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Alucard wonders if this is how his father felt.
This sucking loneliness that steals every clear thought from his head. Fingers skating desperately for a handhold only to find cruel razors that split his skin.
He’s falling.
Down and down, forever falling into his own mind that has turned darker than the castle around him. Each day is longer than the last, the night his only sanctuary for not feeling the pain of humanity as sharply.
He misses Sypha and Trevor.
So much.
He hears their voices echoing in the high arches of the castle. They call his name like they are back from their journey to collect Alucard. Like they regret leaving him behind.
Every single time he rushes to the entry hall praying –
But Trevor and Sypha are never there. They haven’t come back. They won’t.
Alucard is all alone.
He curls himself in the tattered remains of his father’s observatory, the stone floor cold under his thighs and the bookshelves unforgiving against his back. The scattered pieces of the mirror of fate glint in the moonlight leaking through the shattered windows. Alucard picks up a jagged piece of the mirror, catching the gold coin of his eye in the reflection.
It’s been months now and they haven’t come back. He really thought they would.
“I’m all alone, and I always will be. Won’t I?”
Even among Trevor and Sypha, he was still alone. Wasn’t he? It was clear to him now. He stood apart from them even as they walked side by side with him. A vampire. A monster. A half breed whose mother was dead and father was the worst of monsters. There was no future where Alucard was anything but alone in his cursed existence.
The mirror doesn’t give him and answer and all at once it makes frothing desperate rage spark in his chest. He snarls at the flat of sliver, letting cruel magic spark on his fingertips as if to punish the cursed thing.
“Well?! You of all things should have an answer for me? Shouldn’t you?” his hisses.
Alucard throws the mirror into the center of the room where it’s completed form once stood. Nothing changes and the clatter of silvered glass is his only answer. His fury only rises higher at the silence.
“Answer me! I am the master of this castle and you will obey me!” his voice cracks along with something in his chest. How wretched he is, yelling at a broken mirror to show him a future that is no different than the present.
The castle lurches under him and an avalanche of heavy tombs rain down from the shelves above. Adrian staggers to his feet at the sudden pandemonium around him. Dirt and grit fill the air as the stones overhead shift. In the distance there is the echoing boom of the front gates slamming shut. Ghostly blue light is cast across the room and the hallway beyond as the gas lamps light themselves. Glass shattering and reforming as the mirror of fate shifts and writhes above its pedestal.
The castle has woken up –
Before the shock can give way to fear Adrian is blinded by sunlight pouring into the room.
The mirror shows him a rolling purple sea of heather at the height of spring. Delicate stalks ripple in the wind and a dark figure transvers the plain on a demonic steed. A broad brimmed hat covering ebony locks and a sword secured to a caped back.
Something about the figure makes hope twist in Adrian’s chest. He hadn’t forgotten the question he’d asked the mirror but it has to be a trick. The mirror is just as cursed as the rest of the castle and making a demand of it is a blade with no grip, sure to cut him the moment he uses it.
Adrian doesn’t care.
“Show me.” he demands, drawing himself up like the prince he was meant to be.
The mirror obliges, drawing closer to the rider.
Adrian’s breath catches.
His face is beautiful despite the unnatural gray of his skin. Delicately pointed ears peak from beneath his hat and long fingers end with shark nails where he holds the bridle of his horse. Under the binding light of the sun Adrian can see the blue veins running through his hands.
A dhampir.
Hysterical laughter rips itself out of Adrian’s chest.
No.
The answer to his question was no. Regardless of when the mirror pulled the image, Adrian wasn’t alone. At this very second, a decade, a century, a millennium from now, Adrian wasn’t alone in his half death. There is another dhampir that will exist and it makes the frantic laughter catch in his throat like a fish hook. His next breath is ragged and wet, longing ripping a hole in his already ruined heart.
Adrian wanted to meet the other dhampir. He wanted to know everything about him. Where he comes from, if he took after his dame or sire more, what he thought of the world and their place in it.
But there is no way of knowing when or where the other dhampir is. There is no way for Adrian to reach him. No way to talk to him or hear his voice. No way for him to know Adrian even exists.
The mirror showed him exactly what he’d asked for but Adrian is still just as alone as before.
“All alone, except for you.” he mutters bitterly to himself.
The man’s eyes snaps to meet Adrian’s though the mirror, chips of gold locking with rounds of silver.
“Alucard?” is the quiet question from the other dhampir.
Adrian can’t answer past the shock of being seen. The other man cocks his head to the side, lips twitching up a fraction as he looks at Adrian.
It’s all Adrian can do to stumble back as the other dhampir wheels his horse around to face the mirror. One sharp kick to the best’s sides and Adrian has to throw himself to the side as horse and rider sail through the mirror and land with an earsplitting clatter in the observatory. The mirror shatters apart behind him casting the room back into silver and blue half-light.
Father had never mentioned the mirror could do that.
Alucard can only stare up at the looming dhampir. In the gloom he looks like all the terrifying stories humans told each other in the dark. Silver eyes glint down at him illuminated by otherworldly magic. Fine features settle back into an utterly empty expression as he regards Adrian.
Adrian wonders what he sees and it is enough to make shame flood his cheeks.
He no doubt sees what a complete mess Adrian is. His shirt is moth eaten for the simple fact the little creatures had fluttered down for a taste of the fabric and Adrian had been so lonely he’d let them have their fill just so he could watch them for a while. His hair was equally frightening, tangled and dusty. Dirt smudged his face and hands, turning under his nails black as if he’d just crawled out of his grave.
Beyond the shame is the slowly building wonder at the other dhampir’s presence. More than that, he knows Adrian. Maybe only by his moniker but he’d known Adrian’s voice, recognized him though the fractured distortion of the mirror.
It should be imposable but Adrian doesn’t care in that moment.
Adrian forces himself to his feet, straighten his garments as much as posable. The other dhampir dismounts his monstrous horse. The beast seems to be a strange mixture of organic and mechanical. Either the dhampir is skilled in such magics or it was the future and not the present the mirror pulled him from.
Even standing on level ground Adrian has the strange sensation of being the shorter of the two. The man is a half head taller than him at least. There is that same twitch of the other dhampir’s lips as before, it’s gone in the next second.
“Uh – Welcome. My apologies for your abrupt arrival.” is what Adrian settles on as a greeting for the strange situation. The other dhampir merely tilts his head in acknowledgment. That twitch of his lips doesn’t make an appearance again but Adrian gets the distinct feeling that the man finds this whole predicament amusing.
“You know me?” Adrian prompts and some of the air of amusement falls away from the other man.
It occurs to Adrian right then that recognition does not equal amiability. He’d called Adrian Alucard, hadn’t he? Most he’d consider a friend call him by his given name not his moniker. For all he knows the recognition in the other dhampirs voice was from a past altercation. Bitter hate could be bubbling under the man’s skin and the amusement stemmed only from the enjoyment of Alucard’s ignorance at the situation.
“In a manner. I was hired to deliver something to you.” is the calm reply. His voice is the same glass smooth as Adrian’s if a little deeper in pitch.
Adrian cocks his head in question. Before Adrian can ask the obvious, the other dhampir crosses the distance between them in three quick strides. Adrian readies himself for the blow –
Arms wrap around his shoulders and he finds himself engulfed in the scent of heather and stale blood as the other dhampir pulls him into an embrace.
“Wha – “ Adrian can’t even finish his question as fingers thread through his hair and a sharp cheek settles on the crown of his head.
This must be a dream. He’s gone mad and this is the futile hallucination of his mind as it spirals into insanity. But the heartbeat next to his –
It feels real. It all feels so real, Adrian can’t bear the thought it’s just a dream.
Propriety dissolves in the face of desperation and Adrian can’t help but cling to the other dhampir. One hand hooks into the joints of his armor and the other twists into his cape. Adrian buries his nose into the crook of the other’s throat like the stupid child he is and hates the way his shoulders shake with the pathetic whimper trapped in his chest.
If it’s only a dream, what does it matter if he makes a complete fool of himself? And if it’s real? The humiliation of his own weakness is worth the sheer bliss of having someone hold him just for a moment.
A thumb rubs soothing circles against Adrian’s shoulder. Steady breaths fan the tangled strands of Adrian’s hair in time with the fall of the chest pressed against his own. The man isn’t warm. The other dhampir doesn’t run inhumanly hot like Adrian and the little surprise of it is enough to convince him this can’t be a delusion of his own mind.
The other doesn’t pull away even when Adrian’s breaths turn wet and shuttering. He doesn’t balk at Adrian’s fangs so close to his throat or the way Adrian clings with every ounce of his unnatural strength. Instead, the arms around his shoulders hold him just as tightly. Adrian doesn’t dare speak least it drive the other away.
Yet as the minuets stretch the other dhampir shows no sign of moving like he’s perfectly content to stay there as long as Adrian needs him to. Adrian memorizes the feeling of the heartbeat next to his and the weight of limbs wrapped around him. Slowly, every so slowly, Adrian’s frantic heart slows to something almost clam, a withered plant given a drink of water for the first time in ages.
“Is an embrace what you were meant to deliver?” he finally asks, cowardly enough to continue to hide his face in the other’s throat. The question gets a quiet hum that he can feel more than hear.
“Yes.” is the simple answer. It makes Adrian snort. His unexpected companion isn’t one for many words when one will suffice it seems.
“Then might I have the name of my deliveryman?” Adrian asks, pulling away a fraction so he can see the sharp profile of the other’s face. Adrian doesn’t relinquish his hold any further than that and silver eyes slant down to watch him.
“D.”
It’s a strange name but Adrian folds it into his heart all the same.
“And your employer?”
At Adrian’s question there is that fraction of a smile on D’s face.
“Yourself.”
Adrian blinks in surprise.
“Me?” he asks, incredulity coloring his voice. He takes a step back to look D full in the face, trying to see if the man is joking. D’s arms fall away from his shoulders and Adrian damns himself for the way his heart breaks a little.
“A very long time from now, you contract my services.”
Adrian can’t help but laugh at the strangeness of it all. The sound is fragile even to his own ears. He forces himself a step back, trying to quill the part of him that wants nothing more than to cling to the other dhampir once more.
D takes the chance to turn back to his saddle bag, pulling a bound leather tomb little bigger than a common journal from the depths. Wordlessly he holds it out for Adrian to take.
“This was for yourself as well.” D says in explanation.
The leather of the cover is well cared for yet still shows it’s age. The parchment within in a similar state. The looping cursive covering the pages is familiar.
It’s his own handwriting.
Engineering schematics for the innards of the castle are painstakingly drafted, needle fine print labeling each part and the means to adjust or reconstruct the parts altogether. Instructions on stranger inventions as well, medical and magical twining together in discoveries that would have taken Adrian decades if not centuries to develop on his own.
Perhaps it did take him centuries.
There is no way to know exactly how far in the future D is from.
Adrian looks up at the sound of glass slithering together once again. The mirror of fate shows them the heather purple plain D departed from.
“My time here is at an end it seems.” is the quiet observation from the other dhampir.
Adrian feels the traitorous sting of his eyes.
D turns back to him and that blankness of his marble expression melts into something soft, something kind. A fine boned hand reaches out and settles on Adrian’s cheek, thumb wiping away a stubborn tear determined to fall.
“Be well, Alucard. We will meet again someday.” is the bittersweet promise.
D’s hand falls away and he takes a step back.
Adrian doesn’t want to let him go. The journal goes fluttering to the floor in his rush. He throws himself at the other dhampir and D’s arms wrap around him just as easily as the first time. A bonny chin is propped on his head in something close to admonishment. Despite that, D makes no move to push Adrian away.
“Take this one back to me then. Have him pay you.” Adrian demands, voice muffled by D’s shoulder. It gets a barely there snort out of the other.
“I take payment upfront.” is the gentle rejection. Adrian hums in understanding, hooking his chin over D’s shoulder so his words are clear.
“What is your price then?”
If his future self was kind enough to send D back to Adrian, it’s the least he can do to return the favor. There is enough gold lying around in this damn castle to drown a city. Adrian will give D however much he can carry if it meant he will see the other again.
“Your name.” D says simply.
Adrian takes one last breath full of heather and old blood, then steps back to look at D.
“My name? I didn’t tell you?”
D’s lips quirk again.
“In my experience, you make theatrics out of small secrets. I asked once and you’ve refused to tell me ever since.” is the amused explanation. Adrian can’t help but laugh at his own stubbornness. It sounds like something Mother would do just to be contrary.
Adrian sweeps himself into a proper bow.
“Adrian Fahrenheit Țepeș, at your service.” he introduces with a flourish.
A real smile breaks across D’s face.
“It suites you.” is all D says. Turning, he hoists himself back into the saddle of his mount.
Adrian still doesn’t want him to go but the harsh cut of loneliness is dulled by knowing he will see him again one day. Adrian suspects it’s much father in the future than he initially though, but even still, it’s a future to look forward to.
D nudges his steed around to face the sunlight of the mirror.
“Farewell, D.” he calls, voice only a little strained.
D’s face bleeds back into that same softness.
“Farewell, Adrian Fahrenheit Țepeș. Until we meet again.”
With a sharp snap if his heels D’s mechanical steed lurches forward through the mirror once again. Adrian catches D’s silver eyes looking back at him before the mirror shatters apart once more.
Adrian is left alone in the observatory, nothing but a kind memory and a single journal to prove D was there at all. The solitude is just as painful but – its bearable. It’s not pleasant and Adrian wishes more than anything he wasn’t alone in this damn castle, but it is a burden he will have to bear.
The castle is still shifting about but it’s that quiet grind of gears that was a constant when his father still presided over the structure. Adrian walks over to the fallen journal and flips to the diagram he’d glimpsed before. He recognizes the mechanics ruined by the final fight between Adrian and his father.
With a fortifying breath Adrian snaps the book shut.
No sense in wasting anymore time.
He marches over to the door, taking one last look at the observatory before he leaves to get his affairs in order. Adrian’s eyes fall on a portrait high above where shelves of old memories lay. It’s a portrait of his father in his younger years and Adrian’s breath catches for the second time that night.
It’s the same sharp cheekbones and hawkish features. If not for the eyes it could be a portrait of D hanging there in the dusty shadows. They look like twins, brothers at the very least.
How strange fate is.
Perhaps Adrian will move the portrait closer to eye level. As a reminder of his father at a better time, and as a reminder of D too.
With one more breath Adrian turns and leaves, wooden door to the observatory echoing shut behind him.