Encore

Sypha

He must step wrong because the floor of the upper catacombs doesn't give way under his feet immediately. Like hell he's walking all over the hallways properly so he jumps up and down until there's a crunch and the stones come apart. At the time he'd assumed it was some sort of trap but that's stupid, isn't it? Falling is only a problem when you're headed up. And this place is supposed to have defenses, plural, but all Trevor met was a single admittedly nasty cyclops.

Who he's about to meet again.

...isn't he?

He can see Sypha in the middle of the room and he crouches down behind a pillar, but minutes tick by without any cyclops.

Shit, is he early? He's early. The last time he'd had that whole thing with the Speakers, the discussion or argument or arguments, then got somewhat lost on the way here, and apparently the cyclops is as shitty at guarding as Alucard is at summoning competent demons or whoever it was that fucked up the mortar because it just will not show up.

He could move Sypha so she's not in the crossfire. But what if he tries to move her and then the cyclops shows up? But what if he doesn't and she gets shattered and he knows it's because he chose not to move her? But what if he does and stumbles and she -

"It already happened," he reminds himself. "It already happened. It already happened when it mattered and this isn't it." But all of it already happened, even that last argument and he'd said no and is that what God's taken issue with, what sort of fucking sin would that be even, is he going to watch her crack in half because Increase ye, and be ye-

The cyclops lumbers into the doorway and Trevor bursts out, "Thank fuck!" for the interruption which completely wrecks the ambush plan but who fucking cares.

He is perhaps a bit too frantic, a bit too foolhardy, a bit too focused on trying to kite it to the side, and yes, all his ancestors who managed to get buried must be rolling in their graves that he's so unforgivably sloppy as to get his foot clipped by its gaze in the process of killing it but, first off, his toe will turn back in a minute and second off, he hasn't got toes because none of this is real. Immortal souls can't get chunks petrified.

He catches the statue and he waits for it to turn back into Sypha and suddenly he thinks-

It won't turn back. They're gone. Sypha will stay cold and motionless in his arms and he'll go down and down and down and all he'll find at the bottom is a sealed coffin that will never open for him. That's the point of all this. Beating that into his head.

Only when the stone fades, Sypha opens her eyes.

He hugs her.

She vomits down his back.

Right, that had been a thing.

He's expecting a complaint when he manages to let go of her, given she'd taken issue with him jumping on the statue as part of saving her life and getting buried in a stinking cloak was certainly ruder than that, but she's just staring at him and fidgeting with her robes.

"I uh," he says into silence that he's sure isn't supposed to be there. He points to the crest again. "Trevor Belmont, House of Belmont. You got turned to stone by the stone-eyed cyclops, which." He shrugs. "Does that with its eye. Feeds on your fear. We've got to get back up. Your grandfather's waiting."

She still doesn't say anything. Why is she looking at him like that?

"Sypha?"

She takes a breath, says, "I cannot leave yet. The sleeping warrior is still down here."

"I know, I know. But it'll be faster going straight down from the courtyard."

"There's another entrance there?" That seems to have sparked the life back into her voice.

"Uh," he says again. "Not yet. But there will be. It'll be a rough ride but it'll get us to the bottom in just a few minutes. And you should -" What is he supposed to say? "You should spend time with your family while you can."

"We leave soon, then?"

"Yeah. Yeah, tomorrow morning." He really, really doesn't want to stick around. "Scholar Hunter Soldier, off to kill Dracula."

She looks him up and down, and, okay, Trevor does not exactly look his best but he didn't think he was that bad. "I'm surprised they told you so much."

"They didn't," Trevor tells her. "Fuck, they didn't even say you were a woman. I think..." Yeah, what had been going on with that? They'd barely even wanted to tell him about the first chunk of it. "They were only trying to delay me until you dug up your lazy messiah and came back, am I right? Was that stupid plan your idea?"

"Um," she says.

"Fucking hell, Sypha. Is there something in Gresit that makes people idiots?"

"People don't listen to Speakers!" Sypha snaps back. "They believe their mangled, wrong versions of old prophecies or refuse to believe in it at all! So yes! I thought I'd have to do it myself!"

He puts up his hands. "For the record," Trevor says, not entirely sure what record he's defending himself on, "I didn't believe you for a completely different reason, and, really, I was right. Eventually."

"What are you talking about?"

He shakes his head. "We'll go get the asshole, no arguments from me. But we go back up first. I've got an appointment, then we've got to hustle your family back down here ahead of the mob."

"The mob," she repeats with classic Sypha coolness. He smiles at her and shit shit she did not appreciate that at all.

He forces his face into his best inoffensive expression, and it is pretty damn good he'd say, seven out of ten times he got to go back to drinking, and gives a shrug. "So, getting out of here."

She considers him, then says, "Well? Lead on."

"Right." He starts walking and she trails behind him. It's awkward, not being able to see the person you're traveling with and more so when you're used to them standing next to you. He points around them. "Did you get a look at all this? Those lights?"

She shakes her head. "No, it was dark when I arrived."

"Lot of interesting stuff here. This place is built like Dracula's castle," he tells her again. "A really shitty version, though. Back me up on that later, would you? He'll care if you say so. You can see this place is falling apart. I got here falling through the floor."

"You know what Dracula's castle looks like?"

"Been there twice. It's pretty distinctive. Those glowing lights there, they're powered by circling lightning, which is powered by burning poison water and gears. Same as these warm pipes." He taps one gently. "If they're broken, water sprays everywhere, it's dangerous."

"Oh?" she says. "Are you always that afraid of touching water? That explains so much."

"Har har. Seriously, some of them'd boil you. Or, they'll boil me at least, I can't just -" He waves his hand. "Woosh, ice, you know?"

They reach the second hole. "Speaking of woosh," he says. They'd both climbed through the rubble the first time, trying to get back up around Alucard's masonary fuck-ups. Did the cyclops eat her magic too? Was that even a thing that could happen with magic? She never seemed to run out before. "I'm fine climbing, if you want to float up yourself or whatever."

"Why would I float?" she asks him, arms crossed and voice flat.

"Fuck if I know how it works, you're the Scholar."

She glowers at him.

Another note for the family bestiary, apparently, along with turns-out-Sypha's-fucking-touchy-about-being-out-of-magic. Only, of course, it's a bit late for him to add anything. Well, who knows, maybe some future Belmont will summon his ghost one day. "Right. Suit yourself." He starts to make his way back up. After a moment, he hears Sypha climbing behind him.