A Song of Fire, Ice and Hearts

by Jebest4781

Venturing outside of the Heart of his Somebody, a Nobody enters a World where it's at the brink of self destruction. Will he be able to handle and survive the Game of Thrones. Rated M for language, violence, etc. Pairings hidden at current time. KHXGoT/ASoIaF CoWritten by free man writer. Cover Image by Carlos M. Please leave reviews.

19. Old Homes

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Disney, Square-Enix, Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire or anything else. They rightfully belong to their respective owners.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

Writing/Singing

"Foreign Language/Flashback"

-Scene Shift-

Chapter 19: Old Homes

Vladimir Dracula Tepes.

The greatest Vampire overlord to ever live sat slouched in his chair within his personal study. His expression was one of deep thought, red eyes glossed over with his mind far off as his optics seemingly bore into the lit fireplace.

The war on humanity has been going on for days now with many villages and cities being claimed by the hordes of the night. After a year's worth of preparation, he had finally launched his extermination upon the world.

Resistance from humans was laughable at best. They were swarmed and swept aside in an instant.

His Devil Forgemasters, Hector and Issac, were continually churning out beasts from Hell while his summoned generals conducted the campaign.

He would take more interest in these matters, yet his depression of his wife's demise still ate away at him. He hardly drank any blood, wasting away while keeping up his appearance so no one can get any bright ideas to go back on their allegiance.

Even when the rest of the world dies, Dracula wants to die as well so he may hopefully reunite with his beloved in the afterlife. There's no doubt he'll wind up in Hell, but it's a yearning thought nonetheless.

If anything, he hoped he could possibly join Lisa in Purgatory, due to her not having actual faith in God. She was a woman of science, afterall, despite her knowledge of the arcane arts.

"My Lord Dracula."

The Vampiric lord glanced to the door out of the side of his eye, spotting a bald man bearing the physical attributes of African and Arab heritage. His attire consisted of a black and purple themed outfit with a yellow trim and a red sash tied along his waist. Holstered on said waist was an oriented dagger with runes etched along its surface. And on his back lies a crest of two winged serpents tied together in dual infinity symbols by eating their own tails with one being white with angel wings while the other black with devil wings.

"Isaac." Dracula said slowly. "What can I do for you?"

The Forgemaster entered his personal study, face stoic and unmoving as he bowed respectfully towards his Master.

"I have something to report, Lord Dracula." Isaac said in a slow manner. "Something one of my beasts have come across that sparked my interest."

Dracula raised his brow. "What is it?"

Isaac approached Dracula's chair standing beside his master as he gazed into the crackling fire. "From Gresit, the horde is being repelled."

Dracula seemed entertained a little, snorting in mild amusement. "Seems the humans are not as spineless as I would've thought."

"So it would seem."

"Tell me, did the whole town actually contribute?"

Isaac didn't reply, thinking over his words. "To a degree, My lord. Not like the four particular individuals who lead the charge and were responsible for besting many of my creatures."

This piqued Dracula's interests. "Who do you speak of?"

"There is a Belmont in their ranks." Issac began, making Dracula snarl a little. "There is also a Speaker magician… and your son."

Dracula narrowed his eyes upon hearing this bit of information. "A Belmont and my son? Together you say?"

"Yes Lord Dracula."

Controlling his anger, not wanting to harm one of his most trusted generals, he ushered the Forgemaster to continue. "And this fourth individual. To whom do you refer to? You only spoke of three so far."

Isaac mused to himself, mulling over the words and descriptions that his creature had relayed to him.

"It is hard to describe what the boy wielded."

"A boy?" Dracula said out of mild surprise. "The fourth, that bested your sent horde is a boy?"

"Yes my lord." Isaac stated. "A boy who wields a greater power than I had ever heard of. It seemed to be that equal of your son's. Perhaps even more."

Dracula hummed, rubbing his chin. "What can you tell me about this boy?"

"A teenager, by my creations accounts." Isaac said. "Wearing garments as black as the night sky with sandy blond hair and blue eyes. Perhaps fourteen or fifteen in age."

"What were his capabilities?"

"His weapons and magical abilities." Isaac stated. "They described him to be adept in both fields, proving to be quite formidable. The weapons in particular were given great detail. To them, the best that they could describe their shape is in that of an oversized key stylized into a sword."

'An oversized key?' Dracula internally thought to himself. This sounded slightly familiar but he wasn't quite sure.

Wanting to properly settle his suspicions, Dracula rose to his feet and walked towards the corner of the room. His size towered over Issac to some degree, yet the intimidation he bore didn't startle the Forgemaster in the slightest. Opening up a large box placed by a bookshelf, a stream of mirror shards flew out and encircled the Dark Lord.

"What is that?" Issac questioned his wonderment.

"A Carpathian Transmission Mirror." Was Dracula's response as he started using his nails to carve highlighted runes on the glass shards. They soon formatted and came together to become an oval which reached Dracula's full height.

"It looks remarkable."

"Indeed. It's one of the last mirrors made by the Carpathian scrying hermits four hundred years ago. The rest are scattered amongst the world."

Dracula stepped aside in order to have Issac see what's about to happen. Looking at his own reflection, the Forgemaster soon jumped a little when seeing the mirrored surface changed and shifted to the exterior of this very castle.

"I can see anything from any place at the present time as if I was right there." Dracula informed.

What the vampire didn't reveal was that the mirror acted as a portal as well. With it formed and having a stable connection, objects or people can traverse through it and end up on the other side. Dracula had done this to several hunters he faced against in the past when he didn't want to bother fighting them. Such places he sent them to was in the blazing deserts of Africa to some random ocean on the far side of the planet.

"I must learn more about transmission mirrors someday."

"There will be time enough once the world is silent." Dracula remarked. "Now, show me Gresit."

The image of his very own castle then shifted to that of a ruined city with smoke rising from it's very buildings.

"Show me my son."

The image of the city was zoomed in, rushing through the buildings before seeing Adrian combating against the night hordes. And like what Issac reported, he was fighting alongside the Belmont and a Speaker Magician.

"Now, show me the Keybearer."

Issac wondered what his Lord meant by "Keybearer". Some title perhaps? Whatever the case this may be, his question was soon answered moments later.

The mirror's reflection reformed and reshaped to display a young teenager that matched the description his creatures had relayed to him. Blond-haired, blue-eyed with a black trench coat wielding two large key-shaped weapons against the hordes of the Forgemasters and… something else. Other creatures of darkness not of Issac and Hector's nor Dracula's making.

Dracula's eyes narrowed, a glint in his eye as he watched the young boy slash through a demon followed by a creature that appeared to be a flaming molten core.

"Interesting."

"My lord?"

"This boy… I have studied his kind long before I've become the very man you see now." Dracula informed, having Issac's curiosity grow a bit more now.

"You know who he is?"

"I know what he is." Dracula clarified. "A wielder of the Keyblade. An ancient weapon of legend that is said to have very few equals in matching its powers and capabilities."

Gazing upon the Keybearer once more, Dracula soon picked up something else; something unique coming from the lad.

"Oh~ This is even more interesting. Much more interesting indeed."

"What is it?"

"It seems this Keybearer isn't a human at all."

"He's not?"

Dracula tilted his head. "No… not completely. He's something else entirely. A being that rests in the in-between."

Isaac furrowed his brows in thought, thinking on his Lord's words. What did he mean by that? A being in the in-between? A hybrid? Like his son Alucard?

'No…' Isaac internally thought. 'Not like Alucard."

"What of those other creatures, my Lord?" Isaac asked, eyeing the strange dark creatures that this Keybearer fought against with vicious grace and precision.

Dracula never saw those creatures before, but he had researched such things when he was once Mathais Conqvist; when he planned his vengeance against God for taking away his first wife, Elizabetha. There were only small bits of information he came across when he came across the story of the Keyblades.

"Those creatures the boy's fighting." Dracula mused aloud. "They are creatures of pure darkness. Their name in the texts have been lost to time unfortunately for all. But… I believe they are called the Heartless."

"Peculiar name." Issac commented. "Is there a means of controlling them, perhaps? They are clearly dark in nature."

"Maybe. I'll have to look into it very soon. After all, I've collected much in my vaste library." Dracula stated. Lost knowledge of a name doesn't mean the knowledge of the creature itself.

"Of course, my lord." Issac said politely. "If that would be all, we need to meet up with the others in the main hall in order to discuss your war."

Dracula nodded. "Go on ahead. I'll be there shortly."

Bowing, the Forgemaster left the room leaving his Vampiric lord by himself.

All by himself now, Dracula gazed more upon the Carpathian Transmission Mirror for the scene playing out. The sun started to rise in the city with its residents cheering on for their saviors while Alucard hid himself away.

While said saviors made Dracula rethink some of his plans, his main concern was of the Keybearer present.

The wielders of the Keyblade hold great power and can hold off the forces of darkness. They can change the tide of battle with their mere presence. And with one here can possibly topple everything the vampire lord has planned for his extermination of the human race.

"Seems I'll be feasting on blood tonight after so long." Muttered out the Lord of Castlevania. "I will not have this boy ruin my war. Not at all. Not even with my son, the Speaker and Belmont beside him."

-Morning, Gresit-

The day seemed much brighter this morning for the city of Gresit. Not in the sense of brightness, with the light overcast, but in terms of feeling.

For quite a long time, there was this dark foreboding aura covering the city which was hard to pry off of it's residents. Much of the blame was due to the actions and influence of the false holy man. With him no longer amongst the living, the road to recovery will be a bumpy yet sturdy one.

And the first step was cleaning up the city itself, both figurative and literal.

In the figurative aspect, it was rather quick due to the majority of the late Bishop's corrupt men being slain or incarcerated in the cells while there were only a handful that were honestly still good. Through them, the city state will get back up in no time.

In the literal sense… well for starters, the city currently looked like a necropolis from the events of last night. One part of the survivors were tasked in gathering up the humanic dead and placing them into the plaza in order to properly give them rights. Another was gathering and trying to reuse rubble to reconstruct the homes, as those took top priority at this time. Others were butchering leftover night creatures and throwing the pieces down the city sewer system as a means of disposal. And the rest were still trembling in terror and the sudden instance of something happening around them made them cry out in fright.

Honestly, things could've been much… much worse if it weren't for the actions of Trevor, Sypha and Roxas. Alucard did contribute into the fighting once on the surface, but he remained in the shadows; not wanting people to notice him. Because of this, the others were branded by the people of Gresit as the Legendary Trio.

Walking through the streets, Trevor and Roxas were heading towards the city gate to meet up with their female companion. They wanted to say their farewells to the Sypha's tribe… in their respective ways.

At every other moment, Roxas would have to swallow down a bit of bile trying to rise up his throat.

Seeing his young companion's reaction, Trevor voiced a curious thought. "Is this the first time seeing the freshly dead? Taking a life, even?"

"What gave you that idea?"

"It's written all over your face."

"I've slain many dark creatures, Trevor."

"But was it your first human?"

"Not... exactly."

"How so?"

Roxas thought back months before, recalling a previous mission he took. "There was this group of bandits camping out in an abandoned fort. I helped a Lord I was friends with in clearing the place out. One of the bandits came in from behind the Lord's son -who I was also friends with- and about to skewer him with a sword until I intervened. I ended up killing the man, on accident mind you, by sending him flying into debris. He was impaled in the rubble and quickly died."

"And how did that make you feel?"

"I'm not really sure." Roxas admitted. "I killed him, still on accident, and yet... I didn't feel all that bad. Is there something wrong with me?"

"They would kill you if you didn't act, Roxas." Trevor said seriously. "They killed and pillaged and your friend almost died. If I were you, I would kill them without much care."

Roxas gave him an odd, curious look. "Doesn't that make you evil?"

"Only evil and greater evil exist and beyond them. And in the shadows lurks true evil. It's something you can barely imagine, even if you believe nothing can still surprise you." Trevor released a tired sigh. "A man I met once told me something along the lines of this… 'sometimes true evil seizes you by the throat and demands that you choose between it and another, slightly lesser evil. You'd be evil if you didn't feel some sort of remorse.' So in my mind, you're not evil."

Roxas' lips quirked up a little. "Thanks for the words of encouragement."

"You're welcome."

Roxas did wonder about this from time to time, not really asking about it at all. He honestly wished he did sooner than now. When thinking back on those that fell from his Keyblades… most were just Heartless and Nobodies.

Yet there were some that did fall that nearly broke him internally. Primarily, Xion.

Holding her in his hands while she crystalized and shattered before him… he couldn't even begin to describe the monumental internal pain he had suffered that day. He felt a part of himself break on the inside and there was nothing he could have done. He had hoped freeing Kingdom Hearts would bring her back perhaps.

But he was denied the opportunity by none other than Riku.

The next time he'd be in the World That Never Was, it was back within Sora, watching as the Keyblade Master fought through what was left of the Organization.

Sora was ruthless in his fight against them, taking them out after lengthy battles that ended with their disappearance into the nothingness.

He had to wonder…

What did Sora think of all that? Taking the "lives" of the Organization members. Did he feel any guilt? Or did he rationalize it by correlating them to be technically non-human? Then again, his friends Donald and Goofy aren't human so that argument wouldn't really work. He saw the memories, but never actually felt the feelings his Somebody bore at those times.

But…

When Axel sacrificed himself and faded away before him, Roxas felt a strong pull in his chest as he watched his best friend fade away before Sora's eyes. Was that Sora feeling guilt, remorse and sorrow or Roxas merely imagining it when seeing it?

It was truly hard to say. The only way to know the truth on the matter is when meeting Sora one more time and asking him personally. Until then, he can only wonder.

Grimacing, Roxas shook his head of those thoughts and returned his attention back to the conversation he was having with Trevor.

"Then what do you consider evil?"

Trevor was silent as they traversed further along the road. The sounds of Gresit's residents working filled the air, momentarily distracting him.

"These days… it's quite blurred." Roxas eyed him, prompting him to explain his reason. "Vampires are all notorious bastards, feasting on humans and only thinking of them as livestock; nothing more."

"Then what do you think of Alucard?"

"He seems different, for starters. But I can't give a good assessment right now. Just need to keep an eye on him, in case of anything."

"Despite his good intentions?"

"Which often leads one to Hell in some shape or form."

Roxas was silent as the pair eventually made it to the city gates. Both the Vampire Hunter and greater Nobody witnessed Sypha hugging her grandfather as her fellow tribes people loaded up in a horse drawn wagon.

When they broke their embrace, the Elder took notice of Trevor and Roxas' arrival. "I can't thank you enough for what you've done." He then gazed back at the containers of food and supplies situated on the far end of the wagon. "And I've got to thank you for what you've purchased for our journey."

"Any right person should've done it, Elder." Roxas stated, earning a nod from the old man.

"Indeed, yet it's a small rarity these days; given the circumstances."

Throughout all this, Trevor held his tongue, not wanting to speak anything to the Codrii Speaker Elder. He was sour from Sypha's bit of information last night as to why her grandfather was so adamant in keeping him in Gresit. The Vampire Hunter wanted to rudley speak to the old man, yet he chose not to at the present time. All he did was give the Elder a curt nod out of some mediocre respect for his female companion.

After the conversation soon ended, the Elder finally climbed into the horse drawn wagon. They took off with both the Codrii Speakers and Sypha waving each other goodbye.

With it ending, Sypha wore a look of sadness as she already misses her family. Seeing this Roxas gave her a reassuring look while Trevor placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Your people are going to be fine."

"I know, Trevor. And I know they have to do it. Other towns need their aid and have their stories saved. I'm… not worried about them."

"You're worried about yourself, Sypha." Trevor stated. "You've always been with your family. You've never traveled alone."

The Speaker looked down and explained her worry. "Never. Isn't it silly? They're heading into who knows what danger, and I'm standing here sad and angry because they're together and I'm alone."

All Trevor did was sigh, not sure what to say. Roxas, however, did.

"You'll see them again. It won't be soon, but some time later. And even though you will be away from them, Sypha, they'll always be in your heart. Besides, you'll be traveling with us for the time being."

Roxas' words brought her some form of comfort, making her form a small smile on her lips. Yet it soon died as she quickly grew annoyed with Trevor not saying anything.

"This is where you're supposed to say anything comforting, Belmont." He took his hand off her shoulder as a result. "You are really not very good at this."

"I learned to travel alone early in life." Said the Belmont. "Maybe I just got used to it."

'Yeah~ probably not the best person to expect that kind of response from.' Roxas thought, scrunching his face as a result before speaking. "But didn't you have a family?"

"Not much of one and not for long." Trevor revealed before covering up most of his face with his hand out of frustration. He then moved it away as he 'tried' to relate to his two companions as to what he was feeling. "Okay, look. I know a little about what you're feeling, Sypha. I'm sorry, but we have a thing to do now. All I can do is try and make sure it doesn't get you killed so you can see your family again."

Sypha quirked a brow on the Belmont's less than half-assed attempt of encouragement. "That's your encouraging talk?"

"Or you get killed and then get eaten in the forest so none of you have to be sad. How's that?"

Roxas wore a "WTF" expression on hearing Trevor's response, which completely destroyed his encouraging attempt a mere moment ago.

With Trevor walking back into the city, Sypha was angered by what was said. "I was right about you the first time, Belmont. You are rude."

"I've been called worse."

Sypha took that as a challenge as she and Roxas followed after Trevor, knowing she'll start thinking of better adjectives to properly describe the Vampire Hunter.

"At least… he tried." Roxas said, stressing out the word 'tried'. Sypha ended up giving Roxas a deadpan stare. "Give him some slack. He's probably not used to doing that."

With the trio traversing towards the former Speaker hideout, Alucard was lamenting on it's very floor. With a stick in hand, he started drawing in the loose dirt.

"Alucard, they called me. The opposite of you." Adrian began his monologue, tightening his face upon finishing drawing his father's face. "Mother never liked that. Did you know that? She hated the idea that I might define myself by you." He then drew another picture beside his father's, which was of his mother, Lisa. "Even in opposition to you."

Adrian smiled fondly as he drew some of her more defining features of her face. "She loved us both, enough that she wanted us to be our own people, living our own lives… making our own choices." He gazed at his finished work with a sorrowed look from his yellow eyes. "And so, here I am… choosing to honor my mother by killing my father." With a single swipe of his stick, Adrian lashed out on the drawing of his father. "No longer Adrian Tepes. Choosing to be Alucard of Wallachia, the name of my mother's people."

His eyes stung a little, letting loose a single tear which fell upon the eye of his mother's drawing. Alucard rubbed his eyes a little to dry them out. Once done, he sadly looked at the more intact drawing with a sorrowed expression.

Things within their family had gone quite well for as long as he remembered. He loved his parents dearly and vice versa. He learned so much from them as he wanted to possibly share his knowledge with others.

Yet this all changed with the death of his mother, who was the essential binding force of their family.

With his enhanced hearing, Alucard heard his companions approach. Gazing down on his mother's drawing, he brushed his hand across it; caressing it as if trying to touch his beloved mother one last time. All he did in the end was erase the drawing from the dirt.

"And so, we begin again."

From his hearing, Alucard picked up on their conversation as it kept going back and forth on some sort of argument.

"I'm a nice person. I am." Trevor defended himself. "I know how to be nice."

"No, you don't." Sypha denied.

"With how you're acting, it's hard to see the clearer picture of seeing you as nice." Roxas added in.

"But I am nice to everybody." Trevor whined.

Sypha gave Trevor an unamused, questioning look. "Then why are the stories you've told us since last night about you arriving somewhere and getting punched in the face?"

"Not to mention getting hit in the nether regions in bar fights."

"...That's because everyone else is a horrible piece of shit." Spoke out the irritated Belmont.

"See?"

"What?"

Roxas merely shook his head in mild amusement.

"Probably pointing out the kind of drunk you are, Trevor."

"...Hope it's the good kind." Trevor muttered under his breath.

Sypha and Roxas merely rolled their eyes as they soon approached the ruined home with Alucard sitting inside.

The wayward Speaker was the first to speak onto him. "So, how do we proceed?"

"Have the Speakers left?" Alucard asked.

"Yeah." Trevor answered.

Alucard turned towards Sypha and gave her an apologetic look "I'm sorry." He then spoke with a soft smile. "In success, you will see them again soon, in far happier circumstances."

With Trevor stepping inside, Sypha mocked him. "See? Even he knows how to be nice as well."

"Maybe you should learn a thing or two from him." Roxas suggested, earning a grumble from Trevor and a smirk from the others.

With pleasantries put aside, Sypha asked a question roaming through her mind. "Is it true, then? The castle can travel somehow? We know the stories, but sometimes, it's hard to separate the myth from truth."

Roxas was curious about this as he only knew of their intended destination in order to take down Dracula. Yet from how it was previously described, it made him wonder how difficult it truly was to do so…

The destination, that is. The killing part will no doubt be much harder.

Going to the far side of the wrecked house, Trevor spoke while opening up a storage crate. "Tell her about Dracula's castle, Alucard. Her day can't get any more ruined."

Roxas shot Trevor an annoyed look as Alucard obliged with the information. "Dracula's castle moves. How to describe it? It travels without moving. It appears at locations as if… Well, as if by magic."

While Trevor kept rummaging through the crate, Sypha voiced some curious thought. "There has to be some way to trap it. How do we start?"

Roxas had innocently thought of possibly using a Corridor of Darkness to get there. Yet there were a few problems. For one, he didn't know if his three companions could safely travel through it without an Organization coat. Second, Roxas would need to know of the exact location it was presently at so he could even form a way to get there. Thirdly, he tried opening one up while the others were asleep, in hopes of making a quick stop to Radiant Garden for his original intention before winding up on this World. And for some reason there was this force preventing him from forming one.

The Keybearer was drawn out of his thoughts when he heard Trevor speaking up. "I want to go home."

Looking over, the three saw Trevor holding up a few broken bottles as he tossed them aside.

"Have you been drinking?" Sypha accusingly asked.

Roxas was the one to answer with a snort. "As if. All the ale, wine and beer had been confiscated in order to help the wounded. As far as I know, he's been sober for over a day now."

Trevor shook his head out of annoyance. "Wish I was drunk now, but no." He turned towards his companions and reprised his earlier sentence… well more like a suggestion. "I want to go home. To the old Belmont estate."

This drew in some questionable looks from Sypha and Alucard while only having a curious one from Roxas.

"I was under the impression it was destroyed years ago. "Alucard recalled what he heard about that event before his slumber. "Villagers, pitchforks and torches."

"It was. But the value of the old house wasn't the house itself. It was what was underneath it: the Belmont Hold. Our family library and trove."

Alucard perked up on this, soon voicing his intrigue. "The knowledge and material of generations of Belmonts who fought the creatures of the night. Sounds interesting… if it survived."

"If there are solutions to the problems of finding and killing Dracula, they are in the Hold."

"You're guessing, though."

"I am guessing. I… can't read or understand magic." Admitted the Vampire Hunter. "But my family stored everything they found, including books of magic and whatever other weird stuff they came across. I just can't do anything with it." He then looked upon his three companions. "But you three can."

This clearly earned a surprised reaction from Sypha as she wondered what buried knowledge she can learn from this opportunity. A part of Roxas was curious about said information while another seemed to grow a headache from all the reading and research he'll be doing again. Alucard, however, was hard to really read as he seemed to wear a playful smile.

"Fortunate, then, that I chose not to kill and eat you, Belmont."

"And that I decided against gutting, flaying, and turning you into shoes." Came Trevor's smug reply.

Both Roxas and Sypha shook their heads at this.

"Such a merry band we are." Sypha sarcastically said before ushering for Roxas to follow her when leaving the ruined house. "We will find us a covered wagon, horses and supplies. If you two can manage not to kill each other while we're gone."

"Oh, please." Alucard quickly responded. "We're not children."

Sypha and Roxas didn't look back as they kept on walking back towards the main part of the city.

…..

…..

…..

…..

…..

"Eat shit and die." Trevor quickly said.

"Yes, fuck you." Was Alucard's response.

The two men glared at each other before they laughed it off. There was some silence between the two soon after as Trevor decided to sit down and leaned his back against the storage crate for support.

"You really believe we could find the tools to kill my father at your old home?" Alucard questioned.

"I'll be honest with you, I don't have a better idea." Admitted the Vampire Hunter. "I just know that right here, right now, we are under-equipped for the job."

"So going to your family home can help us prepare?" Alucard inquired.

"It better be or else we'll all be fucked."

"Even with Sypha and Roxas by our side?"

"Even with them."

Alucard hummed when thinking about their other teammates. He can already gauge Sypha quite well. Roxas however…

"What do you think of our young companion?"

"Roxas?" Trevor grew curious about the inquiry. "What of him?"

"Indulge me."

"Kid's… a curious one." Trevor began. "Those weapons of his, for starters, are mighty useful from what I've seen."

"Which I have witnessed. Go on."

"Seems to be like a Speaker Magician, but doesn't hold their kind of collected knowledge." Trevor added in. "He even can hold his own against the night creatures and those Heartless, he calls them. But there's this thing about him that's been bugging me."

Alucard arched a brow, silently conveying for Belmont to go on.

"Him saying he never had a life to begin with and an existence that was never meant to be."

"Ah, yes, I was wondering about that as well."

"Good to see I wasn't the only one."

Alucard pondered upon these words a bit more now. "Hopefully we can learn of his meaning very soon."

"Or we could just make him tell us."

"Which would make him not trust us."

"And how would you know that?"

Alucard scoffed. "Isn't it courteous to respect one's privacy until they are comfortable enough to share their own stories themselves?"

"It's not that I'm not trusting him." Belmont stated.

"Then what is it?"

Belmont crossed his arms, silently pondering on the words before throwing his arms up.

"Forget it, not important."

Alucard frowned at the lack of a response, finding the normally sarcastic and snarky Belmont to be not present at this moment. It was slightly off putting.

"I'm trusting you, Belmont. Don't make me regret it." Alucard said in complete seriousness.

Trevor merely wore a small smirk. "Everybody regrets it in the end."

Leaving the wrecked home, Sypha and Roxas traversed to where they believed a wagon with horses could be procured: the town stables. It was at the top of their list and they can purchase whatever supplies to fill it up soon after. Along the way, Sypha wanted to have some bit of conversation with the Keybearer.

"What do you think of Alucard?"

The sudden question caught Roxas off guard, but only for a second. He thought of Dracula's son before giving the Speaker his answer.

"He seems pleasant, for the most part."

"And Trevor?"

"...He's cold. He feels tired, distant, angry and I don't know if he has any genuine pleasantness. I don't even know if he trusts anyone, unless proven otherwise."

"That's sadly true." Sypha agreed with a soft sigh. "When the world is cold to you, all you can do is adapt to survive and thrive in it."

"Speaking from experience."

"In most cases, yes." Sypha looked on ahead with a distant look in her blue eyes. "Despite what good we do, us Speakers have been treated in a mixed manner. Most people greatly thank us for our deeds. Others merely don't trust us, given our habits and being peganistic."

"And was this before or after the Bishop spread the lies?"

"It was before. The late Bishop of this city merely pushed the hate even further." Sypha sighed once more. "Sadly, people feel afraid of things they don't understand."

"Sounds cliche to me."

Sypha giggled a little. "I feel as though that's true."

Eventually coming across the marketplace, Roxas made a quick stop at one of the food stalls and placed an order of food for him and his companions for the coming journey. The Keybearer didn't want to haggle on the price, only going with the given amount as the stall owner needed the money. At its end the purchase was made with the desired amount.

"Is that everything you want?"

"Yes it is." Roxas said with an appreciative smile as he paid the man handsomely with Sypha blinking at the amount of money that Roxas seemingly had in his pocket. "We'll come back later for the food."

"Of course." Happily said the stall owner. "I'll hold onto your order until your return."

Blinking out of her shock, Sypha asked her young friend a question of utter bewilderment. "What the-? Where did you get all that money?"

"I've always had this money." Roxas said plainly, pulling out more from a pouch holding out gold and silver coins.

Sypha stared at the currency in the boys hand, trying to understand how he had come across so much.

Out of curiosity, she snatched the pouch from Roxas' grasp and shoved her hand inside.

"Hey!"

She ignored his exclaim, bringing her hand deeper and deeper and seemed to feel no end of it. Before she realized it, she felt a snag. Blinking, she looked at her arm… and found the majority of it was swallowed up into the pouch.

"What in the-"

Roxas snatched the pouch out from the Speakers hands with an annoyed deadpan. "It's a magical Munni pouch, Sypha. Can hold an infinite amount of currency."

Sypha gaped, gazing at the pouch that Roxas pocketed a moment later.

"Whe-Where may I acquire such an item?" Sypha asked with avid fascination. "Better yet, how may I make one?"

"I honestly don't know how it's made." Roxas admitted. "And this was given to me when I first started fighting against the Heartless."

"Those creatures we've fought against?"

"Yes." Roxas said with a nod. "But maybe if we can find a Moogle we can buy one for you."

"A Moogle?" Sypha tested the word upon her lips. "What on Earth is a Moogle?"

Roxas opened his mouth, attempting to figure out a way to describe them until…

"You know, I think it makes more sense when you see one."

"Really?" Sypha asks for a challenge, figuring Roxas is trying to dissuade her from searching for and looking into this 'Moogle'.

"Trust me on this." Roxas waved her off. "They are weird but reliable… kinda. When you have Munny or whatever synthesis item you have that they seek."

More questions flowed through her mind, which wanted to be answered. But she decided to hold them off till later as they had other things to take care of.

"I'll trust you on this, Roxas. But I swear if you hold off on my request then you'll be having some serious trouble by my hand."

"Of course, Sypha."

The next stop they went to was their original target destination, where they soon bartered for a covered wagon with provided horses. And once again, no haggling was attempted with Roxas paying more than required with the owner appreciating the added 'tip'. From there, the magical pair went to gather whatever supplies they needed for their journey.

Time had passed as the four companions eventually got themselves readied and exited Gresit with the city gate closing behind them. Trevor and Sypha were seated at the front with the latter controlling the reins while Roxas and Alucard were in the back with their supplies.

With the sun heading closer and closer to the horizon, the next part of their journey has begun.

-Hours Later-

Night had taken over the land with stars dancing across the sky. Whatever warmth there was-was gone now with a decent chill filling the air.

The horses were currently tied up not far away from the parked wagon as they were eating from the wild bushes. And with the four companions, they were currently resting at a campsite they made while eating an evening meal Roxas cooked up for the group.

"I must say, this is a really good stew." Alucard commented, scooping up a spoonful and eating slowly. 'It's almost as good as my mother's cooking.' Was his thought.

"Yes, this bread bowl stew has an interesting taste to it." Sypha said gleefully.

Trevor said nothing, too busy of pouring himself a second serving and chowing down immediately. His action alone clearly gave the message.

"Thanks." Roxas said with a small smile. "I've been practicing on the side. Glad to hear it's paying off."

During their journey from Gresit, Roxas and Trevor needed to hunt for some game in order to help prepare for dinner. They could've gotten some meat back in Gresit, but there was none to spare at all. So they had to make due by hunting for a deer and some rabbits. And it was earlier they stopped and rested for the time being. Roxas had things prepared with Trevor helping the butcher and skinning the captured game.

With how things are going, the Keybearer will no doubt spoil his teammates with his cooking.

"You said earlier you were friends with a lord, right?" Trevor spoke out, swallowing his mouthful of stew. He then had to wash out his throat with some water from his waterskin. "Must've had some good cooks under his employ."

"I often hang out in the kitchen on the occasional day, learning how to make certain meals and help the cooks." Roxas stated, cleaning off his plate. "From there, I've picked things up as I went."

This was partially the truth as for some time now.

As he's slept on most nights since leaving Winterfell to head to King's Landing, he's been having these odd dreams of Sora cooking in some kitchen over at Twilight town. And for the strangest thing he witnessed in the same dreams was of what was happening as his Somebody was cooking. Instead of himself doing the cooking, Sora had this blue furred rat pulling at his brown hair and controlling him like a puppet.

The roots of his head sometimes ached when he woke up.

It was an odd set of dreams for the former Organization member, but it proved useful to help enhance Roxas' culinary skills. Somehow…

Honestly, these were one of those instances where he didn't mind learning such a useful skill. Learning from Winterfell's kitchens, their guards and being on the road with the Royal caravan has taught him a great deal of being more self-sufficient for himself and others.

Swallowing down a bit more of his drenched bread, Roxas eyed Alucard who kept eating the rest of his serving at a slow pace.

"I thought vampires only partook blood in their diets."

The comment momentarily halted Alucard's consumption of the meal before resuming. "That is a blatant stereotype, Roxas."

"But it's true." Trevor added in, quickly devouring the rest of his meal before getting stuffed.

Alucard released a sigh. "Vampires can still consume ordinary food. It can help sustain their bodies and normal feeding habits like any normal creature of the world."

"But…"

"...Vampires consume blood in order to help restore their health, their power and fatigue." Alucard listed off. "And more importantly for them, it's blood that gives them the zeal of life."

Roxas nodded as he finished off the rest of his meal.

"I'm still not completely clear on why you don't catch fire in the daylight." Said the wayward Speaker, feeling stuffed from the meal she had just eaten.

"I am half-human, a dhampir." Alucard revealed. "My mother's name was Lisa and she was mortal."

Sypha and Roxas were clearly surprised at learning about this while Trevor hid his expression rather well. And the Speaker grew curious and voiced her thoughts. "I would very much like to hear the story of how that happened."

Alucard chuckled at her curiosity. "She actually showed up at his front door. She found the castle and banged on the front door with the pommel of her knife."

"That's an odd detail to mention." Roxas commented.

"There were no knockers on the doors and banging with her hands weren't going to do anything. So she had to improvise."

"She sounds inserting." Sypha said.

Alucard smiled in response. "Oh, she was remarkable. She beat on the door until my father let her in and demanded he teach her how to be a doctor."

Trevor chose this time to chime in. "Wait, Dracula taught a human woman how to be a doctor?" He scoffed. "What was first, bloodletting?"

"Can you not be rude at his late mother's memory, Trevor?" Roxas questioned, not liking the joke the Belmont made.

Alucard glared at Trevor. "You think you're so funny, Belmont. My father-"

"Dracula."

"-is a man of science, a philosopher, a scholar and knows things our society has forgotten three times over." Listed off the dhampir before questioning his allies but more towards Trevor. "Do you still not understand the enormity of what we're doing? He's gone mad and from that, there is no recovering him."

"Shame." Trevor said lazily.

"It's a tragedy. He's a repository of centuries of learning. He could have changed the world. He might have if Mother hadn't died." Alucard then recalled what his mother did. "She sent him out into the world, same with me at one point. That's why neither of us were there when the Bishop and his men took her."

"She sent you two away?" Roxas inquired. "What for?"

"She sent him to travel. To learn the state of the world, the true nature of humans, how they live. As for me, she wanted me to interact with lives outside of my home and connect more with my humanic heritage."

Sypha soon made a connection and voiced her realization. "She was turning him."

"More like rediscovering and connecting back with his humanity after centuries." Alucard corrected. "Imagine if he could have aimed all that knowledge at improving lives. If the religious inquisition hadn't proved his worst instincts about humans."

"And now he's going to use her death as an excuse to destroy the world."

Alucard looked away at this. "Oh, the world will still be here, Belmont. The trees will still grow, the birds will still sing, animals will still hump away in the undergrowth. But you won't be here." Alucard turned to Sypha. "You won't be here." He then turned to Roxas. "And you won't be here. None of you. The sun will set, but you will not see it rise." The cryptic statement unsettled the group. "There will only be Dracula, his war council and the hordes of the night."

"Then the only life that'll cease to exist is mankind." Roxas realized.

Alucard didn't respond back to the Keybearer, merely staring into the campfire. "He writes in great books, you know. He hews the covers himself from oak and wraps them in the preserved skin of the people he hated most."

Roxas was horrified and disgusted at the statement. The only thing that can come remotely close was what he read about House Bolton. A Northern House flaying people and depending on the person they did the act to, they'd keep and preserve the skin as trophies… as what the rumors have been told.

"And he writes plans. I've seen them." Alucard revealed. "Ideas for darkening clouds and making them as permanent in the air as the frost of the north. Great strange flying machines that pull shrouds across the sky to block out the sun. Imagine it… A world without humans under endless invented night. And Dracula in his castle, his revenge so complete there is nothing left to do but look over a world without art or memory or laughter and how that he did his work well." The dhampir then scowled. "That he did it all for love."

It was really unsettling when hearing of Dracula's written ambitions of how to wipe out all human life on this World. Though Roxas didn't know if he should be really impressed or frightened by such details.

The tense atmosphere around the campfire was cut through upon some sound heard in the distance.

"You hear that?" Trevor asked.

"Animals humping in the undergrowth." Alucard wrote off.

The sound came again. This time was more prominent as it was more of a gurgling growl.

"Wait, no."

Quickly getting onto his feet, Trevor kicked some snowy dirt into the campire to put it out. "Which is the closest town?" He asked as the others got up. "Is it still Gresit?"

"Arges is closer to us." Sypha answered.

"Doesn't matter now." Roxas whipped out Winter's Howl and Oblivion. "We need to take care of whatever night creatures come our way."

"Agreed."

Hearing the footsteps and scraping across the ground coming closer and louder, the four companions went into action. Trevor ran to a nearby tree and started to climb it with his acrobatic skill. Alucard walked directly towards the incoming threat while Roxas went to circle around in order to help cut them off. Sypha, on the other hand, sighed seeing that her teammates were going to do their own thing. Pulling up her hood, she decided to do what she can for support.

Despite them being strong enough to handle what's coming their way, their teamwork still needs some polishing.

Reaching towards the clearing, Alucard saw eight night creatures. A pair of them were hunched over reptile-like beasts with winged dinosaur-like arms, a long tail and a mouth with sharp fangs. Three of them appeared to be hairless man-bat creatures. One was a minotaur-like beast with wings attached to its arms. Another creature was a bipedal bird-like being with sharp claws, a long beak, a long tail and was carrying a spear. The last of the night creatures was a muscular werewolf which dwarfed over the rest by its sheer size.

To the dhampir's knowledge, the minotaur-like beast was a Gaibon, the bipedal bird was Slogra and the muscular werewolf was a Hellhound.

Coming to a stop, Alucard unsheathed his longsword and got into a battle stance. "No further." He muttered out loud enough for the beasts to hear him.

The two reptile-like creatures ran towards Alucard and leaped right at him. In response, Alucard's form took on a red glow and maneuvered around the beasts in a single move with some after images following him. As the red aura died down, Alucard ignited his weapon with blue flames and thrusted the blade through the side of their necks with a single thrust. The flames quickly encompassed the two night creatures, killing them instantly.

Lifting up his sword, the dhampir soon swiped his blade to cleanly cut through the burning corpses, having them fall some feet away from him. Bringing up his blade, Alucard openly challenged the rest.

Gaibon and Slogra roared before leaping into the air. Gaibon soon latched its feet onto the spear wielder, carrying it in for an attack. Coming in from a dive, Gaibon thrusted the other to give it's ally the added speed and thrust to give them an advantage. Spinning right in, Slogra lunged it's spear at Alucard, who blocked the attack and back stepped. As a result of the block, the poled weapon was embedded into the ground.

With the spear lodged in the snowy earth, Slogra didn't let this stop it, using the momentum to spin and attempted to kick the dhampir. It failed, but the monster landed properly while removing it's weapon from the ground in the process. It lunged right at Alucard once more, which Alucard parried.

Flying in from behind, the winged minotaur was coming in close, fire forming in it's maw and shooting it at their opponent. Alucard rolled out of the way before parrying another strike from the spear wielder in a kneeling position. The bird creature vaulted over him from the parry and was soon taken in the air by Gaibon, once firing off another fire attack.

When the winged creature was swooping in for another combined assault, it was quickly struck on its head by a crack of a whip. The flesh from it's head was ripped apart, dying instantly and dropping abruptly to the ground. The spear wielder tumbled on the ground, letting go of it's weapon in the process.

Looking off to the side, Alucard saw Trevor situated from on top of a tree, retracting his whip in the process. Said Hunter slid on the branches and jumped.

The bird creature tried getting back up and retrieving the spear, yet it was snatched away by the Belmont via whip grab before being impaled by it's very own weapon.

With the recent kill, Trevor gave a smug smile to Alucard. This motion quickly ended as several fire balls were launched at their position. Avoiding the blasts, they looked over to see their present attackers were the hairless man-bat creatures. Flipping and rolling out of the way, Alucard and Trevor maneuvered away from the incoming assault.

Roxas soon ran into the open area and started blocking, parrying and rebounding the fire attacks away from his two teammates. He kept up with their positions as the enemy assault was speeding up.

Suddenly, the fireballs were abruptly halted inches from hitting the three men. Looking over in surprise, they saw their female teammate as her hands glowed. Hurling and thrusting her arms in a dance-like manner, Sypha shot the fireballs back to their senders through her magic. Her rebounded attack wasn't enough to kill the remaining night creatures as the hulking werewolf one was still standing.

In retaliation for the assault, the Hellhound opened its maw with a mighty glow emanating from it's chest. It traveled up it's gullet and with a mighty roar, a stream of hellfire burst out.

The wave of heat and flame quickly came for the Speaker. She used her magic to negate the flames, but she did get pushed back some distance. Once the flames died down, Sypha gave the werewolf monster a challenging look. It prepared to let loose another breath of hellfire, which Sypha formed a flame within her palms. The Speaker condensed the fire more and more by the second, focusing and connecting her flame with the monster's. When it tried to release the attack, the Hellhound started choking with the building heat in its chest. When it started reaching its peak, Sypha brought her hands together and in a blinding flash, the remaining night creature exploded from its own attack and died in the process.

"That was quite the nifty trick." Roxas commented, coming up to his female teammate.

"Brutal, but just the way I like it." Came Trevor's input.

"Do you think that's all of them?" She questioned.

Looking to the side, Alucard spotted one of the night creatures, which somehow survived. It took off into the air, showing the burns covering it's flesh. The dhampir suddenly rushed over in wanting to take care of the last night creature before it got away.

Yet his attempt was thwarted with plumbs of black vapors surrounding him. Leaping away from them, he landed on the snowy earth just in time to see a number of Heartless appearing in the area, from Neoshadows to Darkballs.

Roxas, Sypha and Trevor got into their fighting stances and were ready to rush in when something else happened before the team's eyes. Many plums of white and silver vapors soon appeared in between the present Heartless. This confused the three natives of this World, but the offworlder was clearly surprised.

"It can't be…"

Hearing this, Trevor looked over to Roxas and saw a look of recognition marrying his face. "You know what's coming?"

"Yeah, I know what they are."

The silvery-white vapors disbursed to reveal three sets of creatures spread out amongst the Heartless.

The first batch had thin, sinuous bodies which one thought were capable of dumbfounding feats of flexibility. It has a large, cylindrical head with a flat top that is emblazoned with the symbol of a splintered, upside down heart. Its body seems to be covered in a light grey jumpsuit, and in placement of its 'mouth' was actually a zipper. Inside of the opening reveal its actual, grey, sharp-toothed mouth underneath. It appeared to be fairly muscular, though its arms and legs are very thin. The sides of its body are lined by a black line, which pulses weakly with light. Its feet and hands are pointed and lack digits, and its hands each sport two black bands around them.

The second batch seemed to appear dressed in a baggy, light grey jumpsuit with dark grey stubby legs with nearly featureless black points. Their arms were very long, light grey and were flat and teardrop-shaped with the same emblem plastered on them. The grey heads were also teardrop shape, albeit curving to the right.

The last of them were thin, dragon-like creatures with silver and purple skin. Their hands only have two distinct digits while it's feet have three long, purple toes each with the shared emblem seen on their thighs. They also have a thin, purple tail and sharp, white wings with purple tips lined with spikes. Their upper bodies and necks are covered in magenta straps and in their grasps were long, stylized lances.

"They're Nobodies." Roxas revealed, eyeing the present Dusks, Creepers and Dragoons.

'How are they here? Why are they here? What was going on?' These were questions Roxas quickly voiced in his head as he had to quickly compose himself for this new fight.

Wanting to question about this later, along with the others present, Trevor whirled his whip arm.

"Alright, you know them." Belmont listed off. "You knew the Heartless so you know how to fight them, yes?"

Roxas only gazed at the Nobodies that were swaying about with their focus solely on the Greater Nobody.

Without warning, both the Heartless and Nobodies went into action, hurling themselves at their opposition.

Roxas felt a familiar instinct kick in as several Dusks made long strides over to him with their malleable and elongated limbs.

In an instant, Roxas dropped and slid around the Nobodies to appear right behind them.

Disoriented and thrown off balance with the Dusks looking about in utter confusion, Roxas went on the offensive.

Nobodies had always been more durable then Heartless, having always needed more strength when taking them out.

Luckily, Roxas has been constantly combatting Heartless for the past few months now.

With a series of vicious strikes, the Dusks before him were dispelled, bursting with pieces of munny falling to the ground. He did not stop in his attack there.

Raising his Keyblades up high, he conjured a large translucent orange orb of a Balloonra before smacking it's surface. It zoomed across the battlefield and once colliding against a Dragoon, it exploded into a good dozen multi-colored orbs and went to strike any nearby enemies.

Trevor had flung his whip forward, managing to snag a Dusk around its neck and reeled him in. Whipping the Dusk around, he sent it into a cluster of Neoshadows. With another savage whip strike to the Dusk's head, the lesser Nobody's head bulged and expanded upon blowing up with the Neoshadows being caught up in the fiery explosion.

They were damaged but not destroyed. Which didn't last long as a sword had sliced through in an instant, the silver blade returning to hover over the right shoulder of its owner, Alucard.

Sypha made a large circling motion with her arms, balls of fire appearing in the wake of her actions. Clasping her index and pinky fingers together for a brief moment, she thrusted both hands out with a torrent of flames being unleashed upon the Heartless and Nobodies.

Many were caught in the flaming inferno with only several Neoshadows and Darkballs. The Nobodies however proved to be more resilient then the others with the Dragoons flying upwards with their lances raised in attack.

Sypha grit her teeth, preparing another spell when she heard an unusual sound from above. Gazing up, she blinked upon seeing Roxas high above in the air with his body angled downward. He proceeded to slam down and through a Dragoon, with a wave of energy pulsing out from the spot he landed.

Suddenly, Roxas vanished before Sypha's eyes with her hearing that strange sound again. Once again, she barely managed to catch sight of Roxas appearing right above another Dragoon and lancing right through his next target. It was as if he was "jumping" about the area, continuing this strange and powerful actions several more times until he had destroyed all of them.

Belmont had created a sort of rotating barrier with the use of his whip as he was constantly moving about his arm in a rapid fashion. The rope seemingly had no end in extension other than the tip that was laced with the powerful magic needed to inflict heavy damage upon the Heartless and the Nobodies.

Alucard held an elegant stance, slicing through Nobody and Heartless alike with a graceful dangerous ease.

These Heartless were unusual and held a greater darkness to them, yet not like those of the demons of Hell.

These Nobodies however… they were different. They…

Alucard's eyes widened slightly. They were like Roxas!

Glancing over to the boy, he saw Roxas swing his Keyblade Oblivion down upon a Creeper slaying it instantly.

He didn't seem to treat them any more kindly then he did the Heartless.

Shaking his head, Alucard resumed his attention on the fight. There weren't many that remained and he'd rather get some answers sooner rather than later.

After a few more minutes of fierce battle, the Nobodies and the Heartless were defeated at last. Sighing as he placed his whip back upon his belt, Trevor eyed the Keyblader with a questionable gaze.

"So, Roxas, mind telling us what those things were now?"

-Few Nights Later-

Things within the group were a little tense since the day leaving Gresit. It wasn't too bad for them, given the present company. It wasn't out of the problems between them, it was more of their adversary.

And it was not of the night creatures.

On the first leg of their trip, the three natives of this World only knew a little bit of information of the Heartless. But after their first encounter outside of Gresit's walls, along with fending against the Nobodies for the first time, Roxas had to inform them just about everything he knew about the two forces; with some exceptions of course with the World Order and all that.

How they were created. How they operated. How sporadic they tend to show up throughout the day. So on and so forth.

It was not great for the three natives of this World to learn such details on the Heartless and Nobodies. And their worrisome moods were proven to be true when along the way towards the Belmont Estate, the group were met with the occasional skirmishes of Heartless and Nobodies.

They did wonder why Roxas seemed more questionable and curious with the appearances of the Nobodies. He didn't answer back on this bit of inquiry, which only made them more curious on what he was holding back on them.

Alucard had his suspicions on what's going on. But like the rest of his teammates at the present time, he had to trust what their young member was keeping to himself.

Anyways… during such skirmishes, they used this time to gain more experience in fighting together as a team. It helped learn some strengths and weaknesses to work through and hopefully improve on.

Now currently with the moon shining through the starlit sky, Trevor fought the urge to fall asleep… again. He had napped earlier in the day with Alucard doing the same while Roxas and Sypha drove the wagon and kept watch of any surprise skirmishes. Yet with not having much time to properly rest, it was proving difficult to somewhat get some shut eye.

Turning a bit in his spot, Trevor soon sat up and recognized something quite familiar to him.

"There." Trevor pointed towards a huge dead tree on their left.

Seeing this from his spot of driving the wagon, Roxas voiced his curiosity. "Is there something significant about that?"

"It's my tree. I used to play in that tree. We're nearly at the house."

Sypha popped her head from the back and expressed her doubt. "It's hard imagining you playing."

"Are you thinking of that," Roxas began, "or are you having a hard time imaging Trevor's head on a child's body?"

Both Sypha and Alucard actually chuckled on this jab, earning a grumble from the Belmont.

"It would explain his childish, immature nature."

"Oh, shut up, Alucard."

"He's just stating the obvious." Sypha said with a coy smile.

"Well that tree was everything to me." Trevor stated. "It was my home away from home, my boat and my fort. Anything I wanted it to be." He let loose an audible breath before looking back at his childhood tree. "Goodnight, tree. Sleep well."

The small team eventually reached the estate, or what was left of it, in a manner of minutes. The fountain up front was devoid of water, the stone railings stood mostly intact with some broken segments here and there, adn the home itself was mostly destroyed from the top to ground level. The tower which annexed the broken home had an intact exterior, but the interior was destroyed. There were also vines with violet flowers which grew and wrapped around the walls of the main body of the ruined structure.

Through Trevor's eyes, he would already picture what it was once like years ago when it was once pristine and whole, much like his family… before the incident when his life changed for the worse. And now all that remained was him which reflected the estate's current condition.

The small group walked inside of the destroyed estate of the infamous hunter family with torches in hand. Each viewed and inspected the land as Sypha voiced the obvious question. "This was your home?"

"Yeah."

"You grew up here?"

"Should you ask that when it's clearly obvious, Sypha?" Roxas asked.

"Sorry, it's just I can't imagine what it was like to grow up in a single place."

Trevor could understand Sypha's inquiry, given her nomadic heritage of never settling roots at one particular place.

For Roxas, the place he really lived at for such a long period of time was at the Castle that Never Was. And after that, the second place he took up residence at was Winterfell.

For Alucard, well, he lived in an enchanted castle that can travel the world, enough said.

"It was… It was fine." Trevor said simply. "Wasn't the worst way to grow up."

"How old were you when your family home was taken?" Came Alucard's inquiry.

"Thirteen, fourteen," Trevor responded with a guess. "Something like that."

Roxas eyed the Vampire Hunter, thinking Trevor could've recalled such details of such an event more accurately. If it happened at a far earlier age, then it could be more forgiving.

Sypha felt a bit sad for Trevor, having to get by at that age. "You've been on your own since you were thirteen?"

It took Trevor several moments as he inspected more of the estate's ruined interior. "Maybe twelve. Who remembers that sort of thing?"

"It's something you should definitely remember, Trevor." Roxas bluntly stated.

"Is there a point to all of this?" Trevor requested.

"I'm disturbed to find that I had more of a childhood than you did." Alucard informed.

"And your dad's fucking Dracula."

Both Alucard and Sypha struggled to hold back a smile, which soon resulted in them laughing. And before long Trevor joined with them.

"I don't get what's so funny." Roxas said, earning nothing in return. "C'mon, tell me."

Venturing further into the ruins, they eventually came across a particular room which Trevor led them to. Crouching down, the sole remaining Belmont started digging through some rubble until he found some sort of slab which clearly didn't blong.

"I think this is it." Trevor said before handing his torch to Sypha.

"Your hidden entrance looks like a hearthstone." Alucard pointed out to the Belmont, who was lifting a heavy stone slab out of the way.

"Just help me clear it."

Alucard rolled his eyes and handed his torch to Roxas. While Trevor had put in effort to remove the debris, the dhampir casually threw the heavy pieces away like they barely weighed anything. When the Vampire Hunter saw Alucard's efforts, he stopped and was given back his torch by Sypha.

Suddenly Trevor felt emasculated on what his dhampir teammate was doing. Showing off his strength like that.

With the task done and over with, Alucard looked upon the hearthstone with an intricate design carved into it with the Belmont crest put at it's very center.

"Congratulations. You have discovered a big piece of stone."

Trevor ignored the mocking comment aimed towards him before making the correction. "It's the door to the Hold below."

"Do we lift it or…?" Sypha trailed off.

The moment the word "lift" was said, Alucard actually tried to lift the hearthstone slab. Emphasis on "actually tried" as he struggled and broke a little bit of sweat in the process. "That's odd." Breathed out the dhampir. "I don't seem to be able to get any purchase of it."

"And here I thought you were all big and strong." Trevor mocked.

Kneeling down, Sypha looked and felt over the engravings of the hearthstone slab. "I see now. You won't be able to lift it at all."

"Well, my family got it up somehow." Trevor informed them. "I was taken down there as a child."

"Then did you see them lift it?" Roxas asked, kneeling down as well to inspect the doorway.

"Uh… no." Trevor admitted, rubbing his head. "Never saw them open it."

Roxas examined the sealed door, tapping on it several times.

"No, they brought me through it once it was open. They told me they'd teach me how to do it one day. I suppose there was a special trick."

"Yet the day never came with whatever happened here." Roxas stated the obvious, earning a stern nod.

"Then were your parents magicians?" Sypha asked.

"Not as such." Came Trevor's response. "I mean, they knew a lot, but this door was put in by one of our ancestors."

"Well I guess the special trick was passed down through the generations, the way we Speakers transmit knowledge." Gave Sypha's guess as she kept inspecting the glyphs on the slab's surface. "Your parents knew the trick, but didn't know where it came from or what it really was-"

Roxas interrupted Sypha's line of his Keyblade Oathkeeper and pointed it at the door.

"You should stand back."

The others were curious on what their young companion was doing. Yet their answer was soon given as the tip of his Keyblade glowed and shot out a beam of light towards the Belmont crest. An outline of a keyhole soon formed along the surface before flashing. Once dying down, the hearthstone seemed to have disappeared before their very eyes.

Dismissing his Keyblade, he looked at his teammates and saw their bewildered expressions.

"How in the-"

"It's another function my Keyblades does, Sypha. They can open and close any lock and seal there is, magical or not; depending on how strong it is."

"Well… that's something." She muttered out. "I was actually about to open it up before you beat me to it."

"How exactly?"

"There was some Enochian scribbled all over the entrance."

"Really?" Alucard asked the Speaker. "You know the language."

"Yes I do."

"Question." Trevor held up a hand with an expectant look. "What happened to the door? And will it come back?"

Roxas opened his mouth, closing it a moment later before opening once more. Then he closed it, scratching the side of his cheek.

"I honestly don't know."

"I believe it will once we enter." Sypha informed. "If any one of us want to come and go, they'd need to recite the phrase Invocatio Mahorela Sor Gru Odo Teloch."

It was upon these words did the door above the Hold suddenly reappear in a flash of light, making those present surprised to see this happen.

"Well, well." Alucard said with a chuckle. "Naughty Belmonts hunting the terrible things of the night but sitting on a magical door opened and closed by occult language."

Trevor didn't like being teased on this fact. "I didn't know it was a fucking magic door, you know. Doesn't make us black magicians."

"But you know that the word Teloch means Death, right?"

"Shut up."

"It's the magical door of Death, Belmont."

"Sypha, open up the damn door."

Sypha recited the incantation again and this time the glyphs highlighted blue and ethereal wings appeared on the surface in order to make the hearthstone disappear once more.

Trevor quickly descended down the steps with the others following. With the last one stepping down a certain length, the hearthstone reappeared behind them to block the entrance. They know, no doubt, to either have Roxas with them or one to memorize the spell to open up the doorway again to acquire their supplies back at the wagon.

Eventually coming towards the bottom of the stairs, they were met with a large circular room with a staircase spiraling down. There was a chandelier hanging above them with banners with the Belmont crest decorating the walls. And directly across them lied a portrait of a blond main wearing some regal holy knight armor with a longsword in his hand.

Roxas seemed amazed with it so far and wondered how deep this place went. Alucard seemed rather intrigued, wondering the time and effort put into this so far. Sypha looked around the space as they descended the staircase.

"Belmont isn't even a Wallachian name." She said suddenly. "That just dawned on me."

"No, it's not. The family originally from the kingdom of France, but we moved out of there a few hundred years ago."

With the little history lesson there, Roxas quickly wondered if France was the same France that Dream World Sora visited during his Mark of Mastery Exam. If so, then could there be more connections than he thought. And he didn't count the version of France of King Mickey's youth as a member of the musketeers.

Alucard then smirked. "Moved or chased?"

"Moved." Trevor stressed out. "Thank you very much."

"With people behind you, waving pitchforks and torches?"

It was getting to this point where Sypha and Roxas were getting tired with their banter against one another.

"No. No. We're professionals. We move where the work is."

"And what does that even mean?" Sypha questioned.

"All the dark things moved into the east." Trevor informed. "I think it was a Leon Belmont who entered the region first."

"I can believe that." Roxas added in. "I have to go all over in order to do what I do best."

Sypha accepted the detail as Trevor opened the door at the end of their path. Once stepping inside, they were all met with an enlarged darkened space.

"It was Leon who built this house and dug the foundations for everything under it." Trevor informed them as they stood within the chamber and tried to look through the darkness with what little amount of light their torches gave them.

Suddenly an idea was formed, having Sypha grinning and crossed her hands together before holding her torch before her. Wind swirled about around her with her torches fire glowing a brilliant light. Multiple fires shot out from her torch, lighting multiple other torches upon multiple spires, pillars and walls.

Roxas, Sypha and Alucard stared in stunned disbelief and awe while Trevor smirked at their reaction.

Sypha moved forward to hold her torch aloft and down below to see the rows of bookshelves and cabinets, the many statues, skeletal displays, armors, trinkets, items she couldn't even begin to name on the many floors this chamber held.

Alucard openly gaped for a moment before calming himself. Even he had to admit, after seeing his father's own library, this one was certainly rivalingrivaling Dracula's collection.

Roxas was in utter disbelief as this place was far bigger than the library at Beast's Castle and Winterfell combined. He can clearly tell that this would put any library of Westeros to shame. Perhaps even the legendary Citadel, itself. Hell, he can already imagine if Tyrion Lannister were dropped off here, he'd practically want to live in the Hold for the rest of his days and not give out a single complaint.

Trevor stepped forward and held his hand out for the three. "I give you, the Belmont Hold." Belmont said somberly. "The memory of my family." He began walking down, gazing upon the seemingly endless collection. "All that's left of us."

"Is it organized? Is there a way to find things?" Sypha asked in her excitement as she wanted to mentally devour everything.

"Careful there, Sypha, you're drooling." Roxas teased.

"I am not!" She snapped.

Alucard soon added in on the fun. "And you're hyperventilating in a rather disturbing manner."

"Shut up, Alucard."

Roxas looked over the railing down onto the collection. "Seriously though, how are we gonna properly find anything here?"

"I imagine one must sacrifice a chicken and divines the location of the book you want from the intestines." Alucard said with a guessing tone. "Maybe the Belmonts have a crystal ball in here you could ask."

Trevor once more glared at the dhampir. "Shut up."

"It's an impressive tip, Belmont, but it is, nonetheless, a tip." Alucard soon led the group down the stairs, no doubt still looking all over the place in wonder. "Your ancestors were apparently mentally ill hoarders. I fully expect to find family cats mummified under some of these shelves." He then released a dark chuckle. "Unless your family prefered to eat them?"

Roxas eyed the dhampir and wondered why Alucard seemed to be a bit too much of a dick right now with how far these savage comments were going. But once looking upon Alucard's gaze he came to the realization the dhampir was currently inside of what's essentially the museum of eradicating his kind. And hiding behind the joking facade he wore, Roxas could tell Alucard wasn't… entirely thrilled in being here.

Wanting this to end this tripe, Trevor shoved past Alucard with his shoulder as he now led them downstairs, soon pointing over yonder. "There's an index on the lectern at the bottom.

"So this really is a managed collection?" Sypha asked for clarification.

"It's the work of generations. An archive of everything we've found and learned since the days of Leon Belmont." Came Trevor's explanation.

"Where do we even start?" Roxas asked, stepping away to one of the floors that contained so much knowledge. "We could be in here for days. Weeks even."

"Then we better get started on looking for an answer on bringing dear old daddy Dracula down." Trevor said blandly, walking off in a random direction.

"What was your Leon Belmont doing in Wallachia anyways?"

Sypha's question was soon met by Alucard, who stared into a cabinet. "Hunting Dracula."

Looking over to what the dhampir was staring at, they saw him gazing upon the skulls of vampires… of all sorts of ages; even ones of children… and infants.

They broke away from Alucard's position, no doubt not wanting to be anywhere near such a spot right now.

Trevor gazed along the many bookshelves as fragments of memories flooded through the forefront of his mind. His parents showed him this place for the first time when he was a child as he reflected the same reactions his companions held earlier.

"This is all there is, then." Trevor muttered out. "The last of us."

Roxas was picking out books at random, reading the titles before sliding them back into place.

"What on Earth are you looking for?" Drawled out Trevor from behind.

No. XIII didn't respond, instead pulling out another book, opening it to a random page to skim through before once again returning it back to where it once was.

Hu shrugged. "I dunno. Guess anything useful. Anything at all that we can find… whatever it is we're looking for."

"We're looking for a means of killing the strongest vampire alive." Trevor dryly stated.

"Yeah, I know that."

"Then how would pulling things out at random help us all in the slightest?"

"I don't know." Roxas said a bit peeved now. "Maybe we can find a random piece of information that could be helpful. I'm trying my best here, even if I can't understand much of the language seen within their pages."

"Yes, pull out, push in." Trevor said with a sly smirk. "That's real charming, especially for the ladies."

Roxas was about to make a retort when he paused in thought, one word in particular catching his attention.

"Charm?" Roxas murmured to himself. "Is there a section on Charms here? Magical items?"

Belmont arched his brow. "Do you not know where we are?"

Roxas gave him a flat look which only further incentivized the Belmont who had a coy grin.

"Eh~ That's a possibility. Why? What's up?"

Roxas fished out the fire coated charm from underneath his Organization coat and presented it to the Belmont.

"Really? That thing?" Trevor voiced, remembering the trinket left behind by that devilish satyr looking Heartless from Gresit. "Do you know what it is for then?"

"I somewhat do." Roxas fully pulled out the charm and gazed at it. "It might be similar to the ones I know of. I can't fully state it as such until I finally confirm my suspicion."

Trevor gazed at the charm for a brief moment, nodding a moment later. "Hmmm, follow me. I may have an idea what you're looking for."

Going over back near the staircases, Trevor gestured to a section that had a series of symbols and languages on it that Roxas did not recognize yet was egged on by Belmont to go in and take a few books.

Shrugging, Roxas entered the small bookway and examined the multitude of shelves before settling on a few selections with languages he could at least read and understand. Books in hand, he walked back out with Trevor.

Trevor and Roxas soon walked past Sypha, who was currently browsing through the index on the lectern. When gazing throughout the area and wanting to find the section of "Charms", Trevor spotted something that stood out from the ordinary. Wanting to take a closer look, Trevor saw it was a wrecked area of the library. And within the spot lied a peculiar chest.

"Wait a bloody second." Trevor breathed out. "Is that what I think it is?"

"What is?" Roxas asked in a teasing tone. "You sounded too cheerful about something."

Trevor ignored him, throwing any debris out of the way from the chest which caught his eye. Once done, he pried the chest out from it's resting place and dragged it away to a more open area of the Hold. Kneeling down, the lone Belmont brought up the lock keeping the chest closed.

He was about to try and break the lock when he remembered the bit from earlier. "Hey, Roxas. Mind opening this up for me with your Keyblade?"

The former Organization member walked over and complied with Trevor's request. Summoning Oblivion into his hand, he soon twirled it before slamming it on the chest lid. In an instant, the chest glowed a red and green hue as the lock undid itself and fell onto the tiled floor.

"That's an interesting way of opening a lock." Trevor commented. "Did you have to show off a little like that?"

"...Force of habit."

Trevor didn't bother asking from there, prying open the lid as both he and Roxas gazed inside to see the chest's contents.

"Well hello beautiful."

Roxas saw lying on a satin clothed pillow was a flail stylized into a whip. The metallic grip having a red and black leather covering while above it had six encircling blades jotting out. The pommel of the whip looked like a multi-pointed star along the sides with a sharp bottom. The chain length reached a good couple feet at first glance and at the end of it was a hollow ball with four blades.

"I can't believe she hid it." Trevor said happily. Pulling out the weapon from its resting place, he wrapped most of the chain length in one hand and stretched the rest from the grip. "It's the Morningstar."

Judging by the tone and expression Trevor bore, Roxas could clearly tell there was some important history behind it. When asking about it, Trevor was happy to oblige; reminiscing on his childhood tale of his family heirloom.

The Morningstar was the first whip the Belmont family owned since Leon Belmont began the Hunter legacy, prior to Dracula's ascension to power. Over the generations, the esteemed family had improved and upgraded this particular whip through alchemy and sorcery into what it is today.

The family had wanted to replicate more of this weapon in the past, but the knowledge in doing so was lost through time. They had come close in making another effective whip, which was already in Trevor's possession. The Hunter Whip was nowhere near as powerful as the Morningstar, it was soon intended to be used as a training whip for preparation to eventually wield the famed flail-like whip.

"That's quite the little history lesson there, Trevor."

"Thanks." Trevor smiled as he felt a bit more confident having retrieved his ancestral family heirloom. It feels as if he's finally reunited with a long lost sibling or something.

Roxas turned his gaze back upon the chest where the Morningstar whip was kept. He wondered if it was all there was within the chest, given it was far bigger than it should be. Kneeling down, Roxas pulled out the satin pillow and realized his suspicions were correct.

Trevor noticed the action, holstered his new whip by his side and kneeled back down. "What did you find, kid?"

Inside of the chest were an assortment of items being organized within. Some were glass jars with the cork tops stylized like metal crosses. The next was an oddly large silver bladed cross with leather grips, which reminded Roxas of Axel's chakrams to some degree. And upon opening an elongated thick box were several dozen silver knives.

"Huh… holy water, silver knives and a silver cross boomerang." Trevor pried out said items and looked them over as they seemed to be in a wooden crate. "They might prove useful for the coming fight. Don't know why those were here, though."

Trevor soon went off to the side in order to properly equip them on his person, leaving Roxas temporarily by himself. With him away, the Keybearer saw what was left inside of the chest.

There was a simple and small wooden box. Opening it up, his eyes seemed to widen a bit more out of utter surprise.

"How is this…" Pulling out the item from the container, Roxas gently placed it onto his hand for a better look.

It was a silver charm with a chain leading up to a clasp on one end. The initial charm in general was of the Belmont family crest. And by looking at it more now, he quickly realized what it was.

Summoning Oathkeeper into his hand, Roxas soon applied the charm to it as a flash of light encompased his weapon.

"Did you find anything else useful in-" Trevor came back and stopped talking when he saw the little light show. When it died down, both he and Roxas gazed upon what was now within the Keybearer's grasp.

The new Keyblade, at first, looked vaguely like a white/silver version of Oblivion. Along the central blade was a length of chain embedded into it. The handle was wrapped in red and black leather with the six-sided guard was primarily silver with designs carved into it, especially with the prominent Christian cross in the center. The pommel which connected the chain was like the Morning Star's pommel with a multi-pointed bladed star. And for the weapon's teeth was of a four bladed flail, much like the Morning Star whip.

"...What the hell just happened?" Trevor asked.

Holding up his new Keyblade, Roxas smiled a little at the Belmont. "Seems your family had something else important stored in here."

Quirking a brow, Belmont would no doubt question his young teammate of the vague response before peering into the chest once more and found one last item remaining inside.

"Hello, what's this here?" Trevor bent down and snatched out a book.

"What'd you find?" Roxas asked, looking to him with Trevor holding up the book.

"Just this book is all." Trevor stated, eyeing it curiously. "Must be important if it was hidden with the Morning Star… and that new Keyblade of yours." Looking back at said weapon, he did wonder how such a thing would fit into the chest in the first place; not knowing of the Keyblade charm and all that.

"A book." Roxas noted, holding out his hand with Trevor casually handing it over to him.

Roxas held up the book to gaze at it questioningly. It didn't have a name or title on it. Just intricate markings and symbols.

The hardcover book was stylized in ebony and ivory colors with a faint indication of a checkerboard pattern and a lock on the side to keep the book closed. Within the main cover were silver trims and designs on the front, back and the spine. On the front was something similar to the Nobody emblem, but it was rightside up, the heart was complete with a pair of wings underneath it. On the back was another emblem vaguely looking like an eight pointed star with a smaller one located on the spine.

"You recognize any of those symbols?" Trevor inquired, looking over Roxas's shoulder now.

"Somewhat." Roxas said, pointing to the one that looked familiar to him. "This one here looks like the symbol of the Nobodies, just turned around and some details added here and there."

Opening the book, once surprised the lock was easily undone, Roxas gazed upon the title on the first page in stylized lettering: Enchantment of Inheritance. From there, he flipped through the pages before his eyes widened exponentially as he leaned in to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

This book was loaded with knowledge on the Keyblade! On Keyblades in general! Moves, magic, skills, abilities, everything.

Taking a peek inside, Trevor saw the illustrations and quickly rationalized the little discovery. "That looks like-"

"Yeah." Roxas whispered in disbelief. "Did you know your family had something like this?"

"Roxas, I barely remember a quarter of the things in here." Trevor said in a deadpan. "In case you forgot."

"Right, sorry about that." Roxas said sheepishly.

Trevor only smirked, patting him on the shoulder. "It's alright. Now c'mon, let's try to find that section of charms for ya."

The former Organization member quickly nodded, closed the book back up and tucked it under his arm. He will no doubt be reading through this later when he had the spare time from their intended search.

Upon reaching said section of the Hold, Trevor soon noticed something large covered up on a blanket. Leaving Roxas behind, who started pulling out books from the shelving alongside Sypha, the lone Belmont pried the veil away to reveal a mirror.

"What the hell is this?" He muttered out, gazing upon the spider cracks along the mirror plane with glyphs running along the framed edge. "Hope this thing isn't cursed or else I'll be having bad luck for years."

Sypha looked over from the book she was reading and looked upon the object before the Vampire Hunter. "You don't know?"

"I don't know." Was Trevor's response.

She placed the book back in its place and walked over to him. "This is your house."

Trevor brushed away the accumulated dust from a part of the mirror, using it's surface to look back at Sypha. "Do you know everything in your house?"

"I don't have a house."

"She doesn't have a house." Looking up from their spots, the three teammates saw Alucard sitting on top of the bookcase with his silver longsword resting on his shoulder. And presently, he was reading through some tome he picked up somewhere. "She's a Speaker. She's a nomad."

Trevor softly grumbled. "I was rhetorical."

Scooting himself off the elevated seat, Alucard landed on his feet. "A rhetorical house that she doesn't have."

"And you guys say you're not children." Roxas muttered out, closing another book and placing it back. He soon continued when prying out another. "Yet you act like them with your banter." He snorted at his male teammates' looks. "At least Sypha is the one acting her age."

The Speaker amongst them puffed her chest with a bright smile on her face while Alucard and Trevor ignored the jab towards them. Prying his gaze away from Roxas, Alucard looked towards the cracked mirror.

"Mind telling me what this is?" Trevor questioned towards the recently uncovered item.

"It was a magic mirror." Sypha quickly answered.

Stepping up to it for a better inspection, Alucard gave a more specific answer. "Also known as distance mirrors." His gloved hand brushed against the engraved glyphs on the frame. "Some of them even allow matter to pass through them, but…" The dhampir was silent, narrowing his eyes while humming. "No… This is a simple remote-viewing mirror. A little of the activating language is chipped, no doubt from when this was moved here or procured in the first place. A few of the runes need re-cutting, but workable." He turned away from the cracked mirror and gave Trevor a cheeky insult. "You have the most fascinating family junkyard, Belmont."

Roxas and Sypha briefly ignored the jab aimed at Trevor as each pondered on the mirror in question. If working properly once more, it could perhaps show a location or even a person when focused well enough.

"You're a cock wart, Alucard." Trevor growled out.

"I repeat my earlier statement." Roxas said with Sypha stepping in between Alucard and Trevor.

"Stop it, Trevor." The Speaker then dragged the Vampire Hunter away from the book section, leaving Alucard and Roxas by themselves. "You are an adult. You do not have to rise to his every barb."

"He's pissing me off like it's his job, Sypha." He said, leaning against the bookcase.

"Well grow up, Trevor. You can be better than that." Once calming down a little, she then pondered about something. Leaning beside the Belmont, she voiced her present thoughts. "Why is your name Trevor, anyways?"

This utterly confused Trevor with the random question. "I'm sorry?"

"I understand the Belmont origin now, but 'Trevor' doesn't sound very local either."

Trevor looked away from her as he pondered as well. "Ah, that, well… So, the story goes, a Celt rode out here with Leon back in the day and his name was Trefor, with an 'F'."

He soon noticed Sypha adopting a thinking pose which a smile soon formed. "Trefor, I like that."

"Oh, it's terrible." Trevor said with a straight face, yet it seemed to crack a little with a small smile forming.

"Treff." She sounded out a possible nickname with a playful look. "Treffy?"

It was so cheesy for him, Trevor had to look away to hide his growing smile from her. "Oh, my God, no."

"You are Treffy now."

"Don't-" Trevor was interrupted by her laughter, which he couldn't help but join her with how nicely contagious it felt.

As this went on, Alucard was inspecting the mirror. It didn't have to use his enhanced hearing to hear the two as they weren't talking away for privacy sakes.

Roxas flipped through multiple pages nearby Alucard's position, finding this book of Charms which speak on trinkets and items that enhance the magic of one who wears or carries these charms.

He previously knew about certain charms in the past, given what Sora, Donald and Goofy had to wear on their person to enhance their strength, defenses, magical power and the like. Some were found during their journeys across the Worlds or given to them by others for their good deeds. The rest were purchased and created from the Moogles.

Interesting… he honestly hadn't thought about them before until now. Maybe he could find some of these for later or use them. If he was lucky, there could be some located within the Hold he could acquire.

Closing this book shut, Roxas set it down before picking up his next one, opened it up and flipped through several pages to reveal…

"Yes." Roxas grinned, delighted with what he found.

"You look happy."

Roxas looked up to see Sypha and Alucard gazing at him.

"I am." Roxas stated. "I found something that could help in clarifying something I've had since Gresit."

"Which is?" Alucard asked with Roxas fishing through his pockets, pulling out the flaming charm he had found back in Gresit after the fight he, Belmont and Sypha had with the Heartless. Flicking it at the hybrid, Alucard caught it with a brow raised.

"Been looking for an answer as to what that Charm is."

"So what's this particular charm do exactly?" Alucard inquired, holding it in his hand as he analyzed it. "I do admit, I sense some form of energy emanating from it."

"It's a summon charm." Roxas elaborated, holding up the open book in his possession towards the end on a page that displayed a diagram of a random design with an image of a creature next to it. "I… remember a person I knew who had used summon charms before, calling upon a great magical beast, animal or warrior of some kind. This book here details more about them."

"A Summoning Charm?" Alucard mused, handing it off to the recently returned Sypha who wished to take a look at it. "Could come in handy against our fight with my father."

"What does this one summon?" Sypha inquired.

"A creature of fire and flames, I believe." Roxas said, gazing back down at the book. "From what this book is telling me, that charm would allow us to call forth the creature known as an Infrit or Jinn."

Holding out the book of the image of said summon, Sypha took it out of his hands and read and looked at a large, horned, bipedal in nature though it seems to have variations.

"These are Arabic." Sypha noted some of the symbols and inscriptions.

Trevor made his brief return upon hearing of the aiding summon. Coming up to the opened book, he saw the illustration. "Vaguely looks like the Heartless bastard we fought in Gresit."

"Huh, so it does."

"Well what does that mean then?" Alucard asked.

Roxas shrugged. "Maybe in defeating the Heartless, we freed the original so to speak."

"That… doesn't really explain much."

"Hey, my guess is as good as anything really. I'm just pulling ideas out of the hat right now."

"Nevertheless," Trevor plucked the Ifrit Summon Charm from Sypha's grasp and dangled it in front of his face. "Like Alucard said, this guy could help us out in a tight pinch against Dracula."

The others nodded as they soon separated to explore more of the Hold and hopefully find more useful information.

Whilst the others went about looking for other information that would be useful in their fight against Dracula, Roxas had other plans.

He was glad to have found something useful but right now, something else was on his mind.

Finding a comfortable place to sit down, Roxas pulled out the book on the Keyblade, the Enchantment of Inheritance, and opened its first page.

"Ava?" Roxas muttered, flipping onto the next page. "Must be the Author."

The candles were finally burning out after so many hours of being lit. The wax melted away, leaving the Belmont Hold in a blanket of darkness. In a few areas of the ancient museum, candles were lit.

Lying against a bookcase, Trevor made a makeshift bed for himself with whatever he scrounge up from both within the Hold itself and from the parked wagon back on the surface. Before him was a lit candle as it seemed enhanced by the reflective surface of the cracked mirror nearby.

His blue eyes bore into the flame, memories swimming across his eyes of the time when he was once innocent to the world. A time when everything was perfect as he was never lonely.

Yet not everything can be perfect as his fantasy was shattered. And he can clearly remember that particular night quite vividly.

It was the middle of the night when it happened. He woke up when wanting to relieve himself in the privy before he smelled the smoke and odors that were quite unpleasant. He wondered if his parents forgot to put out the fireplace again or them experimenting on something again and the smell wafted through the estate.

It wasn't the first time, yet Trevor greatly wished it was again.

Investigating, his younger self soon felt a climbing heat when coming towards the source. He tried to open up the study when he recoiled his hands from the intense heat on the doorknobs. With a brief action of holding back his pain, he pried the door open and was met with a roaring fire covering the room. He wondered what caused all this until seeing a window broken through with shattered remains of a glass bottle.

The fire grew out of control as the young Trevor cried out to his parents. They were in a state of disarray soon after as they had to leave the estate.

He remembered his mother, Sonia, telling him and his father to leave as she had to stay behind in order to take care of something. Thinking on it now, Trevor realized his mother had to hide the Morning Star in the Hold before closing up the entrance. Because of this, she wasn't able to make it to safety in time when the estate came crashing down in a burning pile of rubble.

As for him and his father, Ralph, they made it outside to see the burning estate. They were about to try and do their best to take care of the burning inferno when they were jumped by the perpetrators responsible.

"You Belmonts don't belong in this world anymore!" Roared a man in churchly garbs. "You are a blight with your dark magics!"

Trevor could only watch helplessly as his father was beaten and eventually slain before his very eyes. In a fit of rage and sorrow, Trevor ran at the members of the Church Inquisition in hopes of vengeance. Yet he was quickly beaten down and tossed into the flames as the perpetrators thought him dead. Instead, he wasn't and survived with only having a few burns and a scar across his left eye for his actions.

When everything settled upon daybreak, Trevor went back into the ruins of his home and wandered helplessly to hopefully find his mother. He did, but she was dead much like his father.

The lone Belmont gave them the best burial he could do for his age back then. And once acquiring everything salvageable from his ancestral home from his and his father's clothes, the Hunter Whip and several other items, Trevor left to survive in the cruel world.

The Vampire Hunter was about to put out the light when he saw Sypha not far away. And by the look of things, she was utterly exhausted. Not entirely physical, but mentally from all the reading she's done these past hours.

"Are you okay?" He said.

She let out a brief yawn. "T...Tired."

"Sleep then."

"...I'm… a bit lonely."

Trevor stared at the candle flame a little more as he decided to spread open the sheet he was about to sleep in. "My dusty old sheet is big enough for two. And nobody was ever lonely in this house."

This put a soft, small smile on her face as she walked to Trevor's side and sat beside him. She soon got comfortable once he brought part of the blanket to cover more of her form.

"Thank you."

He nodded before voicing an inquiry. "Are Roxas and Alucard asleep?"

"Alucard says he's slept enough. He's still poking around your family's things with a look of faint disgust."

"And Roxas?"

Sypha shrugged. "Saw him reading through a pile of books but I didn't want to disturb him. He looked enraptured in what he was reading."

"One of 'em must be that book we found in the chest with the Morningstar." Trevor surmised.

"What was it about?"

"Keyblades. Roxas's specialty."

Sypha was surprised at that. "Your ancestors kept something like that in their collection?"

"I don't know most of the stuff in here, Sypha." Trevor said with a solemn expression. "Never got the chance to."

Sypha nodded, not wanting to put much effort into thinking with her exhausted mind. Only accepting anything spoken to her right now. Eventually, she soon spoke her surfacing thoughts.

"While it's inviting to be near Roxas, it's lonely when you stand next to Alucard. It's strange."

"How so?"

"I'm not sure." Sypha pulled her arms closer to her body. "Alucard's intelligent, sometimes even witty, in his way. And he's certainly half-human… More than half-human. He's a person in his own right. But it's like he's a cold spot in the room."

"And Roxas?"

"Seemingly the same, yet opposite." Sypha surmised. "And through it all, their feelings are not like yours. Like your sadness or bitter humor, for instance."

"...I'm not sad." Trevor denied.

"Yes, you are." Sypha asserted. "But I can shout at you or tease you and get a reaction that lets me know you're still in there. Alucard's sadness is like an icy well. It's bottomless. It swallows up your voice and everything you try to drop into it. And your humor, while dark and bitter, tries to do what it can to bring you some fragments of joy into your life again."

"...Am I really sad?"

"All the time. You don't even notice it now. It's just… how you… are." Sypha was visibly getting more sleepy now. "And then, sometimes, you'll tell me… nobody's ever lonely in your house, and offer me your stinky blanket."

Trevor chuckled at the last part. "In all honesty, that stink might not be my blanket."

Now that he thought about it, he might need to take a proper bath in the morning. Even washing his clothes.

He eventually heard soft breathing beside him. Looking over, Trevor witnessed Sypha resting her head on his shoulder with a seemingly stressless look on her soft face.

In all honesty, when looking at her now up close, he thought she was rather cute in her own right.

He was about to sleep as well when he heard something amiss.

"Wait." Trevor moved a little, causing Sypha to move from her resting place. The act quickly woke her up with a jolt.

"What?" Sypha groaned.

Belmont slowly sat up, straining his ears as he swore he heard something.

"Someone's in here." Trevor declared, now moving to stand. "In here in the Hold."

"Are you sure it is not Roxas or Alucard?" Sypha asked, rubbing her eyes. "It's late. You could be imagining things."

Trevor didn't say anything when he picked up the faint sound of something… bouncing?

"Stay here." He told the Speaker.

"And let you go in alone?" Sypha was already standing up with him making Belmont shake his head in amusement. She was a little wobbly in her stance and balance, making Trevor have her lean onto him. Sypha was thankful for the gesture as they soon headed towards the source.

The two approached the winding staircase, with Belmont pointing for them to go upward. Nodding, Sypha followed after Trevor with the Belmont having his hand resting upon the Morningstar.

Reaching the floor above them, Trevor once again heard that unusual bouncing sound coming from the various shelves of ancient armor.

Trevor walked forward with Sypha right behind him.

"This better be worth it or else I'm gonna smack you a new one." Sypha grumbled out.

"You can beat me all you want later."

"Is that an invited challenge?"

Trevor didn't say anything else.

While passing through the many sets of old metals, Sypha was momentarily distracted by a rather fashionable arm brace that looked like it could fit her. Shaking her head, Sypha gazed back up to see Trevor not far when she felt a presence behind her.

Quickly whirling around, Sypha saw...

…..

…..

…..

"Hello, Kupo!"

"AAHH~~~"

From their placements in the Hold, Roxas and Alucard bolted from their spots, running and jumping towards the source of the commotion.

They heard the tell-tale signs of the metal chain of the Morningstar in use with several blasts of fire shooting out.

"WHOA! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE THROWING THAT, KUPO!"

"Kupo?" Roxas muttered out.

Roxas and Alucard arrived, both having their weapons drawn, when-

"KUPO!"

Roxas found his face being covered by a small little creature before he pried it off of him. Taking a moment to regain his bearings, Roxas looked at what he held in his hands with his eyes widening a moment later.

"Y-You?!" Roxas said, gaping with his lip twitching upwards.

"It's so good to see you again, Kupo! I see you're doing well!"

"Roxas!"

The little creature yelped, quickly hiding behind Roxas as the Nobody faced Trevor, Sypha and a bewildered Alucard.

"Roxas, you better start explaining just what in the fuck is that thing supposed to be?" Trevor asked aggressively, glaring at the small white creature with the red nose and antenna with small pink bat-like gothic-styled wings on it's back… while oddly wearing a smaller size of the black cloak that Roxas wore.

"Relax everyone." Roxas raised his hands in a placating manner. "This here is a Moogle."

"And what on earth is a-"

"Moogle?" Sypha perked up, now approaching the strange little creature. "Is this a Moogle?"

"You know what this is, Sypha?" Alucard inquired, gazing at the small thing with a bewildered look.

"Only from what Roxas told me on the way here to Gresit." Sypha said, leaning down a bit. "Hello there little guy. Sorry if we gave you a fright."

"That's fine, kupo." The moogle said, hovering out from behind Roxas. "Didn't realize there were folks down here. My mistake."

"How in the hell did you get down here?" Trevor asked. "I know the door-"

"They just have their own way of getting around." Roxas interrupted. "I wouldn't really question it, Trevor. Unless you want a headache."

Trevor could only blink, sighing a moment later as he shook his head. It was already late and didn't want to hurt his brain on how this Moogle slipped past the hearthstone above.

"Alright Roxas, you seem to be the professional here." Trevor remarked, firling back up the Morningstar whip, but not holstering it. "What exactly is a Moogle?"

"Well I'm glad you asked, Kupo!" The Moogle in question declared cheerfully, hovering before the three Wallachians.

Pulling back the hood, the Moogle revealed more of its features. It appeared to be of a small mammal-like being with smooth white fur. And for its eyes, they seemed squinted at first before the creature opened them up more to show very innocent little peepers.

"Whenever you need a potion, trinket, rings or armbands, synthesizing, selling and trading items is the way of our brands." The Moogle said like a salesman would when selling a product.

...

"Er~ What?" Was the response from both Alucard and Belmont.

"He's someone we can buy, sell and trade items with in a simplified version." Roxas clarified. "What he means by Synthesizing is the creation of newer stronger metals, weapons, objects and such with the use of the proper materials needed."

"Items? Like what?" Trevor asked, now intrigued.

"Well Potions and Ethers for starters." Roxas said, pulling out some from his pockets. "The same for other items I use whenever I need to restock."

"So Elixirs and such?" Now Alucard was interested. Roxas had described to them some of the items he carries on hand and could not deny their effectiveness in the heat of battle.

"Exactly, Kupo."

Soon an ethereal panel was formed before the Moogle where he soon displayed many of his wares. Roxas pressed different selections before swiping left and right to change the image to show the items in the Moogle Store.

This got Sypha's interest rather quickly, grabbing the ethereal panel and began browsing through the selections.

"My word, I don't even know half of what you possess." Sypha said with wide eyed awe. "How were you able to come by such… materials, items and such?"

"Us Moogles have our trade secrets." The Moogle said happily. "Some from searching, some from trading and creating. We are multi-talented."

"And how come we've never heard of your kind before if you do such things?" Trevor demanded.

"You just don't know where to look."

"...That's a lame an excuse as I've ever heard of one."

"Sorry Kupo." The Moogle said sheepishly yet still no less cheerful. "But I am happy to be of service now to new customers and old."

"So you know Roxas then?" Sypha inquired.

"Sure do." The Moogle said happily. "He's one of my oldest and favorite customers."

"As far as I could tell, only Axel, Xion and I were your only customers back at…"

Alucard was quick to notice Roxas halting himself from speaking of some particular location. And he didn't know if his fellow Wallacians noticed this as well or not.

"Anyways, what would you bunch want, Kupo. I'm fully stocked at this time."

This got a smile from Roxas as he faced his teammates. "This one's on me, guys." Roxas said to them. "Order whatever you want from him and I'll pay."

That was certainly a surprise to hear.

"You don't have to." Alucard began.

"I insist."

The dhampir was about to refute when Trevor glared at him. "If the kid's offering to pay the bill, I say let him do it."

Sypha then added in her bit as well. "And Roxas… does have the coin."

"...Why were you stressing that out, Sypha?"

"Roxas, you haven't shown them yet?" Sypha chided playfully.

"Well, knowing Trevor he'd probably spend it all on ale, wine and beer."

"What? What are you two blathering about?" Trevor had a tick mark form on his forehead.

Releasing a sigh, Roxas pulled out his Munni pouch, opened the clasp and tipped it upside down. With a gentle pat, several coins started coming out…

And out…

And out…

And out… like a waterfall of gold, silver and copper.

…..

…..

…..

…..

"If you give me most of that, I'll love you forever." Trevor said, not blinking away from the massive pile of coin spreading all over the ground.

"I'd rather trust giving this to them over you." Roxas stated simply, turning his pouch rightside up to end the coinfall.

"My word." Alucard himself was rather stunned. "How is this possible? Has there been… no end?"

Roxas kneeled down and started sweeping his coins back into the pouch. "As far as I know, no clue."

"Wow Kupo, you've been busy since I've last seen ya."

"You have no idea." Roxas said in mirth.

Alucard merely eyed their young companion as Trevor tried to snatch as much coin from the pool before them. Sypha kept smacking his hand away before trying to become engrossed with the ethereal panel and started asking question after question on the Moogle's wares.

"Roxas, a word."

The Nobody looked to see Alucard gesturing his head to the side for the two to speak unheard by their companions.

Glancing at Trevor and Sypha, he saw that they were engrossed in their little shopping spree with Roxas following after Alucard.

Going over to a secluded corner, Roxas looked up at the taller blond who was gazing back at him with an inscrutable face. It was a bit off putting.

"Roxas…" Alucard began in a slow manner. "Who exactly are you?"

Blinking at the question, Roxas wasn't really sure as to what Alucard was asking. Seeing this, the Dhamphir rectified his earlier question.

"I understand that there are certain matters you do not trust us with just yet." Alucard amended. "We have only just gotten to knowing one another in a short amount of time. However," the Hybrids eyes sharpened, "the knowledge you possess, specifically on the Heartless and Nobodies is easy for one to tell of a deeper connection you have to them."

Roxas was unsure of how to respond to such a statement.

"What do you truly know of the Nobodies, Roxas? In all my lifetime, brief as it may be, I have studied countless books within my Father's keep. Not once were Nobodies ever brought up. The ones we faced earlier were unlike any foes I had ever fought. Their existence alone…"

The Greater Nobody couldn't help but squirm at the mention of existence. His alone was one where it was never meant to be.

Releasing a sigh, Roxas ran his gloved hand through his head. "Well since you've told us stuff about yourself, I should probably do the same."

"You don't have to now."

"I know, but I want to earn your trust like you with mine."

Alucard was silent, giving Roxas a hard stare.

"Are you certain of this Roxas?"

"Honestly? No not really. But… I feel like I need to do this if we're going to be fighting someone like your father. Our teamwork on the battlefield improved these past few days, but off of it..." Roxas peered back towards their teammates. "Right now, I want to talk to you about this before possibly telling them."

Alucard nodded as he leaned against a bookcase, ushering his young companion to speak when ready. And soon enough, within the partial darkness, the dhampir son of Dracula learned much… much more than he bargained for.

-End Chapter-

Vampire Killer Keyblade: received from a chest within the Belmont Hold.

The Morning Cross: Keyblade transformation looks like a fusion to the Morningstar Vampire Killer whip from the Netflix series and the Vampire Killer Combat Cross from Lords of Shadow.

Hunter's Fury: Vampire Killer's Shotlock attack which several ethereal crosses seek out any and all locked on opponents. The holy lights can blind and disoriant their target to some degree.

Every other successful strike leads to building up a "gauge" for a devastating attack.

Ifrit Summon Charm: A fire-elemental summon which can create a tornado of Hellfire upon all enemies on the field. Isn't as effective in water environments.

AN:

Boy… things are getting interesting as of late. As usual work has been a pain in our respective asses. And once again, hopefully, various bans will be lifted so we can all… somewhat return to normalcy.

A thing to request for you all… please don't do "guest" reviews. There are some decent bits to read out, but I often ignore them as I don't consider them "official" to read through. Mostly they are flames from some people who just want to shit on good hard work for everyone's entertainment.

FMW: Word of advice comrades… pace yourselves out. Just do it, trust us or me or J or whoever whenever they say that… life will be a lot more fun that way.

Jeb: Now yes I did forget with Castlevania, it was more religious as the political stuff basically is non-existent for show and game events. My bad.

Anyways, be sure to review this story guys! Would like the criticisms. Please and thank you!

R&R