AMoS Part 2-2

[eiahmon]

Title: A Moment of Stupidity Part 2: 1,094 - 1,120 Chapter 2
Category: Castlevania
Rating: R for language, and mentions of RAPE and M/M SLASH. Don’t like, then don’t read.
Submitted on:
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 2 covers the twenty six years between Lament of Innocence and Leon’s death.
SPOILER WARNING!!! Spoilers for many of the Castlevania games!!
WARNING!! This fic my offend the religious! Read at your own risk!

2.

Home and Master

I woke slowly - waking was as difficult as ever - and at first I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t open my eyes, not wanting to let go of the wonderful dream that I had just had. Kerwin had come for me and taken me home with him. That had to be a dream; I was dying, and I looked like a shrunken corpse. Why would he want me?

I felt the thirst that was always present and wondered where Leon was. He was fairly regular about feeding me. It didn’t matter anyway. I was going to die, despite his best efforts. Hopefully I would die before Actose got to me. Settling down into the soft mattress, I tried to ignore my constant shivering and go back to sleep...

...mattress?

I wearily forced my eyes open and panicked for a moment when I saw the high ceiling and the dark room, believing that I was back in my prison beneath the castle, and that everything had been a dream. But as my eyes adjusted, I could see the flicker of light against the smooth ceiling above me. My prison had had a rough ceiling, carved out of rock and almost no light. Certainly not any kind that flickered.

I felt something heavy lying on top of me and cast my eyes down to see that I was lying, not on a stone floor, not on rough pallet, but a large bed, covered with heavy fur blankets. I saw my arms lying on top of the blankets and saw the sleeves of the linen gown that I was clothed in. Where was I? I heard the crackling of a fire and lolled my head to the right, hearing the linen pillowslip crinkle under my head, and saw a servant sitting in a chair by the fire. He jumped to his feet when he saw me moving.

“You’re awake!” he exclaimed “I must go inform the master!” He scurried out of the room, leaving the door open, which caused all of the warmth in the room to rush out. I shivered harder and tried to scoot further under the blankets. Of course I wasn’t able to. A few moments later, I heard someone approaching the open door, and closed my eyes, not wanting to see Actose or someone else come through it. I heard a snarl and shuddered in fear, wondering what I had done to anger my new master, and how he would punish me for it. I caught the faint scent of someone I knew and struggled to identify it, but my senses were too weak to be reliable. I heard whoever approach the bed and felt the mattress sink as that person sat down. A hand gently brushed my hair out of my face.

“Joachim? Open your eyes, little one.”

Kerwin?

I opened my eyes and blinked into the light that, while very dim, was too bright for my eyes, which had been locked in near total darkness for a century. I saw a blurry form sitting beside me and blinked a few times before it came into focus, revealing Kerwin’s dark haired form looking down at me.

“Good evening, little one.” he said quietly. He smiled.

I wondered if I was dreaming again, and I must have relayed the thought to him, because he chuckled softly.

“No, Joachim you’re not dreaming. This is very real. You’re home, with me, safe, where you belong.” He leaned down and kissed me softly on the forehead, and I flinched. “I’m going to take care of you.” He reached down and grasped me under the arms, ignoring how I tried to shy away from him, and picked me up. He settled me on his lap, wrapping the topmost blanket around me to keep me warm. I shivered like usual anyway, though part of it was from fright. Kerwin had never done anything to cause me to believe that he meant me harm, but years of being abused couldn’t be shrugged off in only a few days. I whimpered as he leaned me back, and struggled weakly as he pressed his mouth against mine, forcing his tongue to the back of my throat.

I tried to get away from him, but he was so strong, and I was so weak. I was so frightened that I ignored the blood that was pouring into my mouth, so focused on escape that I didn’t feel it running out of my mouth and down my face. Kerwin stroked my throat with his hand, forcing me to swallow. Tears were running down my face by the time he had decided that I had drank enough. He pulled his tongue from my mouth and sat me up, looking at me in concern when I burst into sobs.

“Joachim?” I leaned against him, unable to hold myself up, and cried like a child. He wrapped his arms around me and rocked me like I had seen him do to Matatias on occasion.

“What’s the matter, little one?” he asked softly “Why are you crying?” I cried harder at his use of “little one” and didn’t answer. He pulled me close to him and let me cry myself out. It didn’t take long before I was exhausted and lying limply in his arms. He gently laid me down and disappeared through a door close to the bed. He came back a moment later with a damp cloth in his hand. He sat down beside me and gently wiped the blood from my face, hair, and the sides of my head where it had run out of my ears. I whimpered when he lifted up my gown and wiped dried blood from my legs, ass, and groin as well. I wanted to curl up in a ball and hide under the blankets by the time he was done cleaning me up. I shuddered and cried out softly when, instead of pulling my gown back down and covering me back up, he grasped me by the ankles and lifted me up, slipping something between me and my gown. He laid me back down and pulled my gown down, before pulling the blankets over me.

“It’s a pad to catch the blood, Joachim.” he said gently “So I don’t have to undress you or have the bed changed that often.” I nodded weakly in understanding, and he slipped another pad under my head to protect the pillows.

“Joachim,” he began, settling down beside me again “What did I do that frightened you so much? Was it because I held you on my lap?”

I barely managed to shake my head.

“Was it the kiss?”

I shook my head again.

“Was it the blood kiss?”

I nodded.

He sighed. “I’m sorry, little one. I didn’t think about that. I didn’t realize that it would frighten you. But I tried to feed you from my wrist while you were asleep, and you couldn’t swallow very well. Until you’re stronger, this is the only way I can feed you.” I whimpered; I didn’t like the sound of that. I whimpered again when my stomach began to churn angrily around the blood in it. Kerwin looked at me in concern just as it heaved, and I vomited blood over both of us. I shrank back as he wiped it off of his face, expecting a beating.

“Relax, Joachim,” he said softly “I’m not going to punish you for being sick. You couldn’t help it.” He reached over and pulled the braided cord next to the bed, then shucked his bloodied outer robe. Despite his words, I still cringed when he reached down and pulled the blankets back before picking me up and carrying me over to a chair and sitting down with me on his lap. I hid my face in his shirt when a servant came through the door.

“Yes master?”

“Change the bed and fetch me another damp cloth.”

“Right away.” If I had been healthier, I would have blushed to the roots of my hair when Kerwin stripped my gown off and began to wipe the blood off of me.

“Easy, little one.” he crooned when I protested being naked in front of the servants and being bathed like an infant “You need to be cleaned up, and I’m certain that you’re not feeling well enough to have an actual bath.” I didn’t like either idea actually, but I was too ill to voice my opinion. As it was, I’m certain that he knew. Afterward, he had a servant fetch him another gown for me and then a heavy blanket, which he wrapped me up in, while we waited for the bed to be changed. I was shaking hard by this time, from weakness, cold, and fear, and I just wanted him to put me down and let me sleep. Though I'm certain he knew of my thoughts, he ignored them and rocked me slowly back and forth for a while, even after the bed had been changed and the servants had departed. Then without a word, he stood up from the chair and carried me back to bed, lying me down and tucking me in. I wanted the blankets up higher, so nothing but the top of my head would be exposed to the cool air of the room, and I relayed that thought to Kerwin, who chuckled.

"Whatever makes you comfortable, little one." he said, amused, before he did as I wanted. Then I heard him get up and leave the room, shutting the door behind him.

The sound of the door shutting echoed loudly in my ears, and my breath hitched. I was shut in. I poked my face out from under the blankets and looked around. The room was dark except for the embers of the slowly dying fire, and the curtains were drawn over the windows, shutting out any starlight that might have come in. I couldn't help the whimper that slid from my throat as I forcefully reminding myself that I was in Kerwin's house, not in my waterway prison. The door was not locked, I was tucked into a comfortable bed, and look, a fireplace. My prison certainly hadn't had a fireplace. I closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep, but I could hear my own breath echoing in my ears, like it had down in my prison. With my eyes shut, I could no longer see my surroundings, and I thought for a moment that I was shut up in a wardrobe again. That though sent a surge of fear through me, and my eyes snapped open. The fire had finally flickered out and died, and I couldn't see anything. I couldn't see my pillow, my blankets, the room, the walls, the floor, the ceiling, anything. I couldn't even see the end of my own nose.

"Kerwin..." I whimpered, feeling panic beginning to set in. I squeezed my eyes shut, but that only made things worse. My heartbeat throbbed loudly in my ears, and I opened my eyes. I swear I saw a shadow moving through the darkness of the room, coming towards me. I began to shiver again, and I just wanted to shut my eyes, go to sleep and wake up safe and sound in the morning.

Joachim!

"Master, please..."

Joachim!

"I won't disobey again. Please, don't.."

I felt a hand touch my face. I screamed and tried to move away, but of course, I was unable to. The hand withdrew at my scream, and I knew that it was because Walter was rearing back to slap me for trying to deny him. He would slap me once or twice and then...

"Joachim?" I felt hands come under my arms, and I tried to scream again, but that one earlier scream had used up what little breath and energy I had. I was helpless as Walter picked me up, and I cringed when he sat me down on his lap and wrapped his arms around me and began to rock me back and forth.

"Joachim?" I whimpered again and squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to watch.

"Get that fire going! And someone bring me a candle!"

Fire? Was he going to do with me what he had done with Dragos? I hoped he killed me first, or at the very least knocked me good and unconscious, so I wouldn't feel the pain of being burned alive. I soon heard the crackling of a fire and couldn't repress a hard shudder, imagining what it would be like to be tossed into it.

"Open you eyes, Joachim." said a voice, and while I recognized it as not belonging to Walter, I wouldn't open my eyes, too afraid of what I would see. A blanket was wrapped around me, as I saw light through my eyelids - of the candle that had bee asked for I suppose, making me wonder the blanket would be torched. With me being so weak, I knew I had no hope of escaping it.

An image popped up in my mind then, obviously sent by whomever was holding me, and it showed me, safely held on someone's lap in my room in Kerwin's house. It loosened the grip my fear had on me, and I was able to force my eyes open a crack to see that it was Kerwin who had me, not Walter. I couldn't help the sigh of relief that I let out then, and I fully expected Kerwin to chuckle at it, but he either kept it to himself, or he didn't find anything remotely humorous in the situation. Since my scream had likely roused the entire household, his reason was likely the latter.

The room was well lit by the fire that was going in the grate, and I felt my panic and terror subsiding as I took that fact in. I was still shaking, due to equal parts exhaustion and fear, and I heard Kerwin shoo the servants out of the room as I hid my face in his nightshirt in embarrassment. I wondered for a moment how he had explained my illness to his staff, but before that thought could go any further, I began to worry about something far more important - if he was going to punish me in any way.

"Joachim." he said quietly "Joachim, look at me, child." Child, exactly what Walter called me when he as angry with me. Had Kerwin picked up the habit of doing that too? "Joachim, I'm not angry, just look at me." I tried to tilt my head back to look at him, but I couldn't get my neck muscles to respond to my commands, and Kerwin laid me back in bed against my pillows, so I could see him.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he straightened my gown and tucked the blankets around me "What scared you? Did you have a nightmare?" I shook my head and felt even more embarrassed at the idea of being scared of the dark. Really? A vampire? Scared of the dark? Whoever heard of such a thing? For that matter, who had ever heard of a claustrophobic vampire?

I was glad that I was too ill to blush.

Somehow - I don’t know if he read my mind or what he did - but Kerwin seemed to know what had frightened me anyway and nodded in understanding.

“I imagine being imprisoned for a century would make one more than a little frightened of closed, dark spaces.” he said quietly. It certainly did. I still don’t like closed, dark spaces, though they, thankfully, haven’t sent me into panic attacks in centuries.

“I’ll leave a candle burning by your bed.” he added “and tell the servants to not let the fire go out. I would open your curtains, but while you are certainly old enough to tolerate sunlight, I doubt you are strong enough. With you being so ill, you would likely get burned in the morning.” He looked for a second like he was going to lean over and kiss me, but instead he merely settled for brushing my hair out of my face. “Goodnight, Joachim.”

I couldn’t remember the last time I had had a “good” night.

I slept like the dead for the next several days, waking only to be fed, bathed, or when a nightmare roused me. My feelings seemed to have settled down, but I wasn’t sure if that was because they were just settling down on their own or because I was just too exhausted to feel them. Since I was getting vampire blood - fairly powerful blood at that - at least three or four times a day, thirst did not wake me so often, so I was able to enjoy long hours of unbroken rest for the first time in many, many years.

During the rare times when I was totally awake and lucid, Kerwin would talk to me, telling me about things that I had missed and what was going on in the world. Silvanus had heard about Walter’s death not long after it had happened and had sent Kerwin his condolences. He had also inquired about me and had been delighted to hear that I was alive and had requested permission to visit me as soon I was up to it. Actose had also enquired about me, and Kerwin had angrily told him to mind his own goddamned business. Actose was the reason that Kerwin had taken three days to get to me; Kerwin had to hurriedly claim Walter’s territory for his own as Actose had been eyeing it for years. It was only after the boundaries were set that Kerwin had been able to investigate the presence he had sensed within. He had been told that I was dead and had honestly believed it, and humans were not picked up by vampire sense unless we wished them to, so Kerwin knew there was a weak vampire there, but he had had no idea that it was me.

“I thought Walter had replaced you.” he told me honestly when I asked “To be honest, I’m surprised that he didn’t.”

Tiredness on my part had put an end to that conversation, and Kerwin had carefully fed me and tucked me in. By this time, Blood Kisses didn’t frighten me all that much, even though I still didn’t particularly like them. And I could have sworn that Walter had told me that vampires really didn’t need to sleep. Another lie of his maybe?

“No, little one, “Kerwin said with a smile “He was telling the truth, mostly anyway. A healthy vampire does not need to sleep. A sick vampire, on the other hand, does, so your body can put all your own healing ability, as well as the healing abilities of the blood I have given you, to work healing the damage caused by being starved for so long. “ I nodded in understanding, and he left me to sleep.

Kerwin’s habit of calling me “little one” was a sore point with me, negative association because of Walter calling me that, you see, but I was afraid to speak up and ask him to stop, not knowing how he would react. So far he had been very understanding and patient with me, but I was still frightened of his reaction. I knew he called Matatias that, so I had a feeling he would either insist on calling me that anyway, regardless of my wishes, or he would intend to not do so, but would slip up out of habit. Every time those two words passed his lips, I would swear Walter as the one speaking the, even though he had Kerwin have very different voices. When I finally did gather the courage to tell him, he only nodded in understanding and asked why I had not said anything earlier. If it truly bothered me, he said, he would refrain from using it in my presence.

I had nightmares, several of them, many of which left me huddled in a terrified ball under my blankets. Most were the usual, trapped in the castle with Walter again, some were of being in my prison again. I always woke up from them screaming and crying - at least until I ran out of the energy to do so -and oftentimes they would cause panic attacks that often took several minutes for me to come out of. Sometimes Kerwin holding and soothing me would help, sometimes it would only make it worse. One was so severe that Kerwin had to order the servants to of the room and then leave himself, allowing me to come out of it on my own. I was still in the midst of it when exhaustion dragged me under, and I was out of it when I woke up some thirteen hours later.

One nightmare, however, was different from the others, and while it occurred infrequently, it terrified me more than the others put together. In it, I was lying on the floor of my prison, waiting for Leon, only instead of being recently fed and well dressed, I was wearing the rags I had taken off a hunter, and I was weak and unable to move. Mathias was in the room with me, and the presence that I had felt around him was there as well, only this time it was unbearably strong. I was terrified, and I wanted to badly to get away from it, but I couldn't move. Mathias slowly walked over to me, my terror increasing with every step he took, until he was standing right next to me. I looked up at him as he stared down at me, and his face was unreadable. I felt the temperature in the room drop drastically, like it had the night Walter had died, and I began to shake from the cold. I heard a flapping sound and a figure rose from behind Mathias, a skeletal figure with a large, tattered, blood red cape fluttering in a mockery of wings. I screamed, and woke up then, screaming as loud as I could.

The house always came running when I woke up from that one. I didn't have the strength to scream for long, but the terror would take hours to subside, and there were many times when Kerwin had to hold me until I just passed out from exhaustion, unable to stay away any longer. At first I refused to tell Kerwin what the nightmare was about, not matter how much he cajoled and tried to wheedle it out of me. I finally relented and told him about it one morning after the household was groggy and tired from being woke up by my screaming.

Of course that required an explanation about who Mathias was and how I had met him.

"He just appeared down there just before Leon appeared." I explained "I don't know how he got in, or why he was so interested in seeing my fight with Leon, but there was something wrong with him. Something did not feel right, and I don't think he was turned the traditional way." Kerwin's face darkened with visible anger as I told my story, and at first I thought he was angry with me.

"I'm not angry with you, Joachim." he said quietly "But I must leave you to rest right now. I have to go speak to someone." He laid me down and tucked me in, using his own mind to urge me to sleep, something he had never done before, making me wonder what was the issue with Mathias.

I would soon find out


Chapter 1 -- Chapter 3

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