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AMoS Chapter 7-1
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 7 covers Order of Shadows up to Christopher's death.
A/N: Hector's "Tată" is the Romanian word for Dad, Father, Papa, etc, and the second "a" is pronounced like an "o", so the word sounds like "tah-toe". At least, that's what my research has shown. If any native speakers read this, please let me know how wrong or right I am. XD
1.
Turning Point
The effect of the adoption on Hector was immediate.
Despite Silvanus' predictions, he did not relapse at all, and he seemed to be filled with new energy that I had never seen from him before. He was no longer content to just pass the night in the library; now he wanted to go out and go exploring. He had barely seen my territory, and now he wanted to see every square inch of it. He wanted to see the Belmont lands: the villages, the farms, the rolling fields, the large town in the center of it. He wanted to see it all.
And he wanted to do it alone.
Before, he had refused to stray far from me. Even during the materials hunt prior to creating August, he had stayed within my line of sight. Now he grew agitated if I hung over him and began to resent my presence during his exploration.
"He's stronger now, Joachim." Silvanus explained as I watched from the library windows as Hector, August, and Isaac romped through the treeline. "The adoption had a very good effect on him, and he wants to enjoy it without his father hovering over him."
"But he was so sickly for so long, Silvanus." I protested. "How can I just let him wander off without watching him?"
"You are watching him, Joachim. The bond is wide open. If he runs into trouble you will know before he even realizes it." He gave me a understanding smile. "I'm sure that, once he's done exploring for the night, he'll come back to you, wanting to snuggle in like he always has. Besides, I'm sure the adoption didn't fix everything in regards to his health, and it will be good for him to see what his limits are."
I looked out at Hector, who was laughing like I had never seen him laugh before, and wondered if he even had limits anymore.
True to Silvanus' words though, as the dawn approached, Hector returned to the house, bathed himself, dressed for bed, and then he curled up on the couch with me in the library. He gave me a sleepy smile and snuggled in, where he stayed until he fell asleep and I carried him off to bed.
However, we did learn that he had limits, to his disappointment. He hunted for himself and went wandering around (After a stern lecture from me to stay away from the territory borders.) with his Innocent Devils, while I remained at home and watched him through the bond. He skipped his mid-night nap, and I frowned in worry, but since he didn't seem tired, I let it go. I went into the library, picked out a book, and settled onto the couch to pass the time.
It was about an hour after the time he normally settled down for his nap that a sudden narrowing of the bond caught my attention.
Hector?
I, I don't feel good, Tată. I heard him mumble, and I tossed the book aside and stood up.
Stay where you are. I'm coming to get you.
O.. okay.
I streaked out of the house in his direction, and I came across him in short order, sitting in the grass under the spreading branches of an old oak tree. He looked up at me, and his eyes were ringed with shadows.
"Tată," he whimpered as he reached up to me with shaking arms. I picked him up and felt that he was shaking as I held him securely and started towards home, with Isaac and August following close behind.
Once we were home, I fed him and put him to bed, and he slept through the rest of the night and through the entire day. He was still tired once he woke after sunset, and he fed from me instead of hunting, and he stayed close to me the reminder of the night.
"I suppose you know not to skip your nap again?" I said gently at one point, and he shook his head without saying a word. He climbed up onto my lap and snuggled in, and I smiled faintly and held him.
He could not skip his nap, and we didn't even attempt to see if he could skip a feeding. As long as he napped and fed, he could spend the rest of the night roaming without repercussions, but he still did not have the energy for defending himself. We tested this, and after just a few attempts to prevent me from chasing him down and catching him, he was so tired that we had to go home so he could sleep it off. He could however, play Tree Tag as long as he didn't try to run on too long or too quickly, a fact that delighted Matatias. I didn't suggest seeing if he could shapeshift, because I firmly believed that it would be too tiring for him. It was also too soon for him to try going out into the sunlight. Even if he had been healthy, he was still too young at 141 years. Being able to go out during the daytime normally didn't happen until sometime in the second century.
To his disappointment, his bleeding did not stop, nor did it slow any. He'd been taking care of that ever since he had started to dress himself regularly, but he still hated it. Rachim warned him to just get used to it, because it was unlikely that it would ever go away.
Despite the fact that they only saw each other at the council meetings, Hector and Rachim had struck up a friendship, and they wrote to each other frequently. Isaac and Ladislas' bats were kept busy ferrying letters back and forth, and I was glad that he had a friend to talk to. Though he interacted with them frequently, he kept himself distant from the Belmonts, and he was not close to any of them.
******
The next two years passed peacefully as I took joy in the strength of the bond I shared with my son.(Hearing Hector referred to as my son always made me smile.) We went about our lives as we adjusted to our new normal.
Hector never grew bored with roaming my territory, though he was only allowed to explore the edges of it when accompanied by myself. I didn't trust Actose not to reach across the border and snatch him, so he was forbidden to go anywhere near them. Hector, still terrified of Actose 80 years after I had claimed him as mine, obeyed without question. Kerwin's territory bordered mine on the southern and eastern edges, while the western edge was bordered by Kalen, a quiet, reclusive vampire that I had only caught glimpses of during the council meetings over the centuries. I didn't know if he would try anything, so to be safe, I just told Hector to stay well away from the borders.
I saw Soleil several times as the months slipped quietly by, and the boy was meek and quiet, a total opposite of how he had been before. He took the scorn and ridicule of his family quietly, but Christopher stepped in and put a stop to it.
"They're right, Papa." Soleil said quietly. "I deserve it and so much more." He walked away then, leaving Christopher staring after him in silence.
For the first time in anyone's memory, Soleil used the lessons in manners and etiquette he had been given, and he was polite and respectful to the other lords and ladies when he met them. Some complimented Christopher on whatever method he used to get through to his son, to which Christopher only chuckled weakly and said nothing.
The peace couldn't last forever, as I knew all too well, and late in the winter of 1592/1593, Adrian died in his sleep at the age of 70. Christopher was devastated, as was Clara once she heard the news. I felt only a strange numbness. Perhaps, I thought, perhaps I was growing used to outliving people.
After the wake, Christopher watched his father through the night, and the funeral the next day was heavily attended. Not only was the the entire clan there, but so was Clara, her husband, and their children, and most of the other members of the nobility. I forced myself to attend, but Hector stayed at home, since it was a bright, sunny day, it wasn't safe for him to go out.
Christopher was now officially Baron Belmont (though he'd been the unofficial baron since Adrian had retired years before.) and there were rumors that he wouldn't live much longer either, despite his glowing health. We attributed the rumors to the fact that for some strange, unknown reason, Christopher had aged faster than his father. Though he was only 45, his hair was completely gray, and heavy wrinkled marred his face. Silvanus stated that it was due to his magic levels being too low to slow his aging as it had with his father and grandfather.
Soleil, I noticed, just sat quietly in the pew at the service, and kept his head bowed graveside, and said nothing, as had become normal for him since he had returned home two years before.
******
The year after Adrian passed, there was a council, and the ugly look that appeared on Actose' face when he heard Hector refer to me as "Tată" nearly made me laugh out loud. He got even angrier when it was found out that Hector was now Kerwin's nephew and Silvanus' great-grandchild. Our adoption of Hector had effectively removed any chance of him getting Hector back. Even if Actose killed me, he would have to wait for three days to give Kerwin or Silvanus time to claim him, and it was a given that they would.
That first day, as we were lying in bed, I heard a horrible screaming coming from the direction of Actose's rooms, and it wasn't hard to guess that he was taking his anger out on one of his other children. Hector whimpered in fright at the sound, so I opened the bond wide, pulled him close to me, and hummed a lullaby to send him to sleep.
******
Surprising everyone, even his parents, Soleil quietly announced his intention to marry in 1596. The young man was now 19, and no one had known he was courting anyone. His future bride was brought in to meet his parents, and to their shock, she was a farmer's daughter from nearby. Apparently they had met not long after Soleil's return, and she had asked him why he was sulking in a field instead of being at home with his parents. That had resulted in him confessing all to her and the two of them becoming friends. He'd been slipping out to see her since, which was easy given that most of the Belmonts ignored him. Her parents didn't even know that she had been meeting with the future Lord Belmont, and they were just as shocked as everyone else had been when they were invited to the Lord's house to meet Christopher and Simona. Eventually, both sets of parents agreed to the marriage, and that summer, Soleil was married in the Belmont chapel.
The new Lady Irina Belmont was as tall as her new husband, red haired and hazel eyed. A childhood of working on the farm had left her muscled and strong (To the shock of the rest of the nobility, who were simply appalled that Lord Belmont had permitted his son to marry a commoner.), and she joked about going vampire hunting with her new father-in-law. She was loud to Soleil's quiet, cheerful to his apathy, bright to his gloom. She was his polar opposite in every way, and everyone was baffled that they had fallen for each other. She took even meeting Hector and myself in stride. She never seemed to mind that her husband rarely smiled, never laughed, and seemed content to fade into the background. She stood out enough for both of them.
******
Ten months after her grandson married, Elena followed her husband in death, and she passed in her sleep late one spring night. Christopher was hit hard like one would expect, but surprisingly, Irina also took Elena's passing hard, as the pair had gotten fairly close. (She had also made good on her joke to go vampire hunting with her father-in-law, but that is another story.) Soleil seemed to take his grandmother's death stoically, and there were some angry mutterings about that, but it was plain to those that looked that he was feeling it as well. A tightness around his eyes, a trembling of his lips, and the occasional tear were there to see, but few paid attention to them.
As for me, I felt nothing at Elena's passing. I'd known her for years, and she had played a role in getting me to come back to them years ago, but I just couldn't muster anything. I wondered again if I was growing used to outliving those around me.
The clan did get some joyous news the following year however, when Irina gave birth to a son that she and Soleil named Desmond. Christopher and Simona were delighted by their new grandchild (Clara had given then two granddaughters and a grandson already.) while Soleil merely gave a faint smile at Desmond's announcement. The clan celebrated the child's birth like they had Soleil's 20 years before, and I heard talk from some that were hoping that Christopher would pass up his son and name his grandson as heir. If those rumors fell upon Christopher's ears, he never said anything about them, but Soleil did hear them. He also said nothing, but I was just barely able to see a tiny flinch from him every time.
Desmond had his mother's hair along with blue eyes that had just a hint of green in them. There was no sign that he had any magic of his own, but as Christopher hadn't shown magic until he was into his teens, no one appeared to be worried. No one, that is, except Soleil, who was terrified that his willing sacrifice of his magic to Dracula would affect his children as well, but there was no way to find out but to wait and see.
******
The close of the 16th century had one last death in store, but it did not come like the ones before it. Early in the year 1600, when the snow was falling heavily outside, Lucas appeared at my door, like his grandfather had done years before. His wife had passed on before him, his two daughters had married and moved away from the Belmont lands, and his two sons had left for parts elsewhere to seek their fortunes. He heard from them on occasion, and he knew that they had their own families and were doing well, but they hadn't been seen in years. He had lived alone for a short while after Bethany's passing, but Christopher had invited him to live in the Lord's house so he wouldn't have to spend his remaining years in an otherwise empty house.
I was surprised to see him since the cold had an nasty effect on the mobility of his joints, but I brought him inside and half carried him into the warm library. Due to the cold, Hector had chosen to curl up in bed under a pile of quits and fur blankets with a favorite book rather than go to the library, so the couch in there was empty when I sat him down and sat down beside him. He leaned over to rest against my shoulder and gave a tired sigh.
"What are you doing here so late?" I asked as I ran my fingers through his hair, which still retained hints here and there of the dark brown it had once been. He resembled his grandfather and great-grandfather a great deal, and he was the closest thing to a physical reminder of Trevor that I could get.
"I just wanted some company." he said. "But I didn't want anyone fussing over me."
"Really? Most people would enjoy that."
He laughed quietly. "I'm not most people. I just wanted some quiet and someone to sit with."
"Well, I think I can oblige you there." I said with a smile, and he turned to me with a smile of his own before he turned away and relaxed. He closed his eyes, and I heard his heartbeat and breathing slow as he started to doze.
I felt Hector getting out of bed then, which surprised me considering how cold it was in the rest of the house, and I looked up at the library door as he came padding through it, wound up in a quilt and shivering slightly. I went to say something to him, but he shook his head and cast his eyes over to Lucas. I saw the look, and I suddenly knew then why Lucas had come.
Is it...? I asked, and Hector nodded slowly. I felt my own heart stutter as I turned to look at Lucas, who shifted in my arms and looked at me with a sad smile.
"I should have known that Hector would know why I was here." he said.
"Are you sure you want to be here, Lucas?"
"I'm sure." He laid his head back down. "Christopher would raise a big fuss if I went to him to stay with me, and I don't want that. I know you and Hector won't rouse the entire clan." He settled back down and didn't say anything as Hector padded back to the bedroom and climbed back into bed, but after a few minutes had passed, he stirred.
"Do you think they're waiting for me, Uncle Joachim?" he asked. "Bethany, Adrian, Papa, Grandpapa, everyone?"
I felt like someone had my heart in their hands and that they were squeezing the life out of it, but I answered him anyway. "Yes, I believe that they'll be there waiting for you when you're ready."
"I can't wait to see them again." he said with a tired smile as he looked at me again, and I saw that the light in his eyes was growing dimmer.
"I imagine that they'll be just as happy to see you." I kissed him on his forehead. "Close your eyes, Lucas, and go to sleep. I'm right here with you." He smiled again and did as I told him, and I swallowed the sigh that wanted to come out as he nodded off in my arms. The room fell silent save for his soft breathing, the crackling fire in the fireplace, and the howl of the wind outside, beating against the walls. I felt Hector stirring again, and he returned to the library door, where he stopped and stared in surprise at something. I looked at him in confusion, and then with a rush down the bond from him to me, I was suddenly seeing what he was seeing.
I saw the library as though I was standing in the doorway as Hector was. I saw myself sitting on the couch with Lucas sleeping in my arms. And I saw... I saw Liron – Liron! – walking across the floor towards the couch. He looked young, in his 20s at the most, and he approached the couch with a sad smile. He stopped to stand in from of Lucas, and his mouth moved, but I heard no words. He held out his hand, and I saw Lucas sit up. Or rather, I saw a younger version of Lucas – about ten at most – sit up, while his 72 year old body remained where it was. He smiled up at his father, who returned it, and he hopped off the couch and took Liron's hand. They both turned and waved at Hector (and I had the distinct impression that they knew I was watching them through Hector.) and then they turned their backs to us and walked hand in hand across the floor and vanished through the wall.
With a hard jolt, I was pushed out of Hector's mind as Hector returned to the bedroom, and I found myself back on the couch with Lucas, who I quickly realized, was gone. I swallowed hard and wiped at my eyes just as Hector returned, this time carrying a blanket, which he cover Lucas up with. I stood up, laid Lucas down, and pulled the blanket up over his head, and I smiled faintly at the happy smile that adorned his face before I covered him up. I felt Hector's hand slip into mine, and we walked out of the empty library, leaving Lucas in the quiet and still.
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Yup, I think it worked quite well too. XD I've noticed that the way the fic has the tendency to go that deaths usually come in groups, and I wanted at least one of them to touch Joachim in some way.
And on that note, I thought you might like to know the song that I was actually listening to when I wrote the chapter following Trevor's death. The song listed on Current Music is what I was listening to when I posted the chapter, but this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te2MytD1Mlg
is what I was listening while writing. It made me cry too. :(