Title: Benedicton
Fandom: Castlevania
Rating: T
Length: 1847
Content notes: Warnings for graphic descriptions of a corpse and implied harm to children.
Author notes: None.
Summary: Richter and Alucard both carry memories of sins long past, and it's in one another that they find the sense of release they so desperately sought all these years.

Richter awakes in a daze and surrounded by a black, unending void. A heaviness hangs in the empty atmosphere and crowds his lungs. He knows this place; he's been here before. Forgotten memories of deeds done by a forced hand pour into the landscape. Corpses surface from the inky darkness, mutilated and with all the blood wrung from their veins. The rank stench of death and rot follow the gruesome trail all the way to Richter's feet.

A woman lays there, slack-jawed and wide-eyed. She clutches a bloody bundle to her breast, and upon closer inspection, Richter grimaces; it's her newborn child, dead, in her arms.

"You were supposed to protect us," she says with her mouth unmoving. Those horrid eyes jolt in their sockets and roll back to stare at the Belmont. "How could a Man of God, an ally of the Church, succumb to such dark desires?"

The dead infant she holds suddenly springs to life and seizes Richter's bare ankle. Its face is smashed in, completely unrecognizable, and its mouth is a gaping, gory hole void of teeth or tongue.

"Traitor," it hisses, spewing bile and blood. "Filthy, vile, scurrilous sinner..."

The slain join in synchronous chorus, "Wretched man, you shall share our fates..."

Richter begins sinking into the depths around him, but although the weight of his sin hangs heavily upon him, he struggles against the punishment. The memories of horrific, unspeakable acts while he served as the Master of Castlevania return to him, but still he resists.

"Richter," a deep voice reverberates throughout the void. "Richter Belmont..."

The corpses shriek and wail, crawling further away from the condemned man. Newfound strength surges within Richter and he rises from the murk depths, reaching for the small shaft of light just overhead.

"You cannot escape!" moans the infant child at his feet, pulling on his ankle. "You will answer for your crimes, sinner!"

Clenching his teeth, Richter wrenches his leg free of the child. "Forgive me, but there are those I still wish to protect."

"Godless, faithless demon!" shriek the woman and babe in unison. Despite their accusations and stretching limbs, they can no longer reach the man. "Traitor..."

Richter's eyes flutter open to a familiar face hovering over him. Grinning sheepishly, he sits up and apologizes straightaway, "I'm sorry if I woke you..." His expression softens some and he adds, "Or if I worried you."

"I was already awake," answers Alucard swiftly, his long hair obscuring most of his features. He doesn't turn to look at his companion when he asks, "Are you all right?"

The mortal man sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "I will be thanks to you." He dips lower to peer past Alucard's hair and meet his gaze, smiling at him.

"I did nothing but wake you." The dhampir's body visibly stiffens and he wills himself to look away from the Belmont. An uncomfortable lump settles in his throat. "Such little effort hardly merits your gratitude."

A whistle directs Richter's attention to the hearth, wherein a brass kettle hangs and quivers with another whistle.

"What keeps you awake this evening?" he queries with a crack of his shoulders and a yawn. Stepping out of bed, he crosses the room and retrieves the kettle from the hearth. "Not that it isn't unusual to see you awake so late, but you seem lost in thought."

Alucard looks up from his mug of tea and counters in a quiet voice, "You just awoke from a hellish nightmare yourself. I should be the one asking questions."

Pouring himself some tea, Richter joins his friend at the table. He takes a sip of the warm beverage and relishes the calm washing through him.

"I have no memory of my time in Castlevania prior to our meeting," he replies at length, tracing the metal rim of his mug while he speaks. "Recently, however, I've had disturbing visions and nightmares...I believe they are projections of atrocities I committed by Shaft's hand."

Alucard's tone suddenly shifts from rigid to melancholic. "And you blame yourself for these things?"

"I shouldn't," says Richter with a wry laugh, "but I do. There's a terrible weight on my shoulders and a heaviness in my heart..." He puts the mug down and touches his chest. "Although under a spell, it was by my hand that these people perished, not Shaft's. I am partly to blame."

"Whether or not you shoulder this blame is entirely up to you." Dracula's son sets his own mug aside in favor of smoothing a few stray hairs from his eyes. ""Forgiveness isn't something that Shaft's victims can offer you as they are already dead. Were I you, I would stop seeking to appease those no longer living and move forward."

Alucard isn't certain if it's the hour of night or the companionship that's making him so sentimental, but as he watches Richter's eyes wander the cabin for some veritable comfort, he can't help being reminded. "I had a dear friend once, a mortal attendant almost your age..."

"Is that what kept you from sleeping?" The Belmont glances over at him with a sympathetic frown. "Please, tell me more..."

"His name was Lyudmil, and he studied under my mother's tutelage in hopes of becoming a healer," explains Alucard, leaning heavily on the tabletop. His voice adopts an inflection akin to a graceful stammer. "We were very close...like siblings."

Richter doesn't urge him on this time. He leans back in his chair and nods when the dhampir looks up at him.

"Like you, he was a good man, always put others before himself and treated my mother so kindly." Alucard's slender fingers brush against the metal charm concealed beneath his white undershirt, a Romani ward gifted by his mother. "After a riotous mob spirited away my mother, Lyudmil sought to rescue her..."

The other man's hands come to rest on his. "I'm sorry, Alucard..."

"But he still drew breath when I found him," continues the blond with a dull, red glint in the corners of his eyes, misting his vision. "I turned him, Richter...After losing my mother, I couldn't bear the thought of losing another, so I gave him blood against his will. I..."

The Belmont grips his hands tighter. "Do you think he still lives then? Is that what troubles you these long nights?"

"I fear that someday we will do battle, yes, and that one of us will not walk away." Alucard feels something slip from his eyes and he glimpses the same on Richter's face. He tries to says something in extenuation, but it comes out as a gasp when Richter throws his arms around him.

"You will not face him alone," promises the brunet, holding him tightly. "Maria and I will be with you. This I swear on everything I hold dear."

Alucard smiles ruefully. "You're too soft for your own good. That's a dangerous, rare quality to possess," he says as Richter slowly pulls away from him and stands. "And one that I am also grateful for."

Inhaling sharply, Richter beams down at his friend and offers, "Why not forgo the beds tonight? We could sleep by the hearth and be in closer proximity to one another...Ahh, in case of any more nightmares, yes?"

The dhampir blinks a few times. "Are you asking to share my bed?"

"We'll have separate pallets on the floor, of course!" Richter hurries past the other man with an armload of extra blankets. He lays them out on the bearskin rug and takes a cautious glance over his shoulder. "If I did ask to share your bed, how would you respond?"

Alucard endeavors not to stammer as he retorts, "I'd prefer that you be more direct with your inquiries. It's impolite to have your intended speculate your intentions rather than making them known from the beginning."

"My intended, eh?" muses Richter with a scheming smirk. He finishes rolling the blankets out and beckons for the other man to join him. "I meant nothing lewd or scandalous; it's just a simple question."

"Your request carries implications that are far from innocent..." The dhampir watches his mortal companion with wary, golden eyes. Rather than fall back on the same protocol he uses to keep others at a distance, he decides to indulge the warm curiosity within himself for once. "Very well, then. I accept."

Richter almost chokes on his next breath. "You do?"

"I believe I just said so." Alucard musters a smile in spite of the intense thumping in his chest. He rises from his seat and joins Richter on the bear hide, pulling the blankets back. "Where are you going?" he asks when the Belmont gets up and crosses to the other side of the room.

"Just making myself decent," replies the brunet after he fishes an undershirt from te tangled mess of sheets on his bed. "I don't wish to make you uncomfortable."

Alucard allows a chuckle to escape after Richter clambers onto the blankets beside him. "You are chivalrous to fault, Richter Belmont."

"Perhaps so," answers the mortal man in a bleary voice as he lays beside Alucard. "But like you, I also wish to take things slowly. No sense in rushing, is there?" He notices that the dhampir is rolled onto his side with his back to Richter. "May I hold you?"

There's a strange, warm weight against Alucard's back. He swallows thickly and nods while Richter embraces him from behind. A shiver runs along his nerves, but the close contact isn't as unpleasant as he initially thought. Hi body relaxes and Richter pulls him closer.

"Why are you laughing?" Alucard glances over his shoulder when he feels the other man's chest rumble against his back.

"Wouldn't it be hilarious if Maria were to see us like this? There'd be no end to her teasing!" The brunet sighs and chuckles again. "Don't look so alarmed! Our being together won' upset her. In fact, I'm inclined to believe she'll be happy when she discovers."

Alucard smiles and shakes his head. "I thought we were sleeping?"

Richter kisses his shoulder and whispers, "Pleasant dreams, then."

Much later in the evening, a cloaked rider approaches the cabin and dismounts at the entrance. Her golden hair shimmers in the moonlight as she throws back her hood. Accompanying her is a lone white owl with a ribbon tied to its right leg, perched on her shoulder.

"Those two are still awake at this hour?" she mutters upon glimpsing a light in the window. But as she opens the door and peers inside, she witnesses a scene unlike anything she expected. "Well, it's about damn time."

Laying her cloak and gear aside, she quietly ambles over to where the men lay near the fireplace. A smile thins her lips and she kneels to take the corner of a stray blanket, moving it to cover her dear friends again. Upon standing, her winged familiar alights on her shoulder again and hoots softly.

"Shh..." she says with a wink and a finger to her lips. "Let them sleep."