AMoS Chapter 6-4

[eiahmon]

Title: A Moment of Stupidity Part 6: 1568 - 1619
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 6 covers from Liron's funeral to just after Belmont's Revenge.
A/N: Yes, I know his name is actually supposed to be Soleiyu, but I chose to ignore it for two reasons. One, it's a mistransliteration of the Japanese way of writing Soleil (French "Soleil" = Japanese "Soreiru" = English "Soleiyu"). Two, because the likelihood of a European nobleman in those days being unfamiliar with French enough to mangle a French word is pretty low.

4.
Joy and Sorrow

The celebrations lasted for nearly a week before they died down. Of course, once the rest of the clan found out that Simona was expecting, they started right back up again. Elena kept trying to convince her to take it easy, but with Christopher's support, she continued on with her duties as lady of the manor, though he manged to convince her to slow down a little. With their difficulties in conceiving, many worried that she wouldn't be able to carry.

The worry was all for nothing, because in the late fall of 1477, Simona delivered a healthy baby boy. The clan celebrated the birth of the next heir presumptive (since the whip could go to someone else), and everyone hid a smile behind their hands at Christopher's choice of name.

"Soleil?" I said with a small smile as I held the new arrival. I looked up at Christopher. "Why did you chose that?"

Christopher smiled wistfully. "No particular reason. We just liked the sound of it."

Soleil had his father's curly blond hair and blue eyes, but his features were softened by the lines of his mother's face. He was a happy baby, and as he grew, he often waved, gurgled, and smiled at everyone that came close to him. By the age of two, Bridget was able to tell his ecstatic parents that yes, Soleil was magical, though she wouldn't be able to tell how powerful he was until he was older.

At least, I told myself with an amused smile at Christopher and Simona's excitement, Soleil wasn't like Bridget, starting fires and blowing out windows when she cried.

Speaking of Bridget, she had reached an astonishing 97 years of age then, something she attributed to her magic levels. If it hadn't been for the strain of the marriage bond caused by her father's death, she explained, then her mother would have done the same. Thanks to her magic and their bond, Edwin had reached the incredible age of 103, but he had paid for the extra time. He could barely move, and he and Bridget's oldest daughter, Helen, lived with them to look after them. Her brother Jonas was also a frequent visitor to his parents' house. With their children, grandchildren, and even their great-grandchildren keeping an eye on them, I did not spent too much time with them, but I still made a point to pop in at least once a day to see how things were. I knew that their time was rapidly approaching, but I refused to think of it; it was too painful.

******

Sadly though, I couldn't ignore it forever. The following year, 1580, Hector and I were the only ones awake on the Belmont lands late one fall night. He was in the library as usual, and I was lounging in the living room, listening to the heartbeats around us. Isaac was lying at my feet, and August was in his stall in the back of the house, asleep.

As was habit for me, I listened for Bridget's heartbeat, and I quickly picked it out from the others, followed a split second later by Edwin's. The two of them were beating in perfect time with each other, and I smiled faintly at the sound. I felt a disturbance from Hector then, but he was fine when I reached through the bond to check on him, so I returned my attention to Bridget and Edwin's heartbeats.

But they weren't there.

I felt my own heart stop, and I strained my ears and listened, but I could not detect them anywhere on the Belmont lands. I sat up as Hector padded into the room on stockinged feet.

"They just passed, Joachim." he whispered. "Both of them."

I looked at him for a moment, unable to say anything, and then my face crumpled as that all too familiar pain wound itself around my heart. I heard Hector pad over and felt him sit down beside me as I hid my face in my hands and began to cry.

******

Helen, Jonas, and I kept vigil the following night, but unlike the watches over Jacob and Isaiah, there was no laughter, no stories, only silence and tears. We all had been expecting then to go, but expecting it and being ready for it are two different things.

The funeral was in the morning, and since they had not faced Dracula, they were laid to rest alongside Jacob, Claudia, Isaiah, and Heather in the main cemetery on the east side of the property. As was custom, there was a funeral feast in the hall afterwards, and I sat quietly and listened as those around me began to talk about Bridget and Edwin and share stories of them. I did not join in; I merely sat and listened. The last of my grandchildren was gone, and I was in no mood to join in on the reminiscing.

I returned home as quickly as manners would allow to find Hector awake instead of in bed asleep as he should have been. I found him in August's stall, still dressed for bed, reading to him while the Innocent Devil listened intently. He sensed my presence, looked over his shoulder, and then he stood up and closed the book. August made a disappointed sound, and Hector gently scratched him around his ear and whispered that they would finish the story later on. August nodded enthusiastically, and Hector smiled at him and turned to me.

"Why aren't you asleep, child?" I murmured as he walked into my embrace and laid his head down on my shoulder.

"I could feel you through the bond." he mumbled, followed by a yawn. "It made it hard to sleep."

"I'm sorry, little one. I hadn't meant to wake you." I began to walk him out of the room. "Let's get you back to bed."

I walked him back into the bedroom, brushed some straw off of his nightshirt, and tucked him in. He reached out to me, so I kicked my boots off, pulled my jacket off and tossed it over the back of the rocker, and laid down beside him. Sleep sounded like the perfect thing.

******

I must admit that after Bridget's death, the urge to leave the Belmont lands and never return was very hard to resist. With my godson and grandchildren gone, I felt as though I had no reason to stay, despite my relations with the rest of the family, especially Christopher and Adrian. Trevor was gone, and my three closest connections to him were also gone. Only that twenty-one year old (Had it really been that long already? I wondered.) promise to Jacob to not leave again prevented me from doing so.

Of course, there was a connection with Trevor, three of them actually, in the forms of Adrian, Christopher, and little Soleil, his great-grandson, great-great-grandson, and great-great-great-grandson respectively. I saw them on a regular basis, as I did Lucas, Adrian's brother, as well as Helen and Jonas. But...

When I looked at them, I didn't see Trevor. Oh there was a faint family resemblance to him, especially in Helen and Lucas, but none of them really looked like him, nor did any of them share much in the way of personality with him. Of course, there was the duty and honor bound to do what's right attitude, but that trait hadn't come from Trevor alone. That was something that could be traced all the way back to Leon. I told myself that I should be happy that none of them shared Trevor's personality, because that meant that none of them had suffered the hatred and abuse that he had as a small boy, but it still pained to look around the land where he had once lived and see no sign of him. Only two portraits, one in my home, one the Lord's house, a name on the family tree, and a grave marked his existence.

Hector, born the same year as Trevor, was 130 years old, and sometimes when I looked at him, I wondered what would have happened had Trevor accepted my offer, especially once his birthday arrived during the summer. I could picture him wandering through the house, reading in the library, napping on the couch. He and Hector would no doubt had formed a strong friendship, if not actually a brotherhood, and Trevor would likely fuss over him as much as I did. I thought of this so strongly that I one point I actually projected an illusion of him into the room for a second. Hector saw it too, and as I tried to convince myself that Trevor had really been there, it was he that brought me down to earth.

"It was just an illusion, Joachim." he said with a shake of his head. "There are no souls here but yours mine, Isaac's, and August's."

You have no idea how much I hated Hector's ability to see and detect souls then.

I sighed and flopped down on the library couch, and Hector set his book aside and climbed up into my lap. His arms wound around my middle, and I smiled faintly and held him.

"I like it here." he whispered. "I feel safe here. I don't want to leave."

I sighed as I rocked him a little. "We're not going anywhere, little one. We're going to stay right here."

Hector snuggled in for a moment, but I felt his thirst stirring from the bond, and I made a decision. "Go get dressed, Hector." I told him as I eased him off of my lap and stood up. "I'm taking you hunting."

He looked at me in mute surprise for a second, and I raised an eyebrow and nudged him. "Go on; go get dressed."

He scurried out of the room then, and I smiled faintly as I stretched. It had been 40 years since I had claimed him from Actose, and I really hadn't educated him on anything. Why bother, since he would never be able to live without me anyway? Still being able to hunt for himself was a good skill to have, because one never knew. If something were to happen to me, I'm sure that either Kerwin or Silvanus would take him in, but it never hurt to be prepared.

Hector was equal parts excitement and nervousness as we approached my preferred hunting grounds a few minutes later, and though I was a little worried about him worrying himself into exhaustion, I pushed it aside in favor of teaching him what he needed to know. The village was asleep for the night, so I quickly picked out a house on the fringes and started to instruct him.

Since he had been using magic most of his life, he quickly picked up on using a mental lure to cause his chosen target to sleepwalk out of the house and right to him. I warned him about drinking too much, since the point was to send the victim back to bed after a quick drink, so they would wake up in the morning a little tired, but none the wiser about being fed upon. I also cautioned him about feeding from the very old, as it could cause enough of a strain on the heart to cause death, and on the very young, as they did not have much blood to lose.

He had a quick drink, wiped the memory of the feeding, healed the bite wounds, and sent the man back to bed. We then moved onto the next house. Once both of us were finished, Hector was tired, but happy and sated, and I carried him home while he dozed in my arms with a faint smile. He took his normal nap once we were home, and I sat beside him and hummed a lullaby that I couldn't remember the origins of as I ran my fingers through his hair. I then wandered into the library and moved to stand in front of the cold fireplace. I looked up at Trevor's portrait, which thanks to Silvanus' magic, was showing no signs of wear and tear after 45 years. I reached out and gently touched his painted face.

"Come back to me, Trevor." I whispered, and then I turned my attention to making sure the library was ready.

******

Time slowly slipped past as Bridget's presence faded from the Belmont lands. Soleil grew up into a bundle of mischief that was forever getting into trouble of some kind. He seemed to believe that rules were meant to be broken, and his mother despaired that he would ever learn to behave. Once he was old enough to start hunter's training, he constantly defied his father's rules, ran off heedless into danger, ignored advice, and pulled pranks on his cousins. It became clear that he had almost no chance of being the heir if he didn't start doing as he was told, yet even the threat of being passed up couldn't make him settle down.

So of course, the whip just HAD to choose him as the next head of the family.

Soleil was ten then, and when the whip responded to him as it did Christopher, he proceeded to cheer and do cartwheels across the training grounds, while his cousins looked on and groaned.

"I keep telling myself that since Sara chose him, then there has to be a responsible young man buried in there somewhere." Christopher told me one afternoon. "I just don't know where to start looking for it."

I didn't know where to start either, nor did anyone else. Our only hope was that Soleil would mature as he grew up from a boy to a man. There seemed to be little chance of that though, as he used his new position as heir to lord it over his cousins and strut around the Belmont lands like his owned it.

"You're not Lord Belmont yet, young man." Christopher warned him sternly. "So curb the attitude."

Of course, Soleil didn't listen, and for the next four years, the child became unbearable to be around.

"I can do whatever I want." seemed to be his mantra, and nothing his parents did seemed to rein him in. His pranks continued, and some of them were downright malicious, including one that resulted in an injury to one of his cousins. Christopher blistered Soleil's backside for it, but Soliel only insisted that "The little rat deserved it.".

"It it too much to hope that the whip will abandon him and choose someone else?" Christopher asked me late one summer night. It was gorgeous out, and many of us were out sitting around a bonfire in the green. Some of the children had toasting forks out and were cooking whatever they could spear. Hector was sitting next to me, leaning against my shoulder, and I slipped my arm around his shoulders, which prompted him to snuggle in. He gave me a contented smile, and I kissed him on the forehead before I turned back to Christopher.

"Why couldn't he be more like Hector?" Christopher grumbled as he pushed his long, graying hair out of his face.

"A Devil Forgemaster?" I replied, and Christopher nearly choked on his drink.

"No," he said once he had his breath back, "I meant quiet and well behaved."

"If you knew what it took for Hector to get this way, then you wouldn't say that." It was known of course that I was not Hector's first master and that that other vampire had not been kind to him, but none of the Belmonts knew just how cruel Actose had been. I heard Soleil and a few of his cousins whispering nearby then, and I kept one ear on them as Christopher spoke again.

"Well no, I wouldn't want anything to happen to my son, but I really wish he would learn to behave. If Sara abandoning him for another is what it takes, then so be it. At the rate he's going, he's only going to get himself killed out in the field. I dread actually taking him hunting once he's old enough. The thought of him being Lord Belmont makes me relieved that I won't be here to see it."

I heard childish giggles from the direction of Soleil and his cousins, and one of the other children said: "C'mon Soleil, your father is the best vampire hunter. There's no way it can be you."

"It is too me!" Soleil hissed. "Want me to prove it?"

"Oh, what are you going to do? Cousin Christopher will skin you alive if you leave the lands without him."

"You've forgotten that there's two vampires right next door to me!" I turned my head then to look at the children, and Soleil's two cousins saw me looking and went quiet. Soleil, with his back to me, kept right on going. "I'll just sneak in when Hector's asleep and-"

"You leave Hector alone, Soleil Belmont." I warned, and Soleil whipped around to stare at me with wide eyes. "If you bother him, it won't be your father you'll have to worry about, and believe me, you won't like what I will do if you upset my child."

"You are to stay out of Uncle Joachim's house, young man." Christopher added. "Unless he invites you in, I don't want to see you near it."

Soleil sneered at me and turned away, but I bored a hole into the back of his head for a minute, until he got up and stormed off.

In the morning, once Hector had been fed, I bathed him, dressed him for bed, and tucked him in. I then laid down beside him to catch a few hours before joining Adrian, Elena, Lucas, Lucas' wife Bethany, Christopher, and Simona in the Lord's house for lunch. Soleil wolfed down his meal like he was starving, and then he was out the door before his mother had a chance to say anything to him. The rest of us took our time, and we were having a glass of chilled mead afterwards when I was stopped cold by a sense of unease that turned into pure terror from Hector. A second later, I heard him scream, and I bolted up out of my chair just as a second scream, in Soleil's voice, fell on my ears. I ran for home, with Christopher right behind me, and I could smell burnt flesh and hair as soon as I reached my porch. I paused for a second as I flashbacked to Liron's death before Hector's tear filled voice fell on my ears and snapped me out of it.

"Isaac, no!"

I ran through the front door and through the living room into the bedroom, whereupon the smell of burnt skin and hair became very strong. The first thing I noticed was Hector, sitting up in bed, crying, and he looked at me as a sick feeling welled up through the bond. His nightshirt was gone, so he was wearing only the pad around his waist as I ran forward and picked him up.

"I'm sorry!" he wailed. "I didn't mean for it to happen! Isaac was just trying to protect me!"

"Soleil!" Christopher's horrified voice sounded nearby, and I turned to my right to see him kneeling in the corner of the room. Soleil was slumped down on the floor against the wall, Hector's nightshirt on the floor beside him, and he was clutching at his face with both hands. I then glanced to the left and saw Isaac standing on the foot of the bed, growling and puffing smoke in Soleil's direction, and I realized what had happened. Christopher managed to pry Soliel's hands away from his face then, and he gasped at the burns that he found.

I stepped up, bit into my wrist, and held it out so my blood could drip onto Soliel's face, healing the burns. Christopher pulled his son up, and ushered the now crying child out of the room and out of the house, while I opened the windows with a thought to try and vent the smell. I then sat down in the rocker with Hector and began to soothe him. The bond was opened as wide as it could be, and I could feel the lingering fear, the horror at what had happened, and new fear that he would somehow be punished for the actions of his Innocent Devil. I summoned the extra blanket from the foot of the bed and draped it over his nearly naked form and rocked him, while I sent calming feelings down the bond, along with assurances that he wasn't in trouble.

"What happened, little one?" I asked after a few minutes had passed. He raised his head from where it had been lying on my shoulder, and he looked at me with blotchy eyes for a second before he laid back down.

"I was asleep," he whispered, "and I was dreaming about Actose. I could feel you though, so I knew it wasn't real, but then I felt cold all of a sudden. And then I felt hands on me, trying to undress me, and, and..." I felt his hands squeeze my arms.

"You thought it was Actose and panicked."

He nodded. "I could hear a voice, and it sounded so angry! I felt him take my shirt off, and I think I screamed."

"You did. What happened then?"

"Isaac protected me, and I woke up when Soleil screamed. I sat up and saw him smothering the fire on his face, but Isaac was about to attack him again. I called Isaac off, and that's when you came in." Hector fell silent, and I rocked him as his crying quieted into sniffles. I soothed him back to sleep, and then I redressed him and put him back to bed. I then returned to the Lord's house to deal with Soleil.

I found him in the living room, sitting sullenly on a couch, being lectured by Christopher. Other than his missing hair and singed clothing, there was no sign that he had been injured.

"-the hell you were thinking!" Christopher ranted. "You were told to stay away from Hector just last night! What were you doing in that house! Why did you put your hands on him!"

"I'm the injured party here!" Soleil snapped "Why are you yelling at me! That damned dragon scarred me for life! It should be put down!"

I was very glad that Hector was asleep then; he wouldn't have handled that well at all, not after what happened to his previous Innocent Devils.

I stepped forward. "Isaac was protecting his master," I said as I folded my arms and glared at the child, "a master that you frightened with your idiotic idea. And my blood fully healed your face, so stop complaining about it. Did you honestly believe that you would get by with frightening a Devil Forgemaster? Did it not occur to you that the Innocent Devils would act to protect him? You're lucky that Hector called them off before August reached you; he would have knocked you through a wall."

"Exactly! Those things are dangerous, and Hector should have to get rid of them! I wouldn't have gotten hurt if they hadn't been there!"

I narrowed my eyes. "You wouldn't have gotten hurt if you hadn't been in my house without permission, harassing my sleeping child so that he felt threatened enough to prompt his pets to come to his defense."

"Why were you in that house to begin with!" Christopher demanded. "Why did you feel the need to go in there and pull Hector's nightshirt off of him! What made you think that was a great idea!"

Soleil looked at his father like he was stupid. "I'm good enough to touch a sleeping vampire without waking him." he said, as if it was obvious.

"And the undressing him part!"

"Proof that I could do it."

"Proof!" Christopher sputtered as he stared at his son in disbelief. He then snatched the boy up by his arm and began to drag him to the back of the house. "You're going to stay in your room until I say you can come out! No supper tonight for you! And no training until you can prove to me that you've grown some common sense!

"But Papa!"

"No buts! Sneaking up on a sleeping vampire can get you killed! You're lucky that Hector called Isaac off! You're lucky that Uncle Joachim was here to heal your face!" I heard a door slam. "Now I don't want to hear a sound out of you!"

I heard the start of a tempter tantrum in the back of the house as Christopher came back into the living room, looking so tired and weary that it made my heart ache for him.

"Is Hector all right?" he asked, and when I nodded, he sighed heavily and flopped down into the nearest chair. "Does it make me a terrible father that I really wish for Sara to abandon him now?" He leaned over and hid his face in his hands as I sat down next to him. "The inheritance ceremony is less than a month away, yet I do not want to go through with it, not with him. I can't trust him to behave, he won't do what he's told, he's embarrassed the entire clan when meeting the other lords, and now it's time to take him actually hunting with me?" He slumped down in the chair. "I can't do it, Uncle Joachim. He'll get one or both of us killed with his reckless attitude. He's about to turn fourteen! And he's back there throwing a tantrum like a three year old!"

I reached out and put my hand on his shoulder. "Sara saw something in him; we have to have hope that we'll eventually see it too."

"That hope is diminishing with every passing day, Uncle." Christopher said with another sigh.

******

Despite everyone's hopes and misgivings, Sara had not abandoned Soleil by the time the boy's 14th birthday arrived a few weeks later. We all forced ourselves to paste on a smile as Soleil was giving the official title of vampire hunter, and of course:

"It's because I'm the best!" Soleil announced to the hall. "I'm better than every one of you, and Sara knows it!"

I groaned, and I heard angry mutterings from the rest of the clan. Christopher seemed to be biting back angry words, and he hustled Soleil out of the hall as quickly as possible.

During the feast that followed, many stayed only for the food and left as quickly as they could. Soleil's cousins avoided him like a plague victim, and any attempt to speak with them simply resulted in them walking away.

"Looks like Soleil's attitude has finally come home to roost." I commented to Adrian, who smiled grimly and nodded.

The feast and celebration, which normally lasted well into the night, lasted less than an hour, and Soleil looked fit to kill as everyone trickled back to their own homes.

"You can leave!" he screeched as people filed out. "You have to stay here for me!"

People just ignored him and kept going.

"You have to stay! You can't leave! I don't give you permission! I'm ordering you all to stay here!"

Christopher grabbed him by the ear. "You are not Lord Belmont, young man! You have no authority to order anyone around! Now the feast is over; back home with you."

Soleil was steaming as he was marched home, and I shook my head and returned to my own house.

******

Once Hector was awake and fed for the night, instead of venturing into the library as he normally did, he curled up with me in the living room and seemed content to enjoy the silence as I ran my claws through his hair. The night passed peacefully, and once morning arrived, I hunted, fed him a second time, and then the two of us went to bed for the day.

The peace didn't last though. It seemed as though I had barely closed my eyes when I was awakened by Christopher shouting my name.
I sat up and blinked my eyes open. "What is it?"

Christopher looked at me with wide, panicked eyes. "Soleil is gone."

"Gone? What do you mean gone?" I sat up as Hector stirred next to me.

"Exactly that! Gone! His window is open, and he's not anywhere on the property!"

I jumped out of bed, dressed myself, and then I joined in the search. The Belmonts had many enemies, and while I didn't particularly like Soleil, I didn't want anything to happen to him, and there was always the possibility that someone would try and harm the heir of a family of vampire hunters. He wasn't on the main parcel of land where the Belmonts lived, he wasn't in any of the villages or towns; he wasn't on the Belmont lands at all. No one had seen him or heard from him and no one had any idea where he could have gone or why he left in the first place.

"Could he have been kidnapped?" a tearful Simona asked, two days after Soleil's disappearance.

"The wards wouldn't have allowed anyone with ill intentions across them." Adrian reminded her in a gentle tone. "It's likely he ran away for whatever reason."

"But why?" Simona asked. "Why would he do that?"

"Because his cousins despise him." Christopher said with a sigh. "Because he knows no one here approves of him. Maybe he has himself convinced that if he runs off, we'll come crawling over and beg him to come back."

"Is there anything we can do?"

"Nothing but -"

Christopher paused, and his head came up. The room fell completely silent, as though all the air had been sucked out of the room -

Oh no...

- and I felt Hector wake up with a cry as that familiar feeling, that wave of dark power, rolled through the house. We heard the rest of the clan calling to each other, asking if everyone was all right, but the five of us: myself, Adrian, Elena, Christopher, and Simona, just looked at each other.

"I think," Christopher swallowed thickly, "we know where Soleil is now."


Chapter 6-3 – Chapter 6-5
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