eiahmon | AMoS Chapter 5-5 Back In Business!

Title: A Moment of Stupidity Part 5: 1535 - 1568
Rating: R for language, and mentions of RAPE and M/M SLASH. Don't like, then don't read.
Disclaimer: Castlevania and its characters and situations are the sole property of Konami. I am making no money or profit off of this fanfiction and no copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: AU. What if Joachim Armster had lived through his fight with Leon Belmont? What might have been different? Well hang on, because Joachim is going to tell you all about it. From his kidnapping and forced turning to his rescue from the ruins of Walter's castle, and from Trevor's birth and to Richter's death of old age, he tells all - and blames it all on Leon while he's at it.
Section Summary – Part 5 goes from Trevor's funeral to Liron's death.

5.
Past Lives

Hector slept through the night, as well as the following day, and the night after, once he'd been fed and dressed, I did take him downstairs and make him apologize to Ladislas. Ladislas accepted the apology, and then told him that I only wanted what was best for him and to stop giving me trouble. Hector ducked his head and nodded, and we spent the rest of the night having a pleasant visit.

Rachim, we found out, was strong enough to bathe himself, dress himself, and hunt for himself if the weather was warm out. He was also responsible for cleaning up after his bleeding, which he did with very little complaint. He only needed Ladislas' help when the weather was cold, since it had the same debilitating effect on him as it had on Hector. Even then, he would still do as much as he could on his own before asking for help. There seemed to be a line that Ladislas knew to stop at, which he only crossed when Rachim was truly ill, which happened off and on.

"He has little relapses once or twice a year." Ladislas explained. It was nearing dawn, and Rachim was snuggled against him on the couch, looking sleepy. Ladislas looked down at him and smiled as he ran his fingers through the child's hair. "They usually happen during the winter, but they sometimes happen during warmer weather too. They are brought on by him either pushing himself to exhaustion or by allowing himself to get too chilled. Going without a feeding can also cause them, but I never allow that to happen."

"Will I be able to do all that?" Hector asked from where he lay stretched out with his head on my lap. He yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"In time, little one." Ladislas replied "Just be patient and trust your master to take care of you until then."

"In the meantime," I said as I stood up and scooped Hector up. "It's time for you to be in bed, child."

"Indeed." Ladislas added as he also stood up. "T'is the same for this one here." Rachim reached up to him, and Ladislas picked him up and carried him up to bed, while I did the same with Hector.

******

Hector and I returned home a few days later, but before we left, Ladislas warned me to not let Hector overexert himself, as it would cause him to relapse just as readily as it did Rachim. I took the warning seriously, even though I doubted it would be an issue for a while. Hector was simply too weak to do much then.

The trip home went smoothly, and for the next two years things were quiet. As the days and months slipped by, I noticed a slow change in Hector. He still clung to me a night, but he was content to sit up in bed or recline on a couch in the library and read when I wasn't around. I still had to carry him everywhere, and he couldn't bathe himself yet, but he was able to partially dress himself with assistance. He still bled a great deal, and he still needed to be fed roughly every eight hours, but his thirst was not as.. intense, as he put it.

The winter after we visited Ladislas was every bit as hard on him as the previous one had been, and he spent most of it in bed, huddled under every blanket in the house. The only way he would agree to get up is if he was curled up next to me on the couch in front of the library fireplace, wrapped in blankets. Once spring arrived, however, he bounced back easily, and he could often be found after sundown, stretched out on the bench on my porch. He still needed a blanket, but just one was enough to keep his shivers away. He did not require the heavy clothing that Rachim did.

Still, I was surprised when that summer he asked if we could visit the ruins of Dracula's castle.

"Why?" I asked. I just put him to bed for the night, and he had asked as I had gone to leave the room to go hunt. He lowered his eyes and idly picked at a loose thread on the quilt. He mumbled something that I didn't understand. "Hector? Why do you want to go there?"

He didn't say anything for a long moment, and I was about to prompt him again when he finally answered. "Julia and I buried Isaac nearby. I never... never got to really say goodbye to him." He looked up at me, and I saw tears glistening in his eyes. "He was my brother, Joachim. We buried him and tried to forget about him. Julia refused to speak of him at all, and she would change the subject whenever I mentioned him." He began to cry, and I moved up to the bed and scooped him up into my arms, as guilt flooded the bond from his end. "He deserves better than that."

"I'll look into it." I said. "That's all I can promise for now."

Hector nodded miserably, and he hid his face as I sat down in the bedside chair. I let him fall asleep in my arms, and I held him for a bit longer before tucking him back in and going out to hunt.

******

Over the next several days, I pondered Hector's request. I was reluctant to take him, and I gave myself all sorts of excuses as to why we couldn't go: the trip would be too hard on him, the distance was too long, other vampires might have claimed the area as their territory, but the simple truth was was that I was terrified of going anywhere near Dracula's castle. Like Trevor had before them, Liron and Adrian made regular trips to check on the ruins, and every year they reported back that nature was taking over and that everyone was staying far away from them, but I still didn't want to go there. We still did not know how quickly Dracula would resurrect on his own, and I didn't want either Hector or myself to be in the area if he did. Not only would he gain another vampire to draw power from, but I was certain then, and I am certain now that he would have been all too happy to punish his former general before dragging him into the Crimson Stone as well. Hector had defeated Dracula once, there was no chance he would be able to do it again.

I kept my fear hidden from Hector, for reasons that I still can't explain. I suppose on some level I was trying to protect him from my own fear. I didn't want him to suddenly start worrying about Dracula getting his hands on him; he had enough fears to deal with as it was. Maybe I just was reluctant to just tell him no. I could understand his desire all too well, but I wasn't that sure it was safe. I did know that no other vampires had claimed the area as their territory and that we would easily reach it via the neutral paths, but I still wasn't too keen on the idea. Away from my own territory and the markings that warned me of invasions, we would both be vulnerable, and I didn't doubt for a second that Actose would pounce on us in in instant if given the chance.

After days of waffling back and forth on the subject, I finally agreed to take him, but only after Silvanus agreed to watch my territory for me and keep a distant eye on Actose. He would also let me know if he sensed Chaos building up in the area. We traveled the same way we had gone to Ladislas' home, via carriage down the neutral paths, and staying at inns along the way. The trip went smoothly, but the closer we came to the castle ruins, the more nervous I became. I could feel the faint remains of Dracula's power in the area as we crossed over what had been once Mathias' territory border, and Hector, who had spent most of her early life in the man's employ, could feel it even stronger. He curled as close to me as he could, and he didn't relax, even after I pulled him up onto my lap and cradled him. Instead he hid his face in my hair and said nothing.

"We're almost there, Hector." I whispered. "Remember what you came here for." He nodded slightly, and shivered.

The carriage dropped us off by the ruins of Cordova, a small town close to the castle. Most of the inhabitants had been killed by Dracula's minions just before his resurrection, and all of the survivors had fled. All that was left was crumbling buildings and weed choked streets. Hector directed me where to go, so I hoisted him up onto my back and walked through the deserted ruins towards the northwest corner of town. There we found a pathway that led us to a now abandoned aqueduct, and Hector directed me through its maze of corridors to a doorway that led into familiar territory. Straight north of the door was the narrow mountain path where Julia had carved out her home, and where I had found Trevor lying on the edge of death all those years ago. Further north, and on the crest of a rise west of the path, we found Isaac's unmarked grave.

"We didn't want anyone to disturb him." Hector explained as I eased him down of my back. "He'd been through enough, and if the people found out who had been responsible for Dracula's resurrection, we didn't want them to be able to find him."

I couldn't tell anything was there, because it had been so long, and I wondered if Hector had the right spot, but he insisted he did.

"I'll never forget this place." he whispered. He looked up at me then. "Could you.. could you leave me for a few minutes?"

"Are you sure, child?"

He looked back at the grave. "There are things I need to tell him.. alone."

I sighed. "Alright, but I'm not going far. Call me when you're ready."

He nodded, and I sat him down on the moss covered ground. I made sure his blanket was wrapped snugly about his shoulders, and then I quietly walked away, down the hillside, and into the path, where I waited. I turned out the sound of his voice as he began to speak as I went. Instead I kept the bond wide open, to watch him that way, in case I was needed. Hector's end narrowed down quite a bit, but I could still sense him easily, and if needed, I could force it open.

I felt a bevy of emotions from him as I stood on the path, starting with grief and cycling through anger, remorse, sadness, hope, and then strangely excitement and anticipation. Not long after, he called for me, so I went back up the hill to get him. His face was pale and blotchy from crying, but he reached up to me without hesitation, so I picked him up and carried him back down to the path. The sun was rising, so I thought it best to return to Julia's place to wait out the day. I did not ask Hector about his graveside visit; that was between him and Isaac.

I felt him tense when I walked up to Julia's cave, but since the rising sun was driving his senses wild, he didn't protest much as I carried him inside. The front door had long ago fallen from its hinges, so the front area would not offer enough protection from the sun, so I hopped over the counter and carried him into the back. A wave of my hand cleared a heavy layer of dust and cobwebs from the floor, but I was reluctant to lay Hector down there. He needed something more than a floor in his condition, so I went to check what had been the bedroom at one point to see if there was anything to make him more comfortable.

Hector let out a strangled cry as we stepped through the door, and I instantly regretted not leaving him in the other room. On the rotted remains of the room's bed, covered in scraps of clothing and a few pieces of jewelry, was a human skeleton, and I knew right away that it had to be Julia herself.

Hector had come to the same conclusion. "It's Julia." he said with a sob. "That's her jewelry and clothing."

I ducked out of the bedroom and sat down on the patch of floor that I had cleared earlier with Hector on my lap. He laid his head against my shoulder and cried.

"She stayed here alone." he sobbed "Why? Why didn't she move on? Was she waiting for me to come back? Did she not want to leave?"

"Maybe she just didn't want to leave her home." I said softly.

"It's not fair. I never wanted..."

"Shhhh, We'll bury her tonight, once it's dark enough for you to go out."

"Can you do it now?"

"Now? You can't go out in the day yet, Hector."

"I know, I know. I just.. don't think I could sleep knowing that she's lying in there like that."

Well, he had a point. It was a little disconcerting knowing that there was a decomposed corpse in the other room. "All right. I'll get her taken care of while you sleep."

He looked down and nodded. "Could you... put me to sleep? I don't think I'll be able to fall asleep otherwise."

"Of course, child."

I didn't like it. I didn't like leaving him alone outside the protective borders of my territory at all, even if I wasn't going that far, but at that point, I couldn't have told him no for anything. He'd been through so much that I didn't want to upset him any further. I willed him to sleep in my arms, and then I carefully laid him down on the floor against the wall. I tucked his blanket around him, and then I stood up and went back into the bedroom.

I sighed when I looked upon Julia's remains again and hoped that she had died an easy death in her sleep instead of a slow one from illness or injury with no one there to take care of her. She had saved Trevor's life, so the least I could do was give her a decent burial. There would be no service and no marker, but it was better than lying forgotten in a rotting bed. I tried to be careful when gathering up the bones, but with any connecting tissue long gone, I ended up having to pile them up in the center of the feather mattress, and then bundle them up, mattress and all, in a blanket that I found lying nearby. I checked the bond to see that Hector was still sleeping soundly, and then I carried Julia's remains out of the house and down the path.

It was easy to dig a hole by Isaac's grave, even without any tools, since a vampire's claws can dig through just about anything. Once I was sure the hole was deep enough that roving animals digging her up wouldn't be a problem, I laid what was left of Julia next to her brother and covered her up. I tried to arrange the bones in a normal position, but with so many small bones, it was impossible to get them all, but I did get most of them.

Once that was done, and the dirt and rocks were arranged in such a way to make it difficult to tell that the dirt had been disturbed, I dusted my hands off and looked up at the sky. The rising sun streaked the dark blue with pinks and reds, and all signs pointed to it being a beautiful day, but I didn't think about that. It had been hundreds of years since I had been stolen from my bed and turned against my will, since I had last raised my hands to God, but I found myself whispering a quick prayer for Julia's soul, like I would have all those centuries ago, and hoped that she had found peace on the other side. I then walked down the hillside, washed my hands in a small stream that I found, and returned to Hector.

He was still sleeping, and I spent a moment looking through the house for anything to make the floor more comfortable, but I was only able to find moth and mouse eaten blankets. Giving it up, I returned to the main room, scooped Hector up into my arms, and settled down into a chair in the corner. The chair had bent pieces of wood attached to the legs, which allowed it to rock gently back and forth. I vaguely remembered seeing it before, and I was surprised that it was still intact, but I supposed the dry air of the mountains prevented the wood from rotting. It creaked quietly as it moved, and I found the sound oddly soothing. If Hector didn't mind, I would have to find a way to take the chair home with us.

I watched the passing day through a gap around the door between the main room and the shop room out front, and as the light was turning from a bright yellow to orange, and then red, Hector stirred, and feelings of horror and grief flooded the bond from his end. He cried out in his sleep, and I opened the bond wide and sent a jolt down it, waking him quickly.

"Rosaly!" he wailed as his eyes flew open, and he sat up on my lap and looked around wildly for a moment, before he looked at me. He didn't say anything, instead he only began to cry quietly as he laid his head down. I didn't have to ask because it was obvious that he had dreamed about the death of his wife. I tightened my arms around him and rocked him as he cried and remembered that he had been wearing a wedding band when I had met him all those years ago. Either he had stopped wearing it after that, or Actose had taken it from him.

"One of Actose's children took it from me." Hector whimpered. I hadn't meant for him to pick up on my thoughts, but it was too late to worry about that.

"They threw her over the fence to rot." he said through his tears. "A witch doesn't deserve a good burial, they said. I had to wait until after dark to take care of her, and by then the dogs had already gotten to her. I buried her in a corner of the churchyard, and then I went home, grabbed my sword and breast plate, and went chasing after Isaac. I haven't been back there since."

"Would you like to go back?"

Hector went still for a moment, and then he nodded. "I would if, if you don't mind?"

"We can stop by on the way home." I kissed him on the top of his head, which prompted a watery smile. "Are you thirsty?"

He nodded again, and I raised him up so he could drink from my neck. He laid his head down on my shoulder once he was done feeding, and I rocked him for a bit longer.

"Are you ready to go?" I asked quietly after a few minutes, and he nodded a third time, so I stood up from the chair.

"I forgot about that chair." he said as I walked towards the door, and I paused.

"Oh? I've never seen anything like it before. Where did Julia come by it?"

"She said her father made it for her. It was the only thing from her family that she kept when she left."

"It was a pretty comfortable chair. Maybe in the future I'll come back for it."

Hector gave me a tired smile. "I'd like that."

"Ready to go?"

"Mmhmm."

"Let's get moving then."

I carried him out of the house, and I heard him sigh heavily as I willed myself up into the air. I flew us back towards Cordova to meet the carriage to take us back home.

******

As promised, we did stop at the small village that Hector had lived in after he had fled Dracula's service. It had grown a little during the passing years, but Hector said nothing much had changed since he had left. He was able to find Rosaly's final resting place easily, and to his surprise, the grave had a marker, and the churchyard had been extended to surround it. We asked around town and learned that it had been done years ago on the orders of Lord Belmont. He'd also ordered any charges of witchcraft against her to be stricken from the record and had the cause of death listed as murder.

I smiled at the news; Trevor had never said anything about it, but it didn't surprise me out of him.

"I wish I could thank him." Hector whispered as he lightly ran his fingers down the white stone of the marker. I knelt down beside him and put my arm around his shoulders.

"I'm sure he knows." I said gently.

Hector leaned down, with some assistance from me, and kissed the stone. I heard him whisper "I love you." and then he turned to me. "I want to go home." I stood up, and he reached up to me as I reached down to pick him up.

"Are you sure that you're ready?"

He nodded, closed his eyes, and laid his head down on my shoulder. I smiled faintly as I carried him through town towards the waiting carriage.

We returned home, and for the next year, things were quiet, aside from an occasional nightmare on Hector's part about Rosaly, Julia, and Isaac. Off and on though, through the bond I picked up the sense that Hector was hiding something from me. It was never very strong, and it only lasted for seconds at most, but it happened often enough that I definitely took notice. I asked him if there was anything he needed to tell me, which he denied, and I opted not to push him on it.

******

Instead I focused on his growing strength. In the summer of 1543, two and a half years after I rescued him from Actose, he sat up without assistance for the first time. He'd been able to hold himself upright without any help for nearly a year at that point, but he'd still needed an arm to help him sit, and that small step was a cause for celebration. Or it would have been, if he hadn't been so tired afterward that he fell asleep in my arms. He napped for a little while, but once he was awake again, he was so elated that he sat up and laid down multiple times in a row, grinning the entire time.

"Does this mean that I'm getting better?" he asked after I had fed him his supper.

I smiled at him as I held him close to me and ran my fingers through his soft hair, which was now just past his shoulders. "Indeed it does, little one."

Hector smiled tiredly at me and snuggled down into my arms, and I stood up from the bed and moved over to the rocking chair that I had sent someone to retrieve for me. A carpenter had had to do some minor repair work to it, but it now occupied the space next to the bed for those nights Hector needed a little encouragement to fall asleep. I was also thinking about having a second chair made for the porch.

Hector fell asleep quickly, so I tucked him into bed, and then went to go hunt.

******

As the summer passed, I noticed that when I wasn't home, I would see children coming and going from my house a great deal. They still adored Hector, so I ignored it at first, but sometimes I would see that they were holding something in their hands when they went into the house, and that their hands would be empty when they left a few minutes later. Questions to the children resulted in refusals to answer, and questions to Hector resulted in the same. I could have pushed Hector for answers, or used the bond to force him to tell me what he was planning, but I did not want to do that. Actose had abused the bond between them in such a way, and there was no way in hell that I was going to do the same.

Finally I asked him: "Is whatever you're scheming dangerous?" to which he shook his head. I had to let it go then; I wasn't going to get any more information out of him or the children.

A few months later, in the early fall, I put Hector to bed for the night, and then went to go hunt. While I was out, I sensed him waking up through the bond, and again came the feeling that he was hiding something from me. A second later, I felt his end of the bond abruptly close. Alarmed now, and fearing what he was hiding, I abandoned my hunt and ran home.

As soon as I crossed the ward line, I felt the wards crackling with agitation, and it was easy to tell why. Power of a dark nature was flowing from my house, which pointed to the Devil Forgemaster that lived under my roof as the only possible source. I realized then, what Hector had been hiding from me, and I ran towards my house hoping to stop him before the wards lashed out at him. I didn't think he would survive if they attacked him, and even if he did, it would undo his recovery in an instant. I forced the bond open and ordered him to stop, but he ignored me, and the hair on my arms stood up as the wards gathered themselves to destroy what they perceived as a threat to the Belmonts. It felt as though we were standing in the middle of a thundercloud, and I shouted for Liron to shut them down as he ran towards me. He bolted back to his house where the ward stone was located, and I heard Adrian ordering everyone into their homes, now!

Lightning crackled through the air over my head, and I could hear Hector chanting as I ran up the steps to my front door and wrenched it open.

"... let me infuse him with my life force..."

Oh God, he was creating an innocent devil. No wonder the wards were so angry.

"Immaculate being, appear before me now!" I yanked the bedroom door open, and I got a quick glimpse of Hector sitting up in bed, hands glowing with power, staring at a carving of a dog sized dragon that was sitting on his lap, before everything when still. It was as though time had stopped, and there was no movement or sound. It seemed as though the air had been sucked out of the house. After a second that seemed like an eternity, Hector moved, and he thrust his hands forwards towards the carving. Power rushed from him to the carving, and then it seemed as though an explosion went off in the room. I heard the boom! and felt myself being flung backwards through the door as I heard the windows blow out. I slammed into the wall opposite the bedroom door as bright light filled my vision. I felt myself slump to the floor, and I was aware of the bond between Hector and I going silent as I passed out cold.

******

It was power, Kerwin's power, jolting down the bond between us that woke me. I groaned and sat up, and realized that the house was full of people. Why were there so many people in my house? And why was it raining on my head? I rubbed my eyes, and felt debris falling out of my hair as I moved. What the hell...? I opened my eyes and looked up at the sky.

Sky?

Where was my roof? What the hell had happened? Where was Hector?

I checked the bond and got only silence. I could sense him nearby, and the bond was still intact, which meant he was alive, but why couldn't I sense anything from him?

Hands came down onto my shoulders and shook me. "Joachim?" came an urgent voice, and I looked up at Kerwin's worried face.

"Kerwin? What are you doing here? What happened?"

He yanked me to my feet, which made my head spin. "That's not important. Joachim, Hector is hurt, seriously hurt, and he needs you right now."

"What? How? What happened to him? Where is he?"

"The Belmont wards attacked him." came Silvanus' voice from nearby. "And he's injured, and he needs you now. He's in the bedroom, but no one can reach him."

I shook my head to try and clear the cobwebs. Wards? Why would the wards attack Hector...?

Oh...

"That idiot child created an Innocent Devil." I hissed as I stepped away from Kerwin. "Within the Belmont wards, without asking me! Just wait until I get my hands on... !" I turned to face the bedroom door...

… and stopped.

The bedroom had been nearly obliterated. The door, door frame, and part of the wall around it was gone. The roof was gone as well, over the bedroom, the living room, and part of the library, and rain was pouring in. The two exterior walls were also gone, as was the fireplace. The bed was still there, but it appeared to have collapsed to the floor, and lying on the bed was Hector.

He was still, not moving at all, sprawled out on his back, with his head turned towards where the door used to be. The blankets, his nightshirt, and the ever present pad buttoned around his waist were gone, burned away by the wards when they attacked him, and his hair was in a similar state. He was seriously burned himself over his front side, his arms and legs were bent at weird angles, showing that they were broken, and his chest was caved in, like someone had stomped on it with all of their weight. Blood was pouring from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and the bond between us was completely still and silent.

"Hector!" I shrieked in horror, my anger forgotten as I ran forward to reach my child, but I was stopped by an angry growl and a burst of flame right in front of me. Standing at the foot of the ruined bed was a red dragon, the exact size and shape of the carving that I had seen before the explosion, and I was amazed that it had survived before a more serious problem prevented itself. I tried to reach forward for Hector again, but the dragon moved to stand right between me and Hector, and it shot another gout of fire at me, which forced me to back away.

"And that's why none of us can get to him." Kerwin said from behind me.

"Only Hector can call it off." Silvanus explained. "And he's in no shape to do so, obviously. Killing it unfortunately, would only hurt Hector further at this point. See if you can wake Hector up, Joachim. Innocent Devils are resistant to all magic other than their master's, so I can't put it to sleep or anything. You have to wake Hector."

I looked at the dragon, and then at Hector, lying so still that if it wasn't for the bond, one would think he was dead.

"Hector," I whispered as my heart broke at the sight of him just lying there, hurt, so close, yet out of my reach. Behind me I heard Liron ordering everyone out of the house, citing that it was damaged and no longer structurally sound, but I ignored that. I had to reach Hector somehow. I opened the bond wide, while keeping a close eye on the dragon, and I sent a burst of power down the bond to Hector while calling his name. There was no response, so I tried again, and again, I felt nothing from him. I felt tears scalding my eyes, and I sent an even larger burst of power down to him.

Hector, please wake up!

No response.

I tried a fourth time, and I shouted his name down the bond, finally, this time, I felt a response. He didn't move or make a sound, but there was a flicker of consciousness from his end, followed by confusion and pain.

...hurts...

Call off the Devil, Hector. He won't let me near you.

… it... hurts...

"I know it hurts, little one, and I promise that I'll make it better, but you have to call off the Devil." I said, mentally as well as out loud, and a second later, the Innocent Devil retreated. It moved to stand at the foot of the mattress again, so I cautiously edged forward, while keeping a close eye on it. It made no move to attack, so I darted forward and scooped Hector into my arms. He groaned quietly, and I heard a growl from the Innocent Devil, but it didn't move from its position. I heard Silvanus and Kerwin let out a two part sigh of relief, and I carried Hector out of the ruins of the bedroom and into the kitchen, which was still sheltered from the cold rain by the remains of the roof. I bit hard into my tongue, forced my mouth against his, and started pushing blood down his throat. He did not make any attempt to swallow, and the quietness of the bond told me that he was deeply unconscious again, but after a minute, I heard a quiet pop! as the broken bones in his right arm snapped back into position and mended. A second later, his other arm did the same, and I felt the skin on his face regenerating. I ran out of blood then, but Kerwin was there, and he let me drink from him before I forced the blood I had just been given down Hector's throat. I felt his rib cage putting itself back together, but to my dismay, I could feel blood running down my hands as I held him, which meant he was bleeding most of it right back out.

I fed from Silvanus then, and with a loud pop! Hector's last broken bone, in his leg, mended itself. His skin finished healing, and he began to stir in my arms. He began to swallow the blood I was giving him, and when I took my mouth away from his, his eyes flickered open and looked at me for a brief moment. They then sank shut again, and he shivered from sudden chills as he slipped back into unconsciousness. Kerwin handed me a blanket, the one I kept on the back of my favorite chair in the living room, and I wrapped Hector in it.

"Take him to my house, Joachim." Kerwin said. "Your house is beyond saving, and Silvanus needs to get the wards settled down without Hector's presence to agitate them. I'll salvage what I can for you." I nodded in thanks, settled Hector securely in my arms, and walked out of the ruins of the house that Trevor had built for me. The Innocent Devil followed me.

******

Hours later, I was seated in the guest bedroom at Kerwin's house that I used whenever I stayed over, watching Hector sleep. He was pale, still, and he looked so small lying in the massive bed, covered by the heavy fur blankets. I had cut off the burnt remnants of his hair, bathed him, and dressed him for bed. At some point during the bath, his unconsciousness had turned into sleep, and I had left him long enough to hunt for myself. I had then settled into the bedside chair and hadn't move since. The Innocent Devil was curled up at Hector's feet, also asleep. The cooks hadn't batted an eye when I asked them for a steak, and the dragon had devoured it hungrily without leaving so much as a single drop of meat juice behind.

I wasn't sure on how to feel. Hector was alive, but it was clear that the ward's attack had undone much of the healing he'd managed to do over the previous two and a half years. I was relieved to hear the quiet hum from the bond, but at the same time, I was furious at him. What he had done.. it could have ended very differently. He could have died. I could have died, all because he had tried to create an Innocent Devil without telling me. I sighed. Now the house that Trevor had built for me was ruined, and that hurt more than I can say. It had been a gift from my godson, and now it would have to be torn down. I didn't know the state of the objects inside the house, and I hoped that at least Trevor's portrait hanging in the library had survived. I had another home to go to, since I still maintained the small house that Kerwin had built for me all those years ago, but...

I sighed as I sensed Kerwin approaching the room, and there was a soft knock at the door. I bade him to enter, and he walked in and quietly shut the door behind him. He then pulled up a chair beside me.

"Has he come around yet?" he asked quietly as he looked at Hector.

I shook my head slightly. "No, not yet. So what's the tally?" I asked without taking my eyes off of my sleeping child.

Now it was Kerwin's turn to sigh. "Your house is done for. The wards knocked it off its foundation when they attacked it. You saw most of the damage yourself."

"Trevor built that house for me, Kerwin."

"I know." he said gently. "But I'm sure he'd be relieved that you're all right. The only reason you and Hector are still here is because Liron was able to power down the wards just in time. He wasn't able to stop them completely, but he was able to prevent them from using their full power. They targeted Hector, and you were caught in the backlash."

I nodded faintly. "What about everything in the house?"

"Everything in the bedroom was ruined by the heat of the explosion. I'm surprised that Hector didn't burst into flame, to be honest. Some of the living room furniture survived, as did your swords."

"I'm willing to be that those swords would survive the Apocalypse."

Kerwin chuckled, but there was no humor in it. "The kitchen and bathroom survived relatively unscathed, but the library... " He sighed. "The library took a direct hit."

"How bad?"

"About half of the books were either destroyed by the explosion or wrecked by the rain. Silvanus is trying to do what he can for those. The portrait of Trevor, you'll be happy to learn, survived without a scratch. The furniture in the library though is ruined."

I felt just a little of the tension leave my body when I heard that the portrait was undamaged. I don't know what I would have done if I had lost it.

"Strangely enough, the rocking chair survived somehow. We found it lying over by Liron's house, damaged, but fixable." Kerwin went silent for a moment. "We haven't found any sign of your maid though. Didn't she have a room in the attic?"

"She does, but I gave her the week off. Her sister had a baby, so she's at her sister's."

Kerwin sighed again, this time in relief. "Good, but her room is gone; there's nothing left of it."

"I'll help her replace her things when she gets back. I have other things to worry about now."

"You and Hector are alive, Joachim. That's the important thing now."

"The idiot child should have told me that he wanted to create an Innocent Devil. I would have taken him someplace away from the wards."

"Would you really have done so?"

I gave Kerwin a sharp look. "What does that mean?"

He gave me a level gaze in return. "If Hector had asked you, would you have let him, knowing the state he was in? It takes a great deal of power to create an Innocent Devil, or so Silvanus told me. And think of it this way, what would Actose have done?"

"I'm not Actose, Kerwin." I snarled. "And Hector needs to get that through his head."

"And I am not Walter, yet you expected me to react the same way as him for a number of years." Kerwin stood up and gently squeezed my shoulder as I looked back at Hector. "I agree that he deserves to be punished for what he did, Joachim, but don't discipline him in anger. Don't do to him what Walter did to you so many times." I went to snap at him that I would never do that, but he was already walking out of the room. The door shut quietly behind him, and I sighed and leaned forward to rest my arms on the bed. I then laid my head down on my arms and allowed myself to doze off.

Chapter 5-4 – Chapter 5-6
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