Title: The Living Years
Author: bnomiko
Rating: R
Pairing(s): Trevor + Sypha + Alucard, Dracula + Lisa
Spoilers: post S4
Disclaimer: "The Living Years" is performed and recorded by Mike + The Mechanics. Castlevania is the creation and property of Konami. Castlevania (animated series) is the creation and property of Netflix. This is a not-for-profit fanwork and I do not own any of these characters.
Summary: Vlad Tepes, formerly known as Dracula, utilizes a distance mirror in hopes of reconnecting and reconciling with his estranged son. But while a lot can change in four and a half years, like marital status and children... other things can stagnate, like the physical and emotional scars left behind by grief and a moment's rage. Post S4 animation canon based.
Archived at: http://www.phenixsol.com/Miko/FF/

* * *

The Living Years

Ch. 2: And all of their frustrations
Come beating on your door

* * *

Frediric studied the face in the mirror. The man that stared back was distinctly different than anyone he'd seen before, with a pale, grayish complexion and sharp, severe features. Even his goatee looked like it could cut glass. The man looked familiar, but he wasn't someone from the village. Maybe a Speaker like his mother's family? But he wasn't dressed like one.

"Mister, who are you?"

Vlad did his best to paste a closed lip smile on his face. He tried to remember how he spoke to Adrian when he was a child, and replicated that. "My name... well, it's changed over the years. It's not important. What is your name?"

The boy pointed to himself, his hand lightly touching the crest over his left breast. "I'm Frediric Belmont."

"Well met, Frediric. Do you think you could you fetch Adrian Tepes for me?"

"Adrian?" Frediric sounded out. He knew the name, but unlike with Trevor, he didn't use it. "Papa?"

"You call him 'Papa'?"

Frediric nodded. "But Papa's not my real papa, Treffy is," the little boy whispered as if letting Vlad in on a secret. It had been a big deal to him, after all. He'd cried for a whole afternoon after learning he wasn't going to get cool vampire powers when he grew up, like levitating or transforming into a wolf.

"I see. Yes, I'd like to talk to 'Papa,' please. Just him, not your actual papa."

The child's face scrunched up as he thought about it. "But he's hiding. I have to go find him."

Vlad resisted asking why Adrian was hiding. A game, perhaps? Adrian had liked hiding around the castle when he was little and making his parents find him. "That's all right. I can wait."

Frediric nodded. "Okay, Mister. I'll try. But he's a sneaky shit."

Vlad's eyebrow lifted at the language, but he nodded back and said, "That's fine. I'll be here."

* * *

Frediric went to the next room and then the next, continuing his search, but he was starting to think he'd lost track of Trevor, and he still hadn't found a hint as to where Adrian was hiding.

He decided to backtrack down to the main hall, but just as he turned and began making his way back, he thought... no, he was sure he'd heard something. Maybe a floor above?

He ran up the stairs and walked past a column, before realizing the shadow behind it was moving slightly. His head whipped around, his hand reaching out automatically to grab at whatever was back there. It connected with loose canvas fabric and he was rewarded with his father's rumbling chuckle as Trevor said, "Good job, you got me."

"Treffy, you have to help me find Papa," Frediric immediately blurted out.

"Of course." That was par for the course. But when Trevor peered at his son he noticed he didn't look as thrilled as he usually did when he found him. "Is something wrong?"

"Someone wants to talk to Papa," Frediric said.

The brunet's brows beetled at the vague statement. "Who?"

"The mirror man downstairs."

What? It sounded crazy, but Trevor wasn't going to dismiss it considering they lived in a castle full of magic items and science and all sorts of other things he didn't understand. "A mirror man?" Someone using a distance mirror, perhaps? There were at least two of them in the castle... "Er... did he say who he was, or what he wanted?"

"He wanted to talk to Papa. Only Papa."

"What did he look like?"

"Black hair. Beard and moustache. Red eyes."

Trevor felt a shiver run down his spine. "Super tall? Fangs?"

Frediric's face screwed up slightly. As he only saw the man's face he didn't know if he was as tall as Adrian, or even taller. And he hadn't noticed his teeth. He shrugged, then added, "He had ears like Papa, but bigger." He put his fingers up on the sides of his head to approximate the shape of pointed ears.

Trevor swallowed, his pulse picking up. His hand twitched towards his hip, then felt around at the small of his back, the two spots where his whips hung... except he'd gotten complacent in recent years and stopped walking around fully armed. He had the Vampire Killer on him at least, plus a couple of knives... but no sword, no Morning Star. "Where was this? Downstairs, you said?" he asked, trying his best to keep his voice steady even as panic gripped his chest. It had to be the library or Vlad's study, and given the description, he had a feeling he knew exactly what room to head for.

"But he said he only wanted to talk to Papa," Frediric repeated, trying to do exactly as he was asked.

"Yeah, I get that, but..." Trevor sighed, scrubbing harshly at his face. He wasn't sure if he should involve Adrian or not, even if the half-vampire really was their only hope in fighting off Dracula. Could he really ask Adrian to kill his father again? Did even Adrian stand a chance, if Dracula was back at full strength? Maybe it was best to handle it himself? Even with his combat efficiency diminished, he could at least try to buy his family a minute or two to escape... "Go back to Mama and tell her... I'm looking into something. If she hears any sort of commotion, she needs to get out immediately."

"But what about Papa?"

Trevor grimaced. He couldn't help but think back to his battle with Death and how he sent Adrian and Sypha away, knowing full well that they'd be devastated by him sacrificing himself. But, he couldn't help it... if he had to do it all over again, he wouldn't change a thing. This situation was no different. "If you run into Papa, give him the same message, okay?"

Frediric frowned slightly, old enough to know something was amiss, but unable to explain it or question it. "Okay."

"Go on now, to your mama."

* * *

Sypha told herself she'd turn in for bed when she reached the end of the chapter she was on. She had flipped ahead and confirmed there were only three pages to go, so even though her vision was starting to fuzz just a bit at the edges, that seemed a reasonable goal.

Ann was starting to look sleepy as well, as she'd stopped crawling around and was content to simply hug her rag doll and chew on the wooden handle of her rattle while blinking slowly.

Just as Sypha flipped to the last page, Frediric came rushing into the room, looking both excited and confused. "Mama, Mama!"

"What is it, sweetie?"

"Treffy said he's looking into something, and if there's a comm... commonin? Commushin? Co..."

"Commotion?"

Frediric nodded. "Commotion! Then Mama has to get out. Immitadly?"

Sypha groaned softly. "Immediately?" If this was part of their game... "Did Trevor say what he was looking into?" she asked, fully expecting to hear that they couldn't find Adrian - again.

"The man in the mirror," Frediric explained.

"Man? What man and mirror?"

The little boy furrowed his brows a moment, still trying to place the face that he'd seen, and then he looked up and began emphatically pointing at the wall past Sypha's head. "That man! He said he wanted to talk to Papa."

The Speaker turned, her heart stuttering for a moment when she realized her son was pointing at the painting of the young Tepes family that hung on the wall. "The man with the black hair? Are you sure?"

Frediric nodded vigorously. He got a little closer to the painting, staring at it. "His eyes really are red!"

Sypha took in a deep breath. "Frediric, does Papa know? Have you told him about this?"

"He's still hiding," the boy said with a small pout.

Sypha nodded grimly, then used a burst of magic wind to help push herself onto her feet. She took in another breath, then yelled, "Adrian! Game's over, I need to talk to you!" certain that he'd be able to hear her as long as he wasn't too far away or in a closed room. She turned back to her children. "Frediric, I'm going to put Ann to bed, then I need you to stay in the room with her. But if you hear anything scary - loud yelling, or the sound of Daddy's whip or my magic - take your sister and go to Greta's, okay? Can you do that for me? It's very important."

The child did his best to file all the instructions away. "Yes, Mama. But remember, you have to get out if there's a commotion." Frediric didn't stumble over the word this time, and grinned proudly. He still wasn't sure what it meant.

Sypha gave the boy a thin smile and lightly tousled his hair. "I understand. I'll let Trevor know..."

A blur of red suddenly flashed into the room, startling Sypha. Normally it wouldn't have, but the prospect of being attacked had her on edge. Adrian looked at her in confusion, then glanced at the kids. "What's wrong? Did something happen?" he asked, immediately concerned that one of the children had hurt themselves. Frediric, being four and Trevor's kid to boot, had already displayed a penchant for finding trouble...

Frediric instantly attached himself to Adrian's legs, trying to remember all the words, intent on delivering the message again, but his mother beat him to the punch.

"You haven't seen Trevor, right?" The blond had barely shaken his head when she added, "He's 'looking into something' and that something happens to look a lot like your father and a magic mirror..."

* * *

It hadn't been the easiest thing to convince Sypha to remain behind with the kids, but she was nearly nine months pregnant and Adrian was in a hurry and couldn't wait for her to huff and puff her way up and down four or five flights of stairs. Besides, in a worst case scenario, they needed someone to stand as the last line of defense to protect the children... but Adrian was determined it wouldn't come to that. If what Frediric described was accurate, it was most likely Vlad was using a basic viewing mirror as a means of communication, but if he'd somehow gotten hold of a larger mirror capable of transporting matter, then that was an entirely different problem. If that was a possibility at all, the half-vampire would have to figure out some way to activate the transmission mirror in the study and take the fight to his father rather than risk anyone else getting involved, even if that meant trapping himself in an unwinnable situation in an unknown land.

Or... was this all a trick, a trap? Hadn't he learned anything from the incident with Sumi and Taka? The castle was a prize that other vampires, supernatural creatures, and even mere humans, had their eye on. Same held true for his father's soul. They'd simply invited Saint Germain in; a powerful enough being like Death could easily disguise themselves to sneak in even without help. He'd been such a fool before; he couldn't afford to be tricked again.

Heart pounding furiously in his chest, Adrian switched to his bat swarm form to bypass the stairs, then back into humanoid form to take full advantage of his vampiric speed as he launched himself off the wall and down the hallway, rushing into his father's old study, adrenaline pouring through his system. As he shot in he took in the entire scene all at once: Trevor standing in the center of the room, arms crossed and biceps twitching, a scowl marring his features. The serenely floating mirror, assembled for the first time in years. And on the glass surface, the visage of two people he hadn't seen in over four years and yet had never forgotten: his father, carrying himself with surprising calm considering he was facing a fuming Belmont, and his mother, concern wrinkling her brow, doing her best to placate the two men having a face off. It almost hurt to look at them, at how real and normal they seemed, when the last time he'd seen them, they'd been screaming in terror while trapped inside an abomination made up of sewn together corpses.

After quickly spotting for a landing, Adrian came to an abrupt stop beside his partner. Trevor jumped at his sudden appearance, at the sound of his name being shouted an inch away from his ear. It took the hunter a moment to find his voice. Frown deepening, Trevor asked, "Why are you here? I told Frediric..."

Relief had begun singing through Adrian's veins, but his heart was still an anxious ball of fury. He was so intently focused on Trevor that he couldn't even spare another glance in the direction of the mirror. Either his parents were alive, or they weren't. He was in no state to hazard a guess, not with the fear of losing Trevor still clawing at him; the terror of that hadn't had time enough to ebb. "You think I would leave you to deal with this alone, you thoughtless ass?!"

Trevor bristled. "What, you think I can't handle this?"

"By yourself? How did that go the first time?"

"At least I'm armed!" Trevor yelled back, ignoring the fact that Adrian had brought up a good point.

A soft swish and a moment later, Trevor found himself confronted by the razor sharp tip of Adrian's hovering heirloom sword, a hand's width away from his face. The blond straightened his back, fighting for every last inch of height advantage as he stared down his lover. "You were saying?" he asked icily.

Lisa had had enough. This wasn't how she thought their reunion would go. She couldn't recall the last time she'd raised her voice at her son - he'd been a quiet and obedient child - but it wasn't like she'd lost a mother's instincts. "BOYS!" she snapped, her voice cracking between them just as sharply as one of Trevor's whips.

Both men winced and turned in her direction, with Adrian the more sheepish of the two. That sure sounded like his mother, and now that Adrian was actually taking the time to study the woman's face, he could at least confirm that she most definitely looked like his mother, albeit a tiny bit older than he remembered. Blonde hair several shades more golden than his own platinum locks, curling around her face like a blast of sunlight on a hot summer day, and pale blue eyes, framed by long lashes. And the man beside her unmistakably resembled his father, from the fact that his head towered over his wife's like a large tree, to the slightly ashen skin and sharply contrasting jet black hair, to the aquiline set of the eyes and nose that so resembled Adrian's own.

Lisa's lips turned downward slightly. She... really hadn't meant to yell at them like that; they weren't children. But since it had worked and they'd stopped bickering... "Adrian, don't point your weapon at your friend, even in jest."

"Yeah Adrian, stop sticking your sword in my face," the hunter mocked.

Adrian's eyes widened, then immediately narrowed as he glared at Trevor. Did he seriously make a dick joke? "Fuck you!"

Lisa gasped. "Adrian! Honestly, this behavior..."

Trevor snorted, happy to take the opportunity to gang up on his lover. "Don't fucking cuss in front of your mom," he chided, as if he hadn't been the one to unload a steady stream of expletives the moment he'd stepped into the study and spotted Vlad's face.

The blond continued to snarl at his husband, who looked so smugly proud of himself that he wanted to punch him just to do it. "Of all the stupid..." His sword quivered in indecision, then finally turned downward to float harmlessly at his side. "Fine! I'm sorry. That was crass of me, regardless of whether you're actually my parents or not," he huffed in frustration.

Lisa and Vlad exchanged concerned glances as Trevor's expression morphed into something more serious. "That occurred to me too," said the hunter. "I've done my best to vet them, but... well, I only have the stories and such you've told us to go off of, yeah?"

That made sense. Adrian had no doubt Trevor had done what he could on that front. They joked that he was an idiot, but when it came to protecting his family, there was no doubt that the brunet wasn't going to take any chances. "And...?"

"Far as I can tell, they're the real deal." And Trevor inclined his head slightly at the mirror. "But to be honest, most of your stories were about your mother. So I could only confirm that much."

Adrian nodded, then fully turned towards the glass surface, his eyes taking in every movement, every reaction. Lisa smiled hesitantly, while Vlad seemed a little more withdrawn, a man awaiting judgement. At least neither one protested against their scrutiny. "I do have a foolproof way to check if you are who you appear to be," the half-vampire said to his father. "The mirror in the study is locked by a code that only you know."

Vlad hummed. He had intended to pass it on to his son someday, but things had fallen apart before that point. "Yes." Vlad reached out with a clawed finger and tapped lightly on the glass on his side. "I will write it down for you, then. Remember to flip the sigils. Are you ready?"

Adrian gave a curt nod.

Trevor watched as the vampire used both hands to quickly inscribe a series of glowing symbols that he couldn't possibly begin to guess the meanings of. Adrian watched intently, then said, "You'll know I was successful if I reconnect the mirrors," and with that, he gave a wave of his hand and the mirror shards before them dropped back to the ground.

"You memorized it that easily?" Trevor asked. Though now that he thought about it, the code could've been something as basic as Lisa and Adrian's names in a different language. Sypha would probably know, if she were there.

The blond merely grunted as he lifted his hand again, and the shards floated up, loosely reassembling before them. Extending his own claws, he copied what he'd seen, mirroring them as instructed, and just like that, the glass surface began glowing faintly. Adrian's eyes mimicked that glow as they took on a red sheen of their own, as the image of a cottage on the edge of a small village against an ink black backdrop shimmered into being in the middle of the mirror.

Trevor's eyebrows went up. "Is that where they are?" The house and the town looked so... ordinary. Would the former lord of vampires really live in such a modest dwelling? Come to think of it, he'd been dressed plainly as well, in a simple gray tunic. "This thing is accurate, right?"

"Yes, it's accurate. Distance mirrors at their most basic simply provide a window on whatever subject or location is requested." Adrian blinked, refocused again, and the scene switched to the inside of the cottage, to the couple that sat there, waiting patiently in front of a small mirror that floated above an ornate box. The tension in the half-vampire's body drained out. Now that he knew for sure that his father was using a simple viewing mirror, any worry that their family was in immediate danger was gone. Still, he hesitated to reconnect the mirror to theirs; he honestly didn't know what to say.

"Adrian, do you want me to go get Sypha?" Trevor asked, seeing the rigidity in his husband's shoulders and back dissipate to the point where he was starting to slump where he stood.

"For what?"

"Well..." She's better at talking to people than I am, because I have no idea what the hell I'm supposed to say to fucking Dracula! But that was a given. Instead Trevor said, "We're safe, right? I think she'd like to know what was going on."

"She was going to bed..."

"Yeah, I know, but there's no way she's sleeping right now, right?" And this'll give you a chance to talk to them a little without interference...

Adrian sighed. "I suppose..." Without realizing it, his hand came up to rub absentmindedly over the scar on his chest.

The brunet reached over and squeezed his lover's shoulder. "I'll be back shortly, then."

Adrian gave a small nod. Trevor kissed him on the cheek and then turned and walked out of the room, glancing back at the last moment to see the other man standing forlornly in front of the mirror, his other hand stilled while half raised towards the surface. He almost wondered if Adrian was going to remain frozen in place like that until he returned.

* * *

Author's Notes:

- Didn't mean to cliffhanger it, but given the next chapter is an entire conversation without breaks, this one ended up a bit shorter.

- Thanks to Nenya85 for beta work. Reviews are appreciated!

December 13, 2023