31 Strings

Alucard didn't know how he arrived here. It sure looked familiar, almost like home, back in the day. The big, luxurious stone castles, the surrounding towns and villages, small, ruined. The people, miserable. The reigning darkness. Alucard was sad to say he felt right at home, so much that it made him sick, but he didn't know the way out. He just woke up one day, rose from his coffin, and he was there, in the ruins of a different place than the one he went to sleep in. He wandered for miles and miles, lost, hungry, eventually finding himself into the heart of a forest filled to the brim with monsters. Good thing his sword was with him in the coffin. The horrible creatures, reminiscent of those brought to life by the forgemasters, were no match for him. Alucard had every single one of them lying on the ground in a matter of minutes. That was when Alucard met him.

A tall, blonde human male, clad in black armor and riding a horse observed him in awe from behind the trees. The man jumped off his mount and approached him, slowly, sword in hand (a very powerful sword he had, Alucard notes), seemingly ready to attack. Alucard immediately steps back, keeps a guard stance.

The human speaks, tone cautious but demanding. "Who are you? Are you from around here? Did you get lost?"

"I'm–" Who was he, indeed? Did this man know about him? About his father, Dracula? Which name would not sound weird of suspicious in this mysterious land? "My name is– Adrian," the name burns his tongue and his throat and his very soul, but it's the only thing he can come up with in his moment of desperation.

Alucard can tell his hesitation arose suspicion on the stranger. "Adrian." The man repeats to himself, the sound stings the dhampir's ears. "Why are you here Adrian?"

Guess he would have to get used to it; hopefully, he could shake this man off his back soon. But why was he here? He didn't know. The only reason he had woke up out of his own volition before was because his father had done so as well.

"I don't know." It was the truth. Alucard couldn't feel Dracula's presence at all, which meant he shouldn't even be awake.

"You don't? So, did you just walk into the Woods of the Forlorn for no good reason?"

"Woods of the Forlorn?" The dhampir wonders out loud.

"Do you know where you are?" The human looks at him horrified, Alucard must be confused enough to be making a face, "gods, you don't... Are you even from Nohr?"

"I–" Nohr? The dhampir had never heard of such place. He would have to lie. "I don't remember." The stranger couldn't even tell what he was. Maybe if he pretended to suffer from amnesia this man would be willing to help him, and then he could find his way back home.

"What? Explain yourself. Do you know how I am?"

"No, no I don't. The only thing I remember is fading out and waking up here and–"

"Your name? You clearly remember how to use a sword, too."

Damn it. "... You're right. You're right, I do."

"I must confess, I'm interested in you, and particularly in your fighting skills, but I can trust you just like that. I'll take you back with me, but I'll have to restrain you."

It was too obvious this man was testing him. If Alucard made the wrong move, he would slay him where he stood. The human seemed like a formidable foe, but the dhampir could fight back. Still, he would rather not, he couldn't feel any malicious intent in the human.

"Alright." Alucard leaves his sword on the ground as a sign of submission.

"Seriously? I just told you I didn't trust you; I could easily kill you while you're defenseless."

"I'm sure you won't." And he wasn't completely defenseless, either.

"How?"

"I just feel it."

"Hmmp." The man sheathes his weapon, offers him a hand.

It's Alucard's turn to be surprised.

"Come on, Adrian, pick your sword and stand up."

"Weren't you going to restrain me?"

"It won't be necessary anymore."

That's how Alucard meet Xander, Crown Prince of a kingdom called Nohr. That's how he meet Camilla, Corrin (or heard of him, for he wasn't allowed to see him personally), Leo, Elise. King Garon. That's how Alucard found out he wasn't even on Earth. Or at least not on the Earth of the dimension he used to know.

Alucard has already been in Nohr for years, under the guise of amnesic warrior Adrian, retainer to Prince Xander. It was weird, being a prince himself and serving under another, not that he had any complaints, though; Xander was a wonderful man, treated him well, as a close friend, and didn't question him if he got away every once in a while (to feed, to investigate, but that's not something his Lord knew, not yet).

But there was a thing that bothered him, that ached him; a thing that made him want to stay, if only because he felt he couldn't let it get worst. During the few years he had lived in Castle Krakenburg, Alucard had seen King Garon, Xander's father, descend into madness, drunk with power and malice and pain, rotting away, pushing the war against Hoshido, pushing his children away from him. Alucard had seen Xander doing everything Garon commanded, doing everything he most despised, all in hopes that, by winning this absurd and unnecessary war, Garon would return to be the loving father he once was.

Maybe Alucard saw something of himself in Xander, maybe he had become too attached to the man that chose to trust him blindly during a time so dangerous, in his hour of need, but he realized he didn't want to leave now. Not before he saw this war end somehow, before he saw Xander and his siblings, that he had come to love, too, happy and safe.

Alucard wanted to stay here in Nohr, in this dimension that wasn't his, by Xander's side, to support him through this hell, if there wasn't a way to save King Garon or to avoid this war.

Then, his mind was made up. Alucard would stop his research and remain with Xander for as long as it took to bring peace to this world.