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Child of the Night

Chapter 11: S2

Notes:

Soo, this is another chapter!
I don't own castlevania!
See? I said I had two chapters for ya!
Onto the chapter!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"Carpathian?" Isaac inquired, fingertips gently touching the mirror as ripples followed their touch. At his question, Isaac turned away from the glass and moved towards where his master was sitting in his traditional spot in front of the fire.

"Yes, the last of the mirrors made by the Carpathian scrying hermits four hundred years ago." Dracula replied, gazing sadly at the fire.

"I must learn more about transmission mirrors one day." Isaac mused, only to pause at the look on his lord's face. After all, despite having both a transmission mirror and a communication mirror, Dracula could not find his son. The transmission mirror only viewed a place, not people, so unless Dracula knew exactly where his son was, he would be unable to use it to bring him home. While the communication mirror could be used one a specific place or person, Dracula still was unable to directly communicate with his son. There were a few moments it seemed as though he almost got through, but it would fail quickly.

Now there wasn't even a chance of it.

Perhaps, if he had a distance mirror, he'd be able to find his son without any issues, but that was the one mirror that seemed to have escaped his collection.

Letting out a sigh after a few moments of silence, Dracula replied to Isaac's musing. "There will be time enough, soon the world will be silent." And his son will be in his arms once again.

"God, yes." Isaac agreed with a relieved groan. His hand raised to pinch at the bridge of his nose. "Listening to Hector made me wish for a lifeless world all on his own."

Dracula chuckled at that. "I find myself wishing you two were better friends. I know my son would wish that too."

Isaac turned towards Dracula at that. "Yes, well, as I said to him, making human friends seems a little pointless given our current pursuit?"

"True." Dracula hummed, closing his eyes. "But in the end, there will be only you and him."

Isaac looked away. "Presumably." Turning back to the fire, Isaac addressed the issue he had come here for. "He'll be coming here to approve a move on Braila."

Dracula opened his eyes at this. "Why?"

"Hector doesn't like it when the animals fight." Isaac replied, crossing his arms behind his back. He really did not see any real motivation to this attack other than to appease Carmilla. "Carmilla has the court whipped up. Discord is loud. It bothers him."

"Is he still loyal?"

"Oh, I think so." Isaac replied. He never doubted Hector's loyalty, just his ability to resist being manipulated. The man was like a puppy. Loyal to his owner but easily swayed by a few treats from a threat "There is betrayal abroad in the court, but Hector is a simpler creature than that. He just doesn't like the arguing."

Dracula looked away. "So the generals are going to betray me."

"No," Isaac growled, getting Dracula to look back at him as his face gained a shadow of anger. "If anyone actually approached the verge of that, they would be taken care of without you ever finding out about it my Lord." Taking a breath, he continued. "It is simply in the air because they are frustrated."

Knowing his forgemaster, Dracula knew he spoke the truth. It wouldn't surprise him if such action had already been taken, but he did not care if it had been. If it has nothing to do with finding his son or the destruction of the human race, then it did not warrant his attention. Nothing mattered but those two things.

"So," He drawled, hand coming up to rest his head on his fist. "If I let them go to Braila they'll stop scheming and whining."

"I think so. It will give Carmilla some power, but that is not a bad thing."

"No. The war room will speak to you and Hector in one voice instead of a dozen."

"Indeed. And at the end of the day, you don't care so long as the war continues."

Dracula let out a long, suffering sigh, one hand coming to cover his face as the other waved through the air in dismissal. "Fine then." He slouched more into his chair, a picture of a weary, tired man. "I'm tired Isaac. There was a time I would relish the details, oh, there was a time. A time when the smallest details of death delighted me." His voice turned wistful as he fell back into a memory. "I remember when the merchants of Kronstadt disrespected me. Spending the delicious few days gathering information about the town, and drawing my plans. Stealing at the river at night, setting fires in the town knowing that the merchantmen would send their wives and children out, but then go and retrieve their valuable goods before making their escape."

His eyes grew distant as he recalled the satisfaction that filled him as their screams met his ears and their blood decorated his skin as it rained from their necks. The fun he had as he hunted down each person and danced around their pitiful attempts of fighting back. "Forty of them had offended me. At the time, I saw no reason to harm anybody other than those forty." A smirk grew on his face as he remembered placing each body upon its pike, some already dead, some wishing to die quickly. "And I painted my picture accordingly."

The smirk dropped from his face. "Yet now, now I don't care how they are slaughtered, whether it is quick or painful. I do not care about the aftermath or the plans put into place, just that the result is their death." His hand clenched, and his voice hardened, angry at himself. "I can't even care to hunt down my son myself, only that he is found! I'm so tired, Isaac! So tired that I can't even bring myself to go out there and slaughter all in my path until my boy is in my arms! I only care for him to be here."

Perhaps that is why his mirror can not find his son. How do you communicate with something that in your heart (as dead as it is) you can only hope is alive? Despite the rage he has at the loss of his son (perhaps the only thing keeping him going at this moment), he is so distant, so detached from any care that he can't even put the effort to go out there and track down his son, that he can only order so from the darkness of his castle. A sigh left him as he slumped further into his chair.

Isaac, hoping to provide his master with some sort of ease, spoke. "You cannot hunt what you cannot find. At least with you here, one goal can be achieved much easier."

"Let us just conclude this thing." Dracula grumbled as the sound of footsteps outside his door reached his ears.

The door opened and Carmilla and Hector entered, Carmilla leading the two. She looked from Isaac to the chair where Dracula sat before addressing the forgemaster.

"Isaac," She said. "We were looking for you."

Isaac took a few steps toward her, before crossing his arms in front of him as he spoke. "I was admiring the mirror."

Carmilla shot the mirror a questioning look at those words before directing her attention to the man in the chair. "My Lord Dracula."

"My Lo-"

"Yes, yes, we all know who we are." Dracula cut in with a wave of his hand. "What do you all want?"

Carmilla frowned at being so dismissed easily but at seeing Isaac's shrug, pushed it aside. "Very well. Hector?"

Hector nodded and stepped forward a bit. "We would ask you to consider moving the castle to Braila to conduct a full scale destructive attack on the port."

"To what end?" Dracula asked, looking down at his hand.

Carmilla stepped forward with a wave of her hand. "To seal it and discourage escape by river to the sea. Then we turn inland having landlocked the humans and turn their country into a prison."

Dracula looked at Isaac. "I agree. They make a good case. It unites the court, it lets us move forward."

"Not only that, but without any way to escape, you have a better chance of finding Adrian." Carmilla pipped up, her words making Dracula's hands clench. "With the humans trapped, you are bound to find the ones responsible for his abduction."

Isaac could not stop the glare he sent her way, but before he could speak, his master spoke. "Braila, fine, Braila it is. I no longer have the strength for these petty decisions, nor do I have the patience to put up with speculation about where my son is. I don't want speculation, I want him found. So, I will let you amuse yourselves by going to Braila ourselves, so long as they all die. Should my son be there, then he is to be brought back, but otherwise just get this over with. All that matters is they all have to die."

Carmila smirked and nodded to Hector to leave. Before she left herself, she took a moment to address the figure in the chair. "Thank you. A great victory awaits-"

"Yes, yes," Dracula cut her off. "I'm tired. Tell me when you're ready for me to move the castle to Braila and get on with it."

Isaac watched the two leave and after moving to close the door once more for his master, he returned to Dracula's side. "I will stay, Dracula, until this is done."

"It doesn't matter." Dracula whispered, head hanging so that his hair framed his face. "So long as they all die. That's all. They all have to die."


"Sooooo…" Trevor drew out as he sat next to where Adrian was working on the distance mirror in the middle of the hold. Trevor himself was examining a case of weapons he had found on one of the shelves.

Adrian glanced up from where he was looking at one of the runes in the book beside him. They had successfully found a book in the hold containing information on distance mirrors and the associated runes. There had also been a book that just contained runes so he had them both open to make sure he was carving the correct working into the mirror. "Yes?'

"When we do get to the castle, what exactly is the plan?" Trevor asked, glancing at the boy from the corner of his eye before looking back down at the knife in his hand.

Adrian furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Well….I mean, it's not like we're going to be invited inside."

"No, you won't." Adrian huffed before looking down at the book again.

"Right…"

"But I will."

"Wait, what?" Trevor gasped, his head snapping to look at the boy.

Adrian sighed, shoulders heaving with the action. "I mean, I can get in just fine. Unlike you, no one will attack me. I'll just go in and talk with my dad."

"Right, and if that doesn't work?"

Adrian blinked. "But it will."

"Sure, but if it doesn't? What then? You expect us to just wait outside until your dad feels like stopping the war?" Trevor raised an eyebrow at the kid. "Hate to break it to you kid, but we kinda need him to stop as soon as possible."

"He'll stop." Adrian huffed. "He has to."

"I don't think that's how it's going to work." Trevor ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "Look, how about, you hang in here while we deal with your dad."

"What?! No!" Adrian exclaimed. "He's not going to listen to you! You're a human! And a Belmont! He'll kill you!"

"Then I'll kill him!"

"You can't!" Adrian's voice grew as he shouted at Trevor, hands clenched. "I'll make him listen! Everything will be fine! You don't need to kill my dad!"

"We can't let him keep killing humans! You have to see that's fucking bad, right?" Trevor shot back.

"I-"

"Trevor Belmont! What did you do!?" Sypha's voice called from one of the balconies. Looking up, the two saw her, arms cross and a frown on her face with a book in one of her hands.

"I was just trying to get some planning done!" Trevor shouted back, arms waving around in frustration.

"He was saying that I can't talk to my dad!" Adrian shouted up, pointing at Trevor. "He said he'd kill him!"

Using her free hand, Sypha rubbed her forehead as she cursed under her breath.

"Well, I'm sorry for wanting to keep the brat safe!"

"I'll be fine! My dad wouldn't let anything happen to me!"

"Ok, stop! Both of you stop!" Sypha cut in once more. "Now, Adrian, I can see where Trevor is coming from, even if he went about it in a really stupid way."

"Hey!"

"I also don't want to put you in danger." Sypha continued, ignoring Trevor's protest.

Adrian crossed his arms. "My dad won't hurt me. Plus, I can defend myself." He pointed at his sword that was resting on the ground next to him."

"Right, and going off of that, I can also see where you're right." Sypha appeased. "How about this, depending on the state of the castle when we get there, we'll go from there. If it's super dangerous, you wait. If it seems safe, we'll let you go in first."

Adrian huffed. "But-"

"We aren't going to hurt your dad, not without you talking to him first." Sypha said, giving a small smile to the boy.

"Well, unless he tries to kill us." Trevor grumbled.

"Trevor."

"What?!" Trevor shot back. "I'm just being fucking honest! I'm not going down without a fight!"

Again, Sypha sighed at the man before moving the book she was holding out in front of her. "Anyway, I originally came to tell you two that I found something."

"What is it?" Trevor asked as both he and Adrian gave her their full attention.

"I think I found a locking spell." She exclaimed, her body now animated with excitement as she got to share her discovery. "Listen. Your family has an entire literature here about the castle. They tried for centuries to eliminate its main advantage, that it transports itself through magical means." She had begun to make her way down to them as she ranted, opening the book where her finger had been marking the page.

"Right. You can't attack it if it jumps somewhere else through magical means." Trevor said, getting up to meet Sypha as she was growing closer to them.

"It's pretty cool though, especially when you're in the castle." Adrian supplied, getting two raised eyebrows in return. "What?"

Sypha let out a small snort. "Nothing. Anyway, some clever Belmont formulated most of a locking spell, a method to catch the castle and lock it down to a single location so it can be invaded."

"Most of it?" Adrian asked, tilting his head.

"I can finish the final clauses of it myself. It's all based on Adamical structure!"

"Adamic?" Adrian's head tilted even more. "I don't recognize that, and my dad speaks a lot of languages."

"Yes, well, Adamic is the original human language." Sypha replied, coming closer to the boy who stood up to see the book. "The one spoken by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The one that was split into all other languages at the Tower of Babel by God to prevent human cooperation."

"Huh?"

"See, we Speakers are the enemy of God. We live in cooperation and hide our stories inside ourselves so God cannot strike them down in jealousy."

"I've never heard that before." Trevor said and a nod of agreement came from Adrian. Just then, a large boom echoed through the hold.

Sypha quirked an eyebrow and gestured up at the ceiling. "See? God hates me."

More crashes and slams sounded from above, so strong that it shook the entire keep and dust rained down upon the group from above. Over and over they echoed and shook, so much so that the skeleton hanging from the ceiling started to swing. Joining the battering, a faint demonic cry came above.

"I don't think that's God." Trevor said, hand on his whip. Quickly, he turned to both Sypha and Adrian. "Can we get that magic mirror working?"

"I think so." Sypha said, glancing quickly between the open books on the floor and the mirror itself. "But I can't do two things at once."

"I'll finish the mirror." Adrian spoke up, moving quickly to the mirror once more. Picking up the book, he was quickly looking between it and the mirror, occasionally using a nail to etch into the edges of the mirror. "I can also look for the castle. I kind of know how to use a distance mirror. My dad didn't let me do it often, but I have done it."

"I'll finish the spell then." Sypha said.

"Great you do that!" Trevor said, eyes looking worriedly up at the ceiling. "Cause I can't do either of those things."

"You're a Belmont, right?" Adrian called over, eyes looking at him. "You can protect us."

"Thought you didn't need protection." Trevor shot back.

Adrian huffed and soon his sword was floating behind him, protecting him. "I don't! But Sypha will!"

"I almost got it!" She called over, eyes scanning the text.

"Plus," Adrian looked down. "I don't want them to destroy this place or hurt you guys, but since I can't talk to them, you need to do your job and fight them!"

"Aw, the brat cares." Trevor teased.

"Shut up." Adrian mumbled, flushing as he turned back to the mirror.

"Right, well, I'll try to buy you as much time as I can." Trevor promised and he got the Morning Star off his hip and got ready to make his way up to the entrance.

"I know you will!" Sypha called back before turning back to her book.

With that said, Trevor shot out the whip and allowed it to wrap around one of the higher walkways before propelling himself onto one of the main walkways. Then he began to dash to the entrance, losing his balance slightly as the crashes rocked the hold once again. Almost falling off the walkway, Trevor pulled himself up and continued to dash towards the entrance. When coming upon it, he looked around hoping to see something that could help barricade the door (but assuming these creatures made it through the magic door, he knew deep down a barricade would not help). After failing to set a peace of wood in front of the door, Trevor sighed and made his way out, internally groaning at the thought of the fighting he was about to do.

Making his way into the main staircase, Trevor began the long trek up the stairs.

Down in the keep, Adrian had finished checking the markings of the mirror and was now placing his hands upon the rim and imaging the castle, imagining his home. After a few seconds, the glass shifted and rather than showing himself, there was now a very familiar building before him.

"Home." Adrian breathed, a smile coming onto his face at the sight. Suddenly, a flash of blue struck his sight as the castle suddenly teleported. Adrian watched as the grassy woods the castle had originally been in changed to a city under the night sky. It seemed peaceful until a streak of blue lightning shot down with a wicked wind. Then, as quickly as it had originally vanished, the castle appeared in the middle of the city.

Back in the stairway, Trevor was huffing as he continued to climb, only to freeze as wooden beams above him began to shatter and fall. Looking up, he could see the progress of whatever demon was making its way down, forgoing the stairs and just shattering through each walkway below it.

"Oh for god's sake." Trevor cursed just as the demon shattered the walkway above him with a loud cry and fell down onto him. Moving quickly, he avoided the large demon just as it destroyed the walkway beneath him, and Trevor used Morning Star to take hold of one of the now broken beams sticking out of the wall to keep himself from falling. Pulling out his long sword, Trevor swung himself down onto the demon's back, the chain of his whip hooking around a horn, and he began to saw away at the neck of this large creature.

Of course, the night creature would not go down without a fight. Whipping its head around, it attempted to throw Trevor from its back before he could cut through its throat. In its thrashing, the demon thrust Trevor into the stair's back first, knocking the wind from the human and thus allowing it to throw Trevor from it's back. Now on the ground, Trevor groaned at the rough impact, breath still trying to return to his lungs while his back throbbed. He looked up as the demon was getting ready to slam him into the ground, but avoided it with a roll underneath it.

Taking out a small knife, he threw it at the sword lodged in the demon's neck, hoping to knock it loose. It was somewhat successful, as the sword loosened but did not fall from its neck. The demon in turn slammed its hands down to the wooden walkway, shattering the remaining path and sending both it and Trevor to the floor. With a groan, Trevor pushed himself off the ground from where he had slammed into it and watched as his sword dislodged from the throat of the beast. Racing forward and dodging the attacks from the demon, Trevor grabbed his sword and, in a swift movement, cut through the ankle of the demon.

Blood sprayed from both that wound and the one on its neck, and the demon fell to the ground with a thud. For a moment, Trevor stood there, taking a breather, but it did not last long as another night creature was quick to strike at him, falling from the broken staircase. He dodged the spear, only to get kicked onto his back just in time to see three more night creatures make their way down. Dodging the spear attack once again, Trevor began to duel with the night creature before him, before, with a swift movement, it knocked the sword from his hand.

Using just his arms to block the incoming attacks, Trevor continued to move backwards until he had a small moment to pull Morning Star back into his hand. Whipping out the chain, the demon blocked only for Trevor to wrap the chain around the sword and pull the demon in to punch it. Using his momentum, he pushed the demon onto it's back and looked up just in time to see a flying creature about to breathe fire.

"Fire drake," He huffed out. "Just what I need in an underground hole full of paper." Moving quickly, he pulled himself up, punched the demon he had been holding down away from him and thrust Morning Star up at the drake. As the end made contact, the drake burst, flames rushing from the explosion and taking out two other demons with it. The force of the explosion pushed him back as well and burst open the door to the keep. Panting, Trevor gazed through the door, taking another moment to catch his breath before he was attacked once again.

"Probably just as well I didn't get to play with the whip when I was a kid." He said to himself, turning to look at said whip. Just then, the spear demon rushed out from the door and used the weapon to keep Trevor from reaching his own. With a swift jerk, the whip was pushed toward the ledge of the landing and Trevor watched as the heavy chain pulled it down and away from him.

As the creature was also looking away, Trevor used this advantage to twist himself on the floor and kick out at the demon. Using his momentum, he was soon standing on his two feet and cracking the spear in half. Taking one end of the spear, Trevor thrust it into the demon's abdomen, pushing and twisting it to ensure the creature's death.

"When you get back to whatever steaming, underworld shithole you came from," he growled to the demon. "You tell them, there are still Belmonts up here!" With that, he thrust with all his strength into the demon's chest, then pulled the spear piece out to watch the creature die. Once it no longer moved, Trevor turned back to the doorway just in time to watch as a winged demon came flying at him. As he threw knives at it, the demon avoided them all easily then rammed into Trevor, pushing him off of the landing. Holding onto the creature, Trevor allowed it to carry him to another walkway branching out and landed, coming face to face with the bird-like being.

He swung the spear parts at him, only to be parried each time by its beak. Then, after one dodge on the creature's end, it flashed open its wings with great force, pushing Trevor away and even off of the walkway. He caught himself using the spear ends and dropped down on another wooden path, looking around for the flying creature. He heard the wings beat from behind him and with a swift move, he batted a spear part through the air and into one of the wings with a crack, knocking the beast to the ground.

He rushed at it while it was down, only for it to block his attack with its wings and show off the broken bird skull on its head. Propelling itself backwards, the creature threw Trevor over its shoulder and into a bookcase, back first once again. At this point, Trevor is amazed his back hasn't broken. Spitting and pushing himself up, Trevor flew back into melee with the night creature, which used its arms to block the attack from Trevor. The two traded blows until Trevor finally got the upper hand and thrust one spear through its head, sending it falling dead to the floor below.

Then another demon dropped down before him, looking like a giant beastly bat.

"You're an evil looking bastard, aren't you?" Trevor mused as he caught his breath a bit. "Well, I'm armed with a…" He paused, realizing it was the bottom part of the spear he had left. "With a stick. Hm? So, I'll understand if you want to run away now."

It didn't. In fact, it did the opposite.

Downstairs, Sypha was quickly sifting through books and pages before she picked up one of the sheets. "That's it!" She cried out before moving to make her way out of the bookshelves and back to the center of the room. She checked around her before running down the path only to freeze as the bat-like demon fell right in front of her. Jumping back, she got ready to defend herself only for Trevor to come flying past and into the demon, removing it from her path. Taking the chance, she rushed down to there Adrian was still gazing into the broken mirror with his sword on guard.

"Do you see the castle?" She asked, coming to stand behind him.

Adrian nodded, not looking away from the glass. "Yes! See! It's right there."

Sypha sighed. "Good. Stay focused on it, keep it in the glass. I have to be able to see it to put my intent on it."

His eyebrows furrowed and his head twitched as if wanting to turn to look at her as she put the books down only to stop when he remembered he had to remain focused on the view before him. "Intent?"

"Yes! That's all magic is, Adrian, making things change to match my intent. And my intent, it to drag that-" She paused, remembering that this was the boy's home. "To drag that thing here."

Burning the paper in her hands, the flames shifted into electricity and Sypha began to shift her hands in accordance to the spell. Adrian, though curious about what she was doing, paused when the electricity moved onto the mirror to frame the castle. From there, the blue light was pulled out from the mirror and, in Sypha's eyes, she could see a many sided object suddenly appear in her hands, her hands moving to completely cover the object.

Sypha grunted, her hands jerking as she tried to control the object, sweat dripping from her forehead. "It's ah- it's fighting me. It's like pulling against an anchor and a water wheel all at once!"

"It's probably the engine!" Adrian exclaimed, looking at her, only to jump when a large bang came from above them once again. "That's how the castle moves! It's fighting against you!"

Another boom made him look up just as the creature Trevor was fighting above them fell off the edge of the floor above them. Up there, Trevor cursed and grabbed Morning Star from where it had landed down there, thrusting it out after the demon. At the same time, Adrian had moved closer to Sypha as his sword moved to hover before him, prepared to defend back the creature. However, before it could strike, Morning Star made contact with the demon and it exploded.

Behind Adrian, Sypha slammed her hands together, still playing tug of war with the engine of the castle. "Do as you're told!" Sypha grunted at the mirror, gritting her teeth against the castle.

They watched through the mirror as the castle shifted and teleported all throughout the town it was in as the battle of magic continued. Sypha was not willing to give in though, and continued to pull it in her direction. Adrian watched as his home flashed and shifted, sparks racing across its frame just as it did across Sypha's hands.

Then, with one last flash of blue, a boom sounded from above them.

"Hah," Sypha gasped, catching her breath. "I did it!"

"Where did you put it?" Adrian asked, staring between the castle in the mirror and Sypha.

"Right on top of us!" Sypha exclaimed happily with a clap of her hands. However, she froze as some dirt started to fall from the ceiling once again, much like when the demon's were breaking in. "Uh, yes, right I landed it on the surface right above this underground space that is probably only held up by wood and dirt."

"Nice one Sypha." Trevor complimented sarcastically as he leaned over the railing above them.

"Yeah, we should go." Sypha said, taking off to the stairs. Before Adrian followed, he turned back to the mirror one last time, hand gently tracing the broken glass.

"I'm home dad."

Notes:

There ya go! Yeah, Dracula isn't doing so well... but hey, Isaac tried to help? He's not the uh...comforting type.
But! You guys realize what the next chapter holds, right? We gonna be ending season 2 here soon! Then there will be little bridging moments and then we going into season 3! And I am excited for the next chapter and the ones that follow! Just super excited!
Anywho, feel free to comment or anything else!
Until next time! :D