Five: That's Life

POV: Richter

The last thing I really remember before waking up in a hospital bed was the strange man floating above the ring. After that was blurred rage as something primal took over me. I wanted to… kill Daisy. I knew I had some darkness in me; maybe not the same kind of darkness that haunted Robin, but it was there. This was different, though. I was controlled–quite easily too.

The hospital room was filled with sterile whites and a distinct smell of disinfectant. Working around the bedside was a robot in a lab coat. Its arms were long and slender, like a mechanical octopus. I managed to see a name tag: 'MAR10'. I figured it was the name of the model, but reading it as 'Mario' was funnier. I chuckled, and quickly regretted that as the laugh evolved into a fit of coughing. Dr. Mario turned to me, a set of big lenses acting as its eyes.

"Good morning, Master Richter," it said, voice mechanical but soft, with the slightest touch of an accent. It sounded like a butler from one of those black and white films King Chrom liked watching. "Your ribs were fractured last night. Progress is going swimmingly, but you must take it easy." Maintaining 'eye contact' with me, Dr. Mario's arm snaked behind itself and grabbed a thin tube.

"Drink this," it (he, I decided) said, holding it just in front of my lips. I reached out and drank. I was thirstier than I thought, and tried to gulp down more, but the Doctor cut off the water.

"You mustn't drink too quickly, Master Richter," he said.

"Where am I?" I rasped.

"The hospital," he said (sarcastically?). "Lady Palutena brought you here. You had quite the fight."

Of course she did. "How much longer do I have to stay here?"

"Until you are better." Definitely sarcastic. Who programmed him to be sarcastic?

"…Is Daisy ok?"

The doctor let out a hum that sounded like a chuckle. "She did much more damage to you than you did to her, Master Richter." I don't know how, but its lens eyes seemed to soften a little. "She received light magic healing at the scene. She should be fine."

I wonder if Palutena would let Daisy keep her position as TA. The only reason we were in that mess to begin with was because Daisy wanted to help me.

"It seems you have a visitor, Master Richter."

Speak of the devil, I thought with a scowl. A door at the end of the room creaked open, revealing an old man in a faded red coat.

Damnit.

"Richter," he said. His messy white hair went past his shoulders, a stark contrast to his neatly trimmed beard. His eyes were shadowed by dark circles, a feature of all Belmont men.

"Juste." I'm not sure I spoke loud enough for him to hear more than a growl.

His frown deepened, but said nothing. Closing the door behind him, he walked to the foot of the bed. Dr. Mario glanced between the two of us. "I'll excuse myself," he said, rolling away on a pair of wheels at the bottom of his legs. Once we were alone, I huffed in annoyance.

"Did Palutena send you?" I asked. He flinched at the venom-laced accusation, and I felt as bad as I could for a man who abandoned me.

"Or maybe you think that Dracula finally took over-"

"Richter." His aging voice was as steely as ever. I felt the anger dissipate, and it was replaced with exhaustion. Nothing about being a Belmont was fair. It wasn't fair that my parents died. It wasn't fair that he had to continue on his eternal mission despite the death of his child. It was the fate of a Belmont to be alone. It was all I could do to cling onto my friends for as long as I was allowed to.

"That monster is still buried," he said. "I was worried about my grandson."

I nodded. As much as I wanted to believe him, a part of me waited for the-

"I found something, Richter."

There it was.

"What artifact did you stumble across this time?"

"A tomb," he said. "Holding the son of Dracula."

My brows furrowed in my confusion.

"Is he…"

"Still alive? Yes."

My brows shot up. "Did you-"

"No. He's here with me. He'll go to school with you." I stared at him, waiting for him to crack a smile and say 'Just kidding!' or something. But his face remained as stony as ever.

"Palutena's okay with this?"

"It was the dean that took more issue with it than she did," Juste said, crossing his arms. He had a far-off look to his gaze. I imagined he didn't have prolonged conversations too often.

"What's his name?"

"Alucard."

"Wait, isn't that-"

"Dracula backwards? Yes it is." Juste cracked a smile at that, and for a moment, we were family.

"Real original guy," I said, resisting the urge to laugh. We stayed there in comfortable silence, ignoring the inevitability of separation for just that moment.

"Richter… Palutena has asked me to become the white magic instructor. She wants to focus on finding the thing responsible for doing this to you," he said, gesturing at me.

"Will you?" I asked. I didn't want to get my hopes up. But the heart does what it wants.

The saddened look on his face confirmed my pessimism, but it didn't stop the disappointment.

"I met someone on my travels," he said. "She'll be a much better teacher than I could ever be."

"'Cause the world needs a Belmont to keep it safe, right?" I felt a hot tear stream down my face.

"Richter-"

"Just go. It's obvious you want to."

He looked hurt, but turned without a word. Reaching the door, he lingered, sparing a look back at me. "Goodbye, Richter," he said, and then he was gone.

Doctor Mario wheeled back into the room and quietly got back to work, not saying a word when I started to cry.

—

The conversation stuck with me after I woke up the next morning. Aside from the stinging left by Juste's absence, I felt much better. It no longer hurt to breathe, and soon after I was discharged by Doctor Mario.

The moment I left the room, however, I wanted to throw up. It exited into Palutena's waiting room. Thankfully, the angel was missing, but the room was not empty. Sitting alone in the center of the room was a pale boy that looked around my age, but I guessed he was far older. He had long, pale blonde hair. He wore a black overcoat that looked like a nobleman's from one hundred years ago, and his blood red eyes seemed to stare through me.

"Belmont," he said, sounding like a stuffy old man.

"Alucard." His eyes narrowed at his name.

"Have a seat." He gestured to the seat across the room from his. I decided to sit next to him instead.

We sat there for what seemed like an hour. My stomach growled, and I wondered how long I was going to have to wait here.

As if on queue, a shining door opened, and in walked the angel. He seemed shaken up, taking a seat and putting his face in his hands. Behind him walked the ninja, Sheik. She glared at me before stopping. I realized her gaze had shifted to Alucard, and was even more surprised to see she looked like she was about to pop a blood vessel. After a moment, she took a deep breath and sat down next to Pit.

"Sheikah," Alucard said, a smirk on his face.

"I think it's just 'Sheik.'"

"That may be her name, but she is a Sheikah," he said. "They can see the dark magic potential of a person. I imagine that's why Hyrule uses them as spies so often."

From under her mask, Sheik's face got red. Was she here spying for Hyrule? It made sense, with the Princess going to school here and Sheik randomly showing up one day. But who had she been spying on?

And dark magic… is that why she seemed to hate me? Because of my dark magic potential? The realization hit harder than I thought. Maybe that darkness I felt wasn't just mental or emotional. Maybe I was a bad person naturally. Maybe when I attacked Daisy, it was what I really wanted to do. Maybe–

"Don't let that get to you," Alucard said, interrupting the string of thoughts going through my head. "You can't let darkness define you." He sounded bitter, and it clicked in my head that he had probably thought the same thing at one point, being the son of Dracula, lord of all evil.

Palutena's office door opened. "Richter and Sheik. Come inside," she called out. She didn't sound happy. We got up, and I walked in after Sheik, the door closing behind us.

Palutena looked as much of a mess as a goddess could be. Her hair had hairs out of place, her eyes had hints of bags underneath. She gestured to the two seats in front of her desk. After we sat down, she took a deep breath.

"How are you feeling, Richter?"

The question didn't surprise me. The Belmonts were favored by her. She chose us, and she loved us like her own children. That's what my parents told me, before they were murdered by monsters.

"Dr. Mario did a great job fixing me up," I said. She looked confused for a moment before cracking a smile.

"That's clever," she said with a chuckle before she straightened her back.

"I already talked to Daisy," she said, eyes seeming distant. "I wanted to find out more about this 'masked man' she told me about." She looked at me, hopeful and desperate.

"I saw him, too," I said. "He wore a white suit and wore half of a mask. He had this big mustache. He talked like an announcer."

Palutena nodded. "That's what Daisy told me. After finishing the countdown, did you feel something controlling you?"

I shuddered at the memory. "I suddenly felt like I wanted to… kill her, Au-"

I quickly shut my mouth. Her face went flush, and she cleared her throat. We both knew I was about to call her 'Aunt Palutena.' It had been a long time since I had called her that.

She turned to Sheik, hands clasped together. "Were you able to see anything, dear?"

Sheik tilted her head to the side. "Yes," she said, somewhat muffled from the cloth. "A big hand with strings. He was using Richter and Daisy like puppets."

I remembered what Alucard said about the Sheikah seeing dark magic potential. It made sense then, that she could see dark magic influence. But a hand?

Palutena looked grave after hearing that. "It seems that Master Hand wants his school back," she grumbled. She drug her hand through her hair, rejuvenating it along with her features, all the marks of stress gone.

"Thank you both," she said, forcibly cheery. "You may return to campus. Richter, Alucard will be your roommate, now."

"Sounds good," I said, standing up. As Sheik and I went to the door, I stopped, letting her pass me. Once she was in the waiting room, I asked "Is Daisy going to be a TA still?"

Palutena shifted a little. "At the moment, with this phantom at large, I'm not sure I want a TA. I don't even know that she wants to be a TA."

"I think it would be wrong to punish her for the acts of an evil spirit." Looking back to the waiting room, I saw Sheik prodding Pit awake while Alucard watched amusedly. "She was just trying to cheer me up, Aunt Palutena."

"I'm not sure I earned that," Palutena said, "that inkling of hope." She smiled like her memories lit up the sky. "I'll talk to her about it," she promised.

"Thank you," I said, and I let the door close behind me.

Author's Note: Another shorter chapter, though longer and more relevant than the last one. I swear, school is starting in... probably two chapters. Let me know if you want me to focus mostly on Lucina, Robin and Richter or if you want me to keep including other points of view.