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This is Julius. We should talk.
It took over 48 hrs for Alucard to reply to his text message. When the reply came, Alucard blamed his high workload for the delay. Julius figured there was legitimately a lot of work to do, with the eclipse incident only a week behind them, but he also got a sense that Alucard was trying to avoid him.
Julius couldn’t blame him. He, the Belmont, was a ghost of the past — a walking shadow and reminder of one of the best and worst days of Alucard’s long existence.
They decided to rendezvous a few days after their minimal text exchange. They were to meet a little past midnight, at a park near Julius’ hotel.
Leaning over the side of the railing, forearms on the stone barrier, Julius stared up at the bright moon shining in the sky. It was full tonight, reflecting on the surfaces nearby.
A presence came up from behind him and made itself known.
“Julius Belmont,” the voice said.
“Drop the formalities. Just ‘Julius’ is fine,” he replied, ripping his eyes off of the haunting moonlight to take in Alucard’s appearance. “I was worried you’d flake on me.”
Despite seeing him while the two of them were in Dracula’s castle, in the eclipse, Alucard’s new look was still jarring. The man looked nothing like the one from his memories. His gaze was undeniably the same, dark and just as sharp and pointed as ever, but his facial features were molded just enough to make him look less “perfect”. His striking platinum blond hair was replaced with a generic and dull black. He looked… human.
“You think little of me,” Alucard said, though not accusingly. The change in his appearance did not lead to a change in his voice. Even with just a few words, his signature timbre invoked a nostalgic comfort. He rested his back on the same railing Julius had been leaning on, crossing his legs slightly, shadow elongating. Alucard did not make eye contact, nor did he face his body towards the other man. “How did you get my number?”
“Got it from the young blonde lady. Didn't disappear like you did. And she’s friendlier than you are.”
“That she is indeed.”
He shrugged. “I would have found it one way or another. She saved me the effort.”
“I apologize. There was much work that needed to be done.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Good to see that some things never change.” There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Julius continued, “So… Genya Arikado? Or is it Arikado Genya in this country?”
“The latter would be correct in Japan. But you can just call me by my surname, Arikado-san.”
“Arikado-san, huh?” Julius snorted. “Subtle.”
“You may continue to call me Alucard if you wish. In private, of course.”
“I’ll call you whatever you want to be called for the sake of discretion. No need for some public-name private-name bullshit. Besides, Alucard wasn’t your real name either.”
“No, but Alucard is the name I held the longest.”
“Arikado is close enough. Though your name has barely changed, I must say the same can’t be said about your appearance.” He cocked an eyebrow. “Hair dye?”
“It’s a glamour. Magic seal of sorts.”
“I didn’t think you needed a magic seal. You always seemed so in control of your powers.”
“I am, but they’re still ultimately powers I inherited from my father — powers that should have never existed in this world to begin with. I figured I might as well seal away as much as I can, bonus side effect being that it’s easier for me to blend in.”
“Makes sense.”
There was another awkward beat of silence. “So, what is it that you wish to discuss?” Arikado sounded on edge.
“No need to be so business-like about it. I finally got my memories back, and you’re an old friend of mine. This is a reunion.”
Arikado exhaled and smiled for the first time since Julius arrived, as if he had been on guard up until this point, expecting Julius to deliver bad news. It was a mere twitch and upturn of the corner of his mouth, imperceptible to anyone unaware of his mannerisms. “Yes, of course. It’s nice to see you again, properly, after all these years. I’m glad to see that you’ve been doing well.”
“I’ve made the best of it,” Julius hummed. “Was it a shock, seeing me at the castle after being missing for so long? Hell, from what I understand, everyone was convinced that I was dead. The tragic Belmont, who died in that last battle against Dracula. All the losses from that day must have been rough on you. I remember back when you used to tell me about the sadness of watching mortal lives end…”
“I…” Arikado started but then paused. He shifted defensively. The small and quiet smile was gone. There was an odd but familiar guilty look in his eyes. “Actually, it's–”
“You knew I was alive.”
It was a statement. An accusation. Not a question.
Julius straightened his body, no longer leaning over the railing with his casual air. He planted his feet flat on the ground, crossing his arms, and turning his body to face Arikado head-on. A new hint of fire lit under his eyes as he glared at Arikado without missing a beat.
“Well–”
He gritted his teeth and scowled. “You knew exactly where I was.”
“Not entirely, but–”
“You knew that I had lost my memories and was wandering around the world completely alone and lost!”
“Julius–”
“Do you deny it?” he growled, words echoing through the night. His gaze burned into Arikado.
“No,” Arikado said, quiet and small. “I cannot deny it.”
Julius huffed and leaned back into his prior place. He knew he’d be unable to maintain eye contact and stay calm at the same time. He rubbed his temples, feeling a tension headache building up. “Why?” His voice quivered. “Why didn’t you come and find me?”
“There was a day… in 1993. You were in Charlotte Aulin’s library, crying and angry. Do you remember?”
“Hah, there were several days like that. You’ll have to be more specific.”
“It was around the time of your thirteenth birthday.”
Julius’ eyes widened. “She told you about… that?”
“No, I was eavesdropping.”
“That’s even worse!”
“I know.” Arikado let out a deep breath. “If it makes you feel any better, it wasn’t intentional at first. Also, she scolded me for it after.”
“As she should,” Julius grumbled.
There was a long pause.
“Do you remember what you said?”
“Not exactly. I… remember feeling vulnerable, and pouring my heart out to her in a wave of emotions, but it’s been too long for me to recall what I said.”
Arikado closed his eyes as he recalled Julius’ words. “You said, ‘As much as I like you and the others and my family, sometimes I read stories about other teenage boys, and I wish I wasn’t born a Belmont. Sometimes being a Belmont is fun and exciting. I get to do some cool things, like fighting. But, it would be nice to sleep in on the weekends and play video games.’ You were quite distressed.”
“I was thirteen.”
“You were right.”
“That doesn’t erase the fact that I was young and emotional.” Julius scoffed. “I’m surprised you remember, word by word.”
“It seemed important.”
Julius felt his shoulders tense up. “I guess… it was, yes.”
“So, I made sure to remember it when the time came.”
Julius frowned. “I don’t think I truly meant what I said.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” He shook his head. “No… Maybe I did.”
“Do you understand now?” Arikado asked.
The years after 1999 had been painful. He wasted so much time chasing lost memories, yearning for a time he couldn’t even remember. He didn’t have a family or a hometown to return to. That loss and loneliness broke him in his lowest moments.
But… was it all bad? Weren’t there high moments too? Travelling the world and living by his own rules? No prophecies. No major obligations. No pressure to continue the bloodline. Everything was low stakes, relatively. He wandered. He took up odd jobs, some more enjoyable than others. He met interesting people from all walks of life.
He lived two different lives. Julius Belmont was stuck at the end of a seemingly endless cycle. Julius Belmont was born to reclaim the Vampire Killer to wield it in the final prophesied fight against Dracula. Julius Belmont never had a choice.
J did. J was a free man.
“I think… I might.”
“Enough to forgive?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“Know that I will accept any answer you grant.”
“And what about Aunt Charlotte? Did she know I was alive?”
“It took a while for me to find you. At the time, everyone was convinced that you died in that battle, including myself. We even held a ceremonial service for you near your childhood home. But… your body was never found, and because of that, I kept on believing that you survived somehow, no matter how improbable. And she did too. She helped me search for you to the best of her ability. She passed away peacefully in 2008. Just half a year later, nearly 10 whole years after 1999, I saw you alive in Prague.”
“2008, huh? How old was she? She never told me, and got mad if I threatened to look it up in the history books.”
“80.”
“Not bad,” said Julius, though his voice wavered. His emotions were forced back, an instinctual act after decades of suppressing them. “And were her final years… peaceful?”
“I think she would say they were, other than the fact that her beloved library was re-inherited by the Belnades family. She’d be happy to know that it still stands, though it acts more as a museum than a library.”
Julius kept trying to tell himself that it was okay to let go and mourn. “What else?”
“Charlotte Aulin retired to Texas with Jonathan Morris once everything was over for good. That’s where the Morris family is from. That’s where the two of them are buried.”
“And did she know about the 2035 prophecy? That everything wasn’t over?”
“No one explicitly told her, but I think she had an inkling that the world was out of balance, and that it would rebalance itself whether we wanted it to or not.”
Julius snorted. “That’s one way of putting it. The universe rebalanced itself into a naive little Japanese schoolboy.”
“Better to be naive than bitter.”
“What do you plan to do with him?”
“With Soma Cruz?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll continue to watch over him to the best of my ability and leave him undisturbed. He deserves to live a normal life, for as long as he can, at least. There might be periods in which that is not possible, but I will do my best to protect him from this violent and messy world.”
“Sounds like the Julius Belmont treatment.”
Arikado pursed his lips together. He didn’t say anything.
“Relax,” said Julius, “I’ll have to joke and laugh about it, otherwise it’s too depressing to think about.”
“I apologize. Truly,” said Arikado, almost in a whisper, but the night was quiet enough for Julius to hear.
“Did you ever do that to me?” Julius asked, just as quietly. “Protect me from this messy world you're talking about. Since you knew where I was and all that.”
“I tried, with some success. It wasn't very often, only a small handful of instances.”
Julius scoffed, “Clearly, you were quite successful. Until the eclipse, of course.”
“Do you remember when you were in Belgium circa 2018? There was a case with some curses places on the windmills in Bruges. They ended up getting haunted by ghosts.”
“That sounds nonsensical.”
“Most cases I deal with are. That’s why they send me.”
Then the two stood in silence for a moment after that, neither looking at the other. Decades of words unspoken hung through the air. Decades of words that needed to be spoken to repair their trust in one another. But that would be a slow process, and those words were not ready to be articulated just yet.
“Bring me with you to your next one,” Julius said suddenly.
“Pardon?”
“Your nonsensical cases with your nonsensical agency. Bring me with you. I’m a Belmont. I can fight. I can help.”
“I don’t… Maybe you… It’s…,” Arikado sputtered, something Julius was sure the poised Alucard of 1999 wouldn’t have done. Perhaps the 35 years without Dracula looming over him had really made him more "human" after all. “Are you sure?” he ended on.
“Never in my life have I lived as Julius Belmont, the vampire hunter, by choice. It’s time for me to retake the mantle, but this time, on my own terms.”