Little Boy Belmont (Richter x Olrox)

Chapter Fourteen: Answers

He's back in the grassy, starlit field again. Richter sighs in relief as he looks up at the night sky. He is sitting down on the same hill, watching the grass ripple in the wind he cannot feel. It's strange to think the only thing he can feel is Leon himself.
"Welcome back," Leon's voice sounds calm.

He turns to see Leon walking over, looking happy to see his descendant again. Richter has to refrain from jumping up in giddy excitement, the smile on his face probably looking a little manic. Leon is the closest thing he has to a father figure as of now. His mother never mentioned who his biological father is.

Leon laughs softly at seeing Richter not looking depressed currently. He sits next to the younger Belmont once more.
"It's good to see you again," he murmurs, squeezing Richter's hand before letting go.
"I'm happy to see you too," Richter smiles.

His ancestor tilts his head, vague concern on his face.
"You still seem bothered by something. You can tell me anything, Richter. I'm here to guide you, not shun you," he assures the younger Belmont.
Richter sighs, looking up at the full moon.
"Back in the Belmont Hold, I found a letter you wrote, but probably never sent out. I'm sorry, I know I probably shouldn't have read it, I just got curious," he murmurs, cheeks burning in shame.

He can't look at Leon, not as he says this.
"Richter, my beloved descendant, I'm not mad," Leon says gently, squeezing his shoulder. "What was in the letter?"
"You wrote it to someone you cared about a lot, I'm guessing. Who is Mathias?" he asks, turning to face Leon.

Leon's worried mood shifts. Now he looks...almost ashamed. "He was a good friend," he whispers softly, sadly.
"A friend?"
"His name was Mathias Cronvqist, a brilliant military tactician. He was the one that planned, I was the one that battled," Leon explains. Richter listens closely.
"We were close, as friends, allies," he sighs sadly, "perhaps even more."
Richter's eyes widen.

"I loved him. I didn't want to believe it at first, I loved both him and my fiancée Sara equally, but fate had other plans," Leon mutters, eyes downcast. Richter has always looked up to Leon as a hero, as a mentor, but to see his hero look so defeated feels like knives stabbing into Richter's heart.

"To make a long story short, Mathias' wife Elisabetha passed away from illness when we were on a campaign. I watched Mathias go mad with grief, he turned his back against the Church, against God, and even against me. Then my beloved Sara was kidnapped by a vampire. I had dropped my Baron title by then, I was just a knight running into a dangerous forest."

Leon watches the grass swaying in the wind.
"Was it reckless? Of course. Did I care? Not at the moment. I just wanted Sara back. By the time I heard Mathias was also in the vampire Walter's castle, I grew terrified. Many monsters I can't even begin to describe were in that castle. But by the time I reached Sara, Walter had already bitten her."
Richter looks worried.

"She was still in the process of transforming when she begged me to end her suffering. So I did," Leon whispers with a haunted tone in his voice. Richter can see it still hurts to talk about, even now.
"Her essence was transferred to the whip you now carry by your side, the Vampire Killer," he explains.
Richter looks surprised. "Nobody in the family ever mentioned that."

Leon smiles sadly. "That's because I never mentioned it to anyone, only you just now." He looks up at the moon with a sense of longing, much like Olrox looked out at the sunlit field under the tree.
"By the time I met up with Mathias, he changed. He was a vampire, he absorbed Walter's essence using a rock called the Crimson Stone. He said he became what he was to spite God."

"Is Mathias still alive?" Richter asks with a shuddered breath, imagining Leon's former friend stalking through the night.
"No," Leon answers. "At least, he isn't alive as Mathias anymore, if that's what you're asking. He changed his name to Dracula at that point, and said he wanted me to join him. But do you know what the worst part was?"

Richter is almost afraid to ask.
"I almost joined him. I was this close to saying yes. I had just lost Sara, Mathias lost Elisabetha. I was grieving, he was too. He wanted to turn me as well, let us live forever. I was so close to throwing away my humanity to be with the man I loved. But I saw how it ate him up inside, never getting to see the sun again, feeling its warmth."

Richter's mind spins with this information. He doesn't know what to say. He may not know much about his family history, but even he knows who Dracula was.
"And you refused..." he murmurs.
Richter recalls Olrox saying that if he ever got seriously hurt, he would do anything within his power to keep Belmont alive.

"Olrox wants to do the same thing," Richter realizes with a sinking feeling in his chest.
Leon looks confused. Richter quickly explains who Olrox is, but doesn't mention he is the vampire who killed his mother.
"You are not the first Belmont to fall in love with a vampire, Richter," Leon murmurs almost as a warning.
"Be careful. Come back to me when you sleep tonight," his ancestor assures him. "I will teach you everything you need to know around the Hold."
****
Richter wakes up panting. Leon's voice still echoes in his head. He can feel Leon's grief about Mathias/Dracula. He's still alone in the Hold. Gasping for breath, he curls up against one of the book shelves and cries. He doesn't know if the grief he's feeling is Leon's, or his own.