Luminescent

Aline stopped battling Alucard, and put her swords back in her gym bag. She smiled to Alucard, before picking up her bags and leaving Castle Dracula. Alucard's voice stopped her, again, and she huffed in mock annoyance.

"Where do you plan to travel?"

Aline dropped her bags, turned and walked up to him, pointing at his chest jokingly.

"You don't want me to go, do you? Every time I go to leave, you stop me".

The white haired vampire smiled wryly.

"And why would I stop you? Why would I even try?"

She equaled his wryness.

"China first. There is a coven of vampires there, some are half vampires, so if I am allowed, I will train with them. I don't wish to sit around and do nothing. It isn't a holiday, it's work".

Alucard smirked, and she chuckled.

"You have been fighting, why not relax?"

"Ah, you wish to relax with me? I don't know the meaning of that word. Relaxing would be anything but peaceful for me. I become restless if not doing something". She stopped talking abruptly, before realising why he was stopping her departure.

"I see, you wish to travel with me?"

The vampire smiled, but approached her like a predator would it's prey. She pretended to be shy and unassuming. Her eyes widened as he lent down, and was nose to nose with her. She gulped but refused to look away. She kissed his nose and grinned.

"Follow me then".

Alucard willingly followed, leaving behind a smirking Dracula, who heard all of that conversation whilst in his throne room.

Aline walked back to her apartment, and left her bags there. She decided to walk around Castlevania City one last time before she left. If Alucard wished to travel with her, she would not argue. Company wasn't something that she was used to having, having been self-reliant for most of her life. The fact that she now had a 'friend' baffled her, as she wasn't a sweet, innocent, delicate flower that everyone adored. She was brazen, stubborn, cheeky at times. She was the type who people would avoid like she had a contagious disease.

She walked up to the roof of her apartment block, lay down and looked up at the sky. Billions of stars twinkled, and the moon bathed the streets in a tranquil light. Somehow, being alone appealed to her, but there was a part that despised it with a passion. Companionship was an alien feeling, but now, she had it, and she did not wish to be frivolous with it.

Alucard joined her, and lay down next to her. His golden eyes were as pure as ever, and contained mirth, and inside, he felt a warmth that he had felt before, many, many years ago. Sometimes, Aline irritated him to no end, and he'd feel like tearing his own hair out to get her to listen. Other times, being her 'friend' wasn't enough, but what he wanted, he couldn't quite figure out yet. His heart gave him fragments of feeling, but never anything concrete.

His brain gave him a semblance of normality, and he only got that in her company. Feeling normal when you are anything but was a strange, if not frightening, vague.

Alucard looked at Aline, who looked at peace, something he had not seen in the few weeks that he had known her. She always looked sorrowful, though he understood why. Her Mother died, then her Father was put to sleep by him. No wonder she was grieving all of the time. She tried to hide it, behind bravado and with a staunch facade, but he knew that on the inside, she suffered badly.

And it was his fault, it always would be.

Unless Aline could find somewhere in her heart, that still beat it's euphonious sound, to forgive him.

And as if she read his confused mind, she answered his unspoken plea.

"I don't hate you Alucard, I just refused to accept what you had done. If I had just listened, and not reacted negatively, you would never have been threatened with a violence that I never knew I was capable of verbalizing. I am the one who should be sorry, not you. Never you. Father trusts you, if not, he wouldn't have left. He either would have taken me with him, or stayed here. So I trust you too. My trust isn't easily earned, I must stress that. However, that does not mean that I will suddenly distrust you, or harm you. If anything, I am insecure about the gravitas of my words. How could I be so repugnant?"

Alucard frowned, so much so that his forehead wrinkled. Aline frowned back, but then her jaw dropped as he moved closer and stroked her cheek and jaw.

"You have never been repugnant. Your life had been turned upside down, you were right and entitled to be upset, and wish for me to die at your hands. And, for argument's sake, I forgive you. And I know that you did not truly mean what you had said. Are you okay?"

Aline had stilled, and the vampire could see tears in the corners of her eyes. He turned onto his side and she did too. They held each other for a while, whilst she sobbed quietly against his partially armored chest. She sniffled, and looked up at him from under her eyelashes. She blinked the remaining tears from her eyelashes, and the darkening of her cheeks was visible to him, even in the dark. It was a sign of embarrassment. She hated crying, and he knew it.

"We had better leave, we need to get to whichever airport is nearest here, if there is one. I never check, I just leave. I can be rather sporadic".

Alucard pointed out an obvious way to travel, but he chose his words carefully.

"We could take a portal to China. All we need is a location, and we will be there in minutes. It is nighttime there too, so travelling now would be safer".

Aline realised how stupid she was at forgetting about the portal. She flipped onto her stomach and put her head in her hands, pretending to smack it against them. She sighed, and her tone became sarcastic, which was very common for her.

"I am stupid too, excellent. Why exactly do you wish to travel with me? You are able to stand my presence, when everyone else runs away".

The vampire said nothing. He simply moved over to her, removed her hands, and gave her a soft, sweet, chaste kiss that had her eyes widening.

He liked her, that was rapidly becoming obvious in her muddled brain.

"Er, you could have just said something you know. I doubt our Father's would advise against it, with threats of violence. In the interest of my thoughts...why?"

Alucard pondered a way to answer that, as accurately as possible.

"You stand on your own two feet, you are well mannered, whimsical, interesting, care about others well-being. Simply put, you interest me. If I wanted someone who wilted, needed a permanent crutch, in the form of myself, and had no brain whatsoever, then I would not be here, with you. And you are elegant, graceful and charming".

Aline snickered, and buried her face in the crook of the vampire's neck.

"You forgot pretty".

When he raised his eyebrows and began laughing, she did too.

"I'm joking. Though not self conscious, I am not vain either. While no oil painting, I am not ugly. I am me. So then. Is this the part where I compliment you, and you become red-faced and shy away now?"

Alucard laughed softly and shook his head.

"Good, because I have never been good at complimenting people, especially those that I give a damn about. And yes, that means I like you too, blanc chérie cheveux".

For the first time ever, Alucard blushed, and Aline caught that. His charming smile had her struggling not to smile with him.

"Stop it, you'll get me grinning like a Cheshire cat. Shall we go? It's getting a little colder now".

Alucard stood up, and offered her his hand. She took it and straightened her clothes.

"After you, ma chérie".

Aline felt almost giddy now, practically skipping down the stairs. to the apartment entrance hall.

She needn't be alone any more, she didn't have to be.

They shine, like stars in the sky. Glittering, always piercing the darkness.