soma," Genya said after an uncomfortably long moment. "It's memory fragments, some emotions, but not a consciousness." Soma swallowed around the lump in his throat.
"I don't know."
"You're not him," Genya said again, firmer.
"If I said 'Adrian' to you, what would you say?" Soma asked quietly. Genya went even stiller, if possible. He seemed to stop breathing. Soma reached out, but Genya stood up and walked away, putting distance between them. Soma waited for Genya to speak.
"I…" Genya said after another uncomfortably long moment, his voice strained. He swallowed and tried again. "I would say I think you'd better stay here, for a little while at least, until we can explore this further."
"Oh?" Soma said. Genya's hands were trembling as they reached into the pocket where he'd kept his cigarettes, only to remember Soma had thrown them out the window.
"I may have been mistaken as to the extent of what you're experiencing." Genya's voice cracked twice as he spoke, his eyes white all the way around the iris.
"Oh." A sudden bolt of ice lightning zipped through him. "Are you afraid of me?" The fearful look in Genya's eyes melted at the question, and he came back to the sofa.
"No." His confidence returning to his voice. "Not at all." Soma smiled, the ice in his spine melting. "But perhaps discretion would be wise."
"You don't want to tell the others?" Soma said.
"Not until we can be sure of the extent of your… condition."
"Until you can be sure, I will not go bat shit and try to destroy the world." Soma looked away from the agent, flinching when an icy hand touched his own.
"You're not him, Soma," Genya breathed, and Soma had the strangest feeling that Genya was trying to convince both of them. "But having his memories may make the church see you as a threat, especially if you're being upset or off-footed by them."
"Emotions make you crazy, right?" Soma snorted.
"They could use it as an excuse to claim you're dangerous. They might argue that you would lose control." Soma nodded slowly, a strange warmth building in his chest.
"You're protecting me."
"I will try to, yes," Genya said.
"And we'll figure this out." Soma laughed suddenly. "Maybe I will end up with cool powers. I'm going to get some sunglasses, just in case I turn extra cool."
"I already told you Dracula was not cool."
"You're just saying that," Soma forced a smile. "You wait, sunglasses and maybe a black coat and I'll be coolest ever."
"You're replacing my cigarettes before you get sunglasses."
"No, you're getting gum or those patch things in the morning, but no more cigarettes," Soma said. "It's not up for debate."
End Chapter Two
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