AMoS Chapter 3-5

[eiahmon]

Title: A Moment of Stupidity Part 3: 1,118 - 1,450
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 3 covers the 332 years between Leon's death and Castlevania: Legends.
SPOILER WARNING!!! Spoilers for many of the Castlevania games!!
WARNING!! This fic my offend the religious! Read at your own risk!

5.
Ending

In 1432, three years after I visited with Mathias, Sonia Belmont was born. Her mother died in childbirth, and her father had passed away some months before, so she was raised by her paternal grandfather. Lamont Belmont was no longer the holder of whip due to a leg injury years before, but he still knew enough to train his granddaughter well. There were quite a few objections to a girl learning such skills - girls hadn't been trained in such a way in the Belmont family for over a century - but Lamont insisted. I think he knew something that the rest of us didn't. I found Sonia to be a cheerful girl and a dyed in the wool tomboy, and I think the only time that child wore a dress was to church, and then only grudgingly.

It was Lamont that showed up at my house one day in 1434, out of breath and frantic. Jonathon had somehow learned of Mathias' existence, and had gone to hunt him down. I swore in my native language, which had since passed from use and chased off after him, sending a hasty message telepathically to Kerwin and Silvanus, asking them to watch over my territory while I was gone. I made it across the neutral zone and to Mathias' territory in record time, but I paused there. I had likely beaten Jonathon there, and I was by the main road that he would likely use, but I didn't know how long of a wait I had, or if I should warn Mathias, just in case. Warning him could also give me a chance to convince him that I hadn't told Jonathon. Once everything was settled and we were back home - IF we made it home - I would have to get the story of how he found out, out of him.

Steeling my nerve yet again, I crossed over onto Mathias' territory, and he immediately sensed my presence and sent out a query, asking what I was doing there. I stopped where I stood and sent back that Jonathon Belmont had somehow found out about him and was on his way, and that I was there to warm him - Mathias - and stop Jonathon before the foolish child did something stupid. I felt the mental equivalent of a frustrated sigh from him, and a demand to come to his castle, at once. I shuddered at the feel of his anger and did as I had been told.

I arrived at his home shortly, and he was waiting for me when a servant escorted me to the sitting room. The anger was rolling off of him in waves, and he pinned me in place with a look.

"I would like to know," he said dangerously "how a Belmont learned of my existence when the only one that was told is you, and you were expressly told not to tell anyone." I cringed and cried out in sudden pain as he launched himself at me. He grasped my head in his hands none too gently and looked directly into my eyes. I felt him dive into my mind and drag my memories to the fore, looking for something. Memories of being human, having sex with Walter, the feel of starving to death, the feel of Leon's dying form cradled in my arms, all of them flashed by. After what seemed like an eternity, Mathias released me, and I fell backward into the nearest chair with a strangled gasp.

"So you didn't tell him." he said quietly,, much calmer than he had been before.

"I could have told you that with a lot less pain to myself, you know." I groaned as I tried to massage away the headache that his ransacking of my mind had given me.

He ignored me. "Now a Belmont is on his way here. What are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know. Turn him back, prevent him from coming here again, even if I have to take the knowledge of you from his mind."

"That is dangerous to do to a human. You could also end up destroying his mind."

"What choice do I have?"

"What of Leon's wishes? I'm sure he wished for me to be destroyed."

"By stopping Jonathon, I will be keeping my promise to him by preventing that idiot child from getting himself killed."

"You do not believe that he could win against me."

I shook my head. "No, Jonathon is too hot headed and arrogant."

"If you prevent him from reaching this castle and from bringing harm to my wife or son, then I will let the little snot live. If he harms Adrian or Lisa or reaches me..." The threat was left unsaid, but I understood it perfectly. "Until then, you will be a guest in my house." I nodded faintly, and Mathias swept out of the room, calling for the servants to show me to a room where I could freshen up for dinner.

I was tense during dinner, expecting Jonathon to burst into the dining room at any moment. Mathias was also a little tense, and I'm sure that Adrian and Lisa knew it, though Lisa did not show it, and she was her usual, cheerful self.

Adrian was eight years old by then, and I was more than a little curious about him. I had never seen a half human, half vampire before. Mathias indulged me the following evening and explained things.

"He still needs blood as you can see." he said calmly as Adrian sat on his lap and drank from the base of his father's left thumb "But he does not need as much as a full vampire does. He also must eat, but he does not need as much as a human child his age does. He can go out in sunlight, though he sunburns quickly, and he tolerates cold and heat better than humans, though not as well as I do." Adrian let go of Mathias' hand and licked the place where he had bitten. He then snuggled close to his father's chest and closed his eyes. "He's getting too big for my hand, and my lap." Mathias added with wry amusement. "Before too much longer, he's going to have to start feeding from my neck."

I smiled as Adrian fell asleep on his father's lap, and Mathias stood up and carried him to bed.

The following day, I followed Adrian and Lisa into town to better keep an eye out for Jonathon. Lisa was a healer, and she concocted medicine for an outbreak of the same illness that had killed Leon three centuries before. Mathias did not like her doing such things - he claimed, and I agreed with him - that it was dangerous for her, but he did not actively tried to stop her. He could not, would not change who she was, and she could not sit idly by while people were suffering.

Once we reached the town, I separated from them and went off to the main road to try and catch Jonathon. Sure enough, I had only been waiting for a few moments, when I saw him coming down the road, pushing his horse for all it could give. I reached out and touched the animal's mind, commanding it to stop, which it did immediately, causing Jonathon to be painfully ejected from the saddle.

Before he could move, I was on him and pulling him to his feet by the collar of his shirt.

"What the hell are you doing, Jonathon?" I demanded angrily, and he shook his head and snarled at me.

"Put me down, Joachim!" he practically growled "I have a vampire to kill."

"No, you don't. Mathias Cronqvist is not to be harmed."

"Why the hell not, or have you forgotten what he did to my ancestor?"

"I haven't forgotten. I also haven't forgotten the oath that he made me swear to never tell anyone so not to bring harm on his wife and child."

"Anyone that willingly lives with him deserves what they get." he sneered, and I had to resist the urge the slap him. As irritated as I was with him, I would likely seriously hurt him, if not kill him, without intending to.

When I refused to let go of him, Jonathon snarled and raised his whip. I dropped him and dodged, but the tip of it still caught me on the shoulder. I was shocked for a moment, because the strike did not hurt at all. I felt not even the tiniest sting. Jonathon used my distraction as an opportunity to make a break for it, but he hadn't got for when I shook off my stupor and caught him again.

"Damn it, Belmont, do you want to die?" I snarled "Mathias will kill you with a thought if you get even close to him. And if you are stupid enough to lay a hand on his wife and child, I will be mopping up what's left of you with a rag." If Mathias lets me live. I added silently, but before I could say anything more, a shout from the village distracted me. I turned to the shout, which caused me to drop Jonathon, and he ran off, but I paid him no mind. I knew, I just knew, that something horribly wrong was about to happen, so I translocated to the village.

I was met there by a very familiar and terrifying sight. Lisa was bound to a cross in the village square with a pile of burning wood at her feet, and an angry mob surrounded her. Adrian was fighting to get her, and his vampiric strength was enabling him to make some progress, but the crowd was thick enough that he would never reach her in time. I heard Lisa shout to Adrian that he mustn't hate the humans, and then she went up like a torch in a horrifying repeat of Matatias' burning 175 years before. The crowd roared in approval, and then they turned to Adrian. The hysterical child paid them no mind, and I wondered for a brief moment why Mathias had not sensed the death of his wife or his child's distress, before I changed into a wolf and charged at the crowd. I was too late to save Lisa, but I had to save Adrian. The crowd backed away from the large white wolf that came running at them at first, but then they seemed to rally and started attacking me. I barely felt their blows, and the holy water they threw at me had no effect, but with them in my way, I wasn't going to reach Adrian in time. I didn't dare change back into human form; if they recognized me, they could easily track me down.

But then help arrived from an unexpected source.

I heard members of the crowd shout in surprise, and I heard Adrian's heartbeat moving away, accompanied by a human's heartbeat. I ran back towards it and headed off the mob as it tried to follow. Once whoever had a chance to disappear out of sight, I followed them, knowing that someone might have saved Adrian from the mob only to kill him themselves. I had to get to them first. I quickly caught up to them in the forest surrounding the village, and I was shocked to see that Adrian's savior had been Jonathon Belmont.

"Jonathon?" I asked in surprise, and he sat Adrian down on his feet and looked at me.

"I couldn't let them hurt him, Uncle Joachim." he said quietly "He's just a kid." Adrian ran over to me, crying, and I picked him up.

"I think it's best if you go home, Jonathon." I said "I have to return Adrian to his father." Jonathon nodded and went off in search of his horse, and I wondered for the second time why Mathias had not sensed his child's emotions.

"I can't feel Papa." Adrian sobbed then, which made me wonder if Mathias was also dead. Had a second mob slain him at his home while the first killed his wife?

There was only one way to find out. Holding Adrian tightly in my arms, I set off towards Mathias' castle.

Mathias, I soon learned, was very much alive, and he was absolutely shocked when Adrian practically flew into his arms, wailing in grief.

“Adrian,” he sputtered “what-?” Whatever he had been planning to say was abruptly cut off when Adrian wailed that Lisa was dead. Mathias looked to me for confirmation, and I nodded sadly. His eyes drifted out of focus then, and I knew he was checking on the bond with Lisa to find her gone.

Barely a second later, he snapped back to himself and slowly sank to the floor, Adrian clutched to his chest. Why had he not known?

The temperature in the room dropped suddenly, and I heard the fluttering of ragged cloth that had haunted my nightmares for so long immediately behind me. I shuddered hard and noticed that while Adrian was also shivering, Mathias, still dazed, hadn't noticed anything.

Not a word to anyone. Or I will take your soul.

I shuddered even harder at the voice that whispered into my mind. I knew then, who had incited the riot and why, and I also knew what would happen to me if I told anyone. Death and Mathias' other minions did not like the positive influence that Lisa had been having on him and wanted her out of the way. The only way to break marriage bonds such as the ones they had is death so it had been a simple matter of using the peasants' fear and ignorance to their advantage. They had also somehow prevented Mathias from sensing anything. Death's presence then vanished from the room, and Mathias rose to his feet.

The look in his eyes had undergone a drastic change. Gone was the shock and the sudden grief. In its place was pure rage.

"Joachim." he said coldly "Watch my child for me and pray that nothing befalls him while I am gone. Otherwise you will pay for it with your soul. I will return shortly."

Adrian was then thrust into my arms, and Mathias then strode angrily from the room without another glance at his hysterical child.

******

Over the next hour I tried not to pay attention to what Mathias was doing, but it was difficult. Even with the distance between us and the thick castle walls I could still hear the screams of the villagers and smell the smoke as Mathias burned the village to the ground. I tried to focus on Adrian who had fallen asleep in my arms after drinking a little of my blood. It was a large breach of vampire etiquette to feed another’s child my blood, but he , was desperately thirsty, and Mathias hadn’t even noticed. His nurse had taken over then, so by the time Mathias returned, his son was tucked into bed, fast asleep.

Mathias staggered into the front hall, looking so weary and heartsick that I felt my heart wrench with pity for him. He straightened up and with a shuddering sigh proclaimed that it was done. I didn’t ask; I knew what he meant. He then swept past me on his way out of the room, and I opted to leave while I still could.

I stepped out of the castle into the gloom of the moonless night, with the only sound the crackling of the fires in the remains of the village below. I quickly left for home, using the glow of the burning village reflecting off the clouds to light my way.

Mathias and Adrian vanished from the area within a few days, and it would be the last I would hear from them for the next several years.

Chapter 4 -- Chapter 6

Back to the AMoS Archive
Back to the Main Archive