October 1999

Author's Note: All right, you must be a super duper Alucard fanatic to be reading this part, and if you're not, well, hey, thanks!
post-production notes below!

  After an extended period of silence, Alucard looked up. Something was amiss. Had he been paying closer attention to his surroundings, he would have noticed a brief shimmer about him as certain things in the fort vanished with his brother's departure. Even the human victims were gone; he and Maria were the only creatures, dead or alive, in the great chamber, and most likely the entire fort as well. The atmosphere that had so permeated the area with its presence had also disappeared.

   "Do you not think we should leave?" Maria asked, verily disturbed by the disappearance of the women and fearing that the building might collapse around them like Castlevania did. Sensing the distress in her voice, Alucard pushed himself up off the floor to a sitting position. "My brother's power only extends so far. This fort was made long before his human birth. In fact, it was his human inheritance, so, no, it won't come crashing down upon our heads."

   "I'm glad to hear it," said Maria, relieved. Then she cocked her head. "How do you feel now? Are you well enough to travel?"
  Alucard shook his head. "Not by foot. I cannot initiate any transformation now, I can feel it. The nearest village is, at best, a couple days travel from here through the mountains. Without a horse or ready food supply we might find it a very difficult journey home indeed." His voice faded as his mind drifted, and a pensive look drew across his expression.

   Although she really wanted to leave immediately Maria could see that he needed rest. Glancing about her, she noticed that not all of the furniture in the room had disappeared, only the more ornate and demonic looking ones. An idea formed and she hoped she was right.

   "You can walk a little ways, right?" she asked. "Come, I'll help you."
  Wondering what she had in mind, but in no mood to object, Alucard allowed himself to be helped up and led out of the room. Quickly he realized she was leading them back the way they had come when Severnes had taken them from Maria's room of imprisonment a few hours ago. He did not see what good it would do them until Maria opened the door, sighed in relief, and promptly sat him onto the bed, which, along with the rest of the furniture in the room, had not dematerialized.

   She methodically removed his boots, cape and coat. When she bent closer to unbutton his shirt, he asked warily, "What are you doing?"
  Maria leaned back and gave him a withering look. "Did the blood loss affect your brain?" She smiled and shook her head. "You're not going to sleep in that blood-soaked shirt are you? And we haven't had a look at your wound yet either, or did you forget that you had a hole in your gut?"

   "Oh," was all he could manage as he looked down at his abdomen when his shirt was removed. A ragged pink circle of scar tissue marred his pale flesh. After waiting a bit, it was apparent that it was not going to heal like it should have, if he still had his vampiric abilities. Maria poked it, and Alucard winced.

   "Well," he said, "it's sore enough, but it has healed internally and externally sufficiently enough to not be much of a bother. If I were bitten any sooner, I might have still bled to death."
  "Let's not think about what might have happened," she said, pulling the blanket over him.
  "What are you going to do now?" he asked when she did not join him.
  "Explore the fort," she answered quite matter-of-factly.
  "Alone?" He was appalled. "There might still be creatures out there even if the demons are all gone."
  She placed her hands on her hips. "You seem to forget that I am a vampire hunter, and a magician, AND I can take care of myself." Her expression flared with an almost child-like obstinacy. "And I won't be alone." Her owl, who had been hovering nervously near them the entire evening -watching the drama unfold- fluttered too her shoulder.

   "All right," he said wearily, leaning back, even though he knew it did not matter whether or not he gave his consent.
  "Oh look!" Maria exclaimed moving towards the table across the room with the food on it. "I think we've found our provisions for the journey home." She looked thoughtful. "I'll have to look around for more useful items, too, like a sack, and clothes would help..." She moved to the door then stopped. "You don't think it would be poisonous?"

   Alucard shook his head. "It would have disappeared along with my brother. Anything left in the fort must be natural, and had you eaten it before, he would have needed you alive."
  "Good." she started off again. "If you need anything, yell and my owl will hear you."
  She was about to close the door when Alucard sat bolt upright. "Wait!" She peered back into the room
  "Where is my bat?" he asked, more concern and distress colouring his tone now that he was 'more human.'
  "Oh, here." Maria removed the bundle of cloth and bat from a pocket hidden in the folds of her shift. Alucard received it carefully, and the bat whined.
  He made soothing sounds as he unwrapped it and inspected the damaged wing. The bat continued to whine pitifully and pressed closer to him even as his expression changed. Maria could not read the look on his face; it was a puzzled, overwhelmingly intense, sad expression.

   Alarmed by his forlorn appearance, Maria asked, "What's wrong, is she all right?"
  His expression did not change, but he paused. "She's perfectly fine, but. . ." He turned to look at Maria, now, a slight hint of horror in his perplexing expression. "I can't connect with her mind!"

  The morning found Maria wrapped in Alucard's cloak, saddling up a large black gelding in the courtyard. She thought they were terribly lucky to have found a lone horse in the garrison stables, though she had to wonder why. She could not imagine why a vampire like Severnes would need a horse. During the course of her wanderings, she had also found some rotting meat in the kitchens, nothing worth saving, and some empty containers for water. There really was not much of anything else left in the fort except old and crumbling furniture. The armory was also rather sparse, and produced for her only some dull swords, and daggers, a shield and rusting suits of armor. The sharpest dagger she could find was now fitted into a belt around her waist.

   The horse rotated his ears sideways and shifted slightly. Maria looked over his back to see Alucard approaching with a canteen of water.
  She was almost shocked to see how differently he looked in the sunlight. Despite the slight weariness in his step, for he was still recovering, his tall frame was formidable. There was colour in his skin, now, no longer the deathly pale hue that was normal for him, although it was still lighter than her own. He was beautiful, as he always was, and as he always would be, but it seemed the androgynous bit of his features had been lifted like a mask that had been hiding him all along. But the most surprising thing about how he looked was the appearance of physical age; he was not old, at most 15 years older than she were he human, a man in his prime. It was almost like looking at him for the first time, though it was just him, only more... real.

   The dark length of a new trench coat effectively hid the rest of him. Maria had found it in a closet in a room beside a door that once led to Severnes's chambers. There was nothing beyond the door now but the courtyard ten stories below.

   As he moved within 2 metres of the horse, he stopped and speculated. "Usually by this time, the horse would be bucking and screaming, trying to either trample me to death, or run away."
  Maria had to smile. "So you're saying, you've never ridden a horse?"
  "Of course, I have," he said with a hint of disdain, "except most of the ones I've ridden have a bit of devil-blood in them, so they're not your regular type of horse." He paused. "However, I do recall when I was very young and I used to try to keep my seat on a normal horse. My father used to laugh when they died of fright beneath me..." He walked up to the horse and placed his hand on its neck. "...and I did too, until I saw how my mother cried for the wretched thing... or was she crying for me?"

   The smile had vanished from Maria's lips, and she stared wide-eyed at him with the horse between the two of them. He did not look at her as he began stroking the horse's neck, though he could feel her amazement. She blinked quickly, and turned back to re-adjusting the girth of the saddle pad.

   "If you're ready, let us be off."
  Maria carefully pulled herself up, checked the girth once more and pulled the cloak tighter about herself. Alucard swung up behind her and slid his boots into the stirrups. She picked up the reins as he kicked the horse, and they trotted off.

   They had been riding some time when the path widened out before them and Maria allowed the horse to pick his own pace. She turned her head around to look at Alucard. Although his eyes were closed he sat straight, body rocking according to the horse's movements.

   "Yes?" he asked without opening his eyes.
  "How are you doing?"
  "Well, thank you."
  She looked at him a little longer, before turning back. "That's good."
  He opened his eyes and he hunched forward, chin on her shoulder. "Is there something wrong?"
  She sighed, shoulders stooping a little, causing his head to lower even more. "No, I don't know. It's just a feeling I have... An idea so strange..."
  "What do you feel?"
  She sighed again.
  "Don't do that," he said, pulling her back to sit straighter, head still beside hers.
  Her smile did not last two seconds. "When vampires die, there are ashes. Without the soul, the body returns to what it should be. Only ashes, right?"
  "...Yes. Sometimes there might be something else as well, depending on the vampire, why?"
  "Your brother did not leave any ashes."
  Alucard was stunned into silence.
  "What if he didn't die?" Maria voiced the thought for both of them.
  He shook his head. "He must have died, else half of his fort would still be there."
  "It could be an illusion. The whole thing could be an illusion. He could have faked his death."
  "No. None of it could be an illusion of such a grand scale. He could not have replicated Father. There is no way..."
  "I saw what he did to you. He could make you believe what he wanted you to believe. It's not entirely impossible."
  "No."
  "How do you explain our exit then? He left us exactly what we needed. He left a single horse in his stable for us."
  "Coincidence, dear heart. He is dead, I can feel it."
She felt like saying, you can't feel anything, you're only human now, but decided not to. Even the kiss on her cheek did not console her very much.

   "Do not concern yourself about it anymore, we shall be out of here soon, and will never have to think upon this again. My brother is not coming back."
  The Sun rose higher on its way to the peak of the sky, overlooking the snow-capped mountains that cupped the trees of the Transylvanian Alps, shielding an empty stone stronghold and the black horse that wound his way from it.
A black-haired wolf with green eyes watched the horse from an out cropping of rock beyond the fort. He licked his fangs casually, eyes glinting in the morning light.

Post-Production Notes

Booyakah! I'm done!! Ra Almighty, I'm done! Heh, boy oh boy did that take a long time... Oi, years in the making actually ^_^;  However, now that it's all over, I have to breathe a sigh of relief. No more people hounding me to get on with the next chapter, though I must thank all who did, since there were ...well, only three of you doing it! ^_^'
I must admit there were times when I almost decided to drop the whole thing. The result: a rather poor plot line. You can tell in Chapter 7, both my character and I go nuts trying to explain why we have this whole shenanigan pulled over Alucard's head. I think it kinda worked though, putting my own doubts about the plot into my characters. Even Alucard says it's pathetic ^_^; I suppose if I'd thought the whole thing out sooner, it might have worked out better, but I couldn't manage that. You just have to plough through it in order to get the good stuff; planning takes too much time and sucks away your urge to write.
Well, I hope somebody enjoy[s/ed] it. I rather like this last part up there about Al'c and the horse...

No, there will not be a sequel.

Thank You's:
*ANYONE WHO READ THE WHOLE THING
*Ayami Kojima for giving Alucard a face
*Konami for bringing Symphony over here
*Sofasoap for being the first to tell me to get it together
*my Master, Chimera, for having our prep talks on icq and taping me the movies I'll never watch ^^;
*my wondrous oNe-san, Aiva, for keeping me so amused all the time...
 

Disclaimer: Markus Severnes and all his minions/victims are my own creations; Castlevania: SotN, Alucard, Maria, et al are other people's creations collectively copyrighted by Konami. This fanfic is for entertainment purposes only, now go outside and get some sunshine.

fin October 1999
(posted @ www.fanfiction.net 1st Quarter 2002 ~ Thank you all for reading and reviewing!)