Time passed slowly.
At least, that was how it felt to Alucard.
Then again… he wasn't entirely sure. Time had a strange way of twisting when you weren't fully conscious. He wasn't exactly asleep—but he wasn't awake either. Suspended somewhere in between, caught in that hazy border where thoughts drifted like fog and reality felt distant.
Well… technically, he was awake.
Just not in his body.
He was in his soul sea.
Alucard lay flat on the surface of the still, dark water, one hand tucked lazily behind his head while the stump of the other drifted idly at his side. The liquid beneath him didn't ripple or resist—it simply held him, like an endless mirror refusing to reflect anything but the blood-red moon hanging above.
That moon.
It loomed large in the empty sky, bathing everything in a dim crimson glow. It was the only thing worth looking at—and even that had grown boring after what felt like hours… or days… or longer.
He exhaled slowly, his voice echoing faintly in the empty expanse.
"Gluttony… did you heal my body yet?"
For a moment, there was nothing.
Then—
A long, deeply irritated sigh reverberated inside his skull.
"No," Gluttony muttered, his tone heavy with annoyance. "Because somehow—somehow—you managed to make things worse with your crude, idiotic attempt at healing yourself."
There was a pause.
"…Seriously," Gluttony continued, sounding genuinely baffled now. "How in the hell did you manage to get hair to start growing on your brain?"
Alucard stared at the red moon in silence for a second… then sighed, dragging a hand down his face.
"Well," he said flatly, "maybe you shouldn't have gotten knocked out by that bastard when I needed you most."
A low, dangerous grumble followed.
"Oh, don't get me started on that grey bastard," Gluttony snapped, his voice rising. "HOW DARE HE TOUCH MY PRECIOUS SAINTY LIKE THAT?! I'LL KILL HIM. YOU HEAR ME? I'LL TEAR HIM APART—"
"Yeah, yeah, loud and clear," Alucard interrupted, covering his ears despite the voice being inside his head. "You've repeated that… what… seventeen times now?"
Gluttony huffed, clearly offended, but didn't deny it. Instead, the presence inside him shifted—refocusing, returning to its work of repairing the absolute disaster that was Alucard's body.
For a while, there was silence again.
Then, inevitably—
"So," Alucard began, voice casual, "do you think you can heal my eye?"
Another sigh. This one heavier. Tired.
"No," Gluttony answered bluntly. "Nothing I can do about that. Not unless you want to burn through all our blood—and even then, you'd probably still end up blind in that eye."
Alucard clicked his tongue in irritation, rolling his head to the side.
"Gods damn it all…"
Still, he didn't argue. He already knew.
There were limits—even to something like Gluttony.
Letting out another breath, he shifted slightly, staring up at the moon again.
"…So," he said after a moment, "what do I even look like now? Since, you know… I can't exactly check a mirror."
Gluttony didn't even pause his work.
"Pretty much the same," he replied absentmindedly. "Though you look… five years older for some reason. Not sure why."
A beat.
"Oh—and yeah. There's a massive blob of flesh where your eye used to be. Really gruesome. Honestly, be glad you can't see it. Hair's a bit longer too."
Alucard went quiet.
Slowly, almost hesitantly, he raised a hand and touched where his eye should have been.
The moment his fingers made contact—
His expression stiffened.
It didn't feel right.
It wasn't just a scar… or empty space.
It felt alive.
Soft. Wet. Wrong.
Like pressing into exposed flesh that shouldn't be exposed.
He pushed slightly harder.
Pain exploded through his skull.
"—!"
A sharp hiss escaped him as his entire head throbbed violently, and somewhere—far away—his real body reacted. Blood began to seep from the ruined eye.
"…Uh. Gluttony?" he muttered.
What followed was several minutes of furious yelling.
After that, Alucard decided—very wisely—not to touch it again.
Instead, he simply formed a crude eyepatch out of blood, shaping it over the ruined socket.
Gluttony immediately scoffed.
"Why would you even do that? You're in your soul sea. Who's going to see it?"
Alucard shrugged as he pushed himself up to his feet, the liquid beneath him still offering no resistance.
"No one," he admitted. "But it's the thought that counts."
Gluttony muttered something under his breath but didn't argue further.
Alucard, meanwhile, began inspecting himself.
He was completely naked.
His mantle of the underworld had been damaged to the point he had to unsummon it to give it time to regenerate. A year ago, that realization would have embarrassed him.
Now?
He barely reacted.
After all, the "parasite" in his body probably knew him better than he knew himself at this point.
"Hey," Gluttony snapped immediately, "who are you calling a parasite, you meatbag?"
Alucard smirked faintly.
Ah. Still sensitive about that.
But now wasn't the time to push it.
He looked down at his body more carefully.
His muscles were more defined—noticeably so. Not exaggerated, but honed. Like someone who had spent years training relentlessly.
Which… he had? But definitely not to this degree.
Scars covered him.
Dozens of them. Maybe more.
Each one a mark left behind from climbing that cursed hole. Each one a reminder of how close he had come to dying—over and over again.
His skin tone had changed slightly too. He had noticably grown paler—closer to Effie's, though still not quite the same.(If people don't remember he got a tan for a little bit after he faked his death)
His hair brushed against his neck.
Longer.
Messier.
If he had to describe it… something like a wolf cut.
And the color—
Silver.
Completely silver.
Not a single strand of black remained.
Alucard tilted his head slightly.
…Did his real body look like this too?
The thought made him chuckle.
He could already imagine it—
His mother panicking the moment she noticed his hair turning white. Dragging him from doctor to doctor, demanding answers no one could give.
Then again…
Would they even care anymore?
His expression dimmed slightly.
Three years.
He'd been gone for nearly three years.
They'd probably accepted it by now.
Accepted that he wasn't coming back.
…
He snorted.
"Even better," he muttered.
Just imagine their faces when he did return.
That alone made it worth it.
And now—he could even walk in daylight with them.
…Though he'd be invisible.
Which, admittedly, would make things awkward.
People would think they'd gone insane.
His thoughts drifted.
He started imagining introducing his cohort to his family.
That… was a mistake.
Effie?
Absolutely not.
His mother would have a heart attack within five minutes.
Effie was loud, crude, and had a talent for saying the most inappropriate thing possible at the worst possible time.
Though… his siblings would probably love her.
Caster?
Even worse.
His father hated legacies.
Alucard still remembered that one rant—two full days of nonstop complaining about Valor monopolizing resources, followed by his father chugging two entire bottle of vodka and passing out.
…Yeah. No.
Sunny?
That one was easier.
His parents wouldn't mind.
In fact, his father would probably respect him…
Right before trying to recruit him into the government.
Shamelessly.
Alucard almost laughed.
Then there was Rain's reaction to Sunny.
…That would be priceless.
Cassie?
His mother would adore her. No question.
Probably bake her pastries.
His siblings, on the other hand…
Yeah. They'd definitely assume they were dating.
Kai?
Alucard exhaled through his nose.
"Of course they'd love him…"
Everyone did.
It was almost annoying how easily Kai earned people's trust.
Still…
As long as the people he cared about trusted him, that was enough for him so he wasn't really annoyed.
Aiko?
Her tax evasion alone would give his father a stroke.
His mother, though?
She might actually respect it.
Seishan…
Alucard paused.
Then chuckled.
"Yeah… that'd kill them."
Bringing home a princess of Song?
That wouldn't end well.
Which reminded him—
Of a conversation he once overheard
his father was talking with a few friends late one night.
"Apparently, if you want to join Clan Song as a man, you have to get castrated," one of them said, knocking back another shot.
The man gave a dark laugh and added, "…And if you even look at one of their princesses the wrong way, your manhood gets taken away."
He punctuated the words with a sharp scissor motion of his fingers.
Everyone laughed at that joke including his father.
Alucard felt a phantom chill.
"…That can't be true… right?"
…
Eventually—
"Alright," Gluttony said, cutting through his thoughts. "I've repaired your brain enough. You can walk, talk, think… mostly normally."
A pause.
"But don't talk too much when you wake up. You'll be delirious."
Alucard nodded.
Then—
He opened his eye.
Well… eye.
Everything was blurry at first. Shapes. Colors.
Soft.
His head was resting on something soft.
Very soft.
Comfortable.
He blinked slowly, vision adjusting just enough to make out silhouettes.
Four figures.
Four… very attractive women, from what he could tell.
One with golden hair.
One with white.
One with brown.
One with black.
His brain—still not fully working—came to a brilliant conclusion.
"…Wow," he muttered weakly, voice hoarse. "You have a very small chest for a woman."
Silence.
Sunny narrowed his eyes, and scoffed.