A/N: It's been too long. Hi, guys. Here's your next chapter. Also, at some point, in bold, you will see a random phrase. It was written in my notebook during school by a classmate, and I decided to leave it in the story.

You're welcome.

Disclaimer: I don't own Castlevania: Judgement, nor do I own its characters.

~()~

Aeon sighs. "Why do you tell me something is moving too slowly if you won't tell me what it is?"

"Because the thing that is moving too slowly is of great importance to you."

"That makes absolutely no sense."

"...think about it..."

So she does. She thinks about it for the next five days and finally comes up with an answer. She relays it to Bob when he next appears, late that night.

"You're keeping it from me because you want to know how I will react to it, now that I am female."

If the being could smile, she's sure he would. "Correct...We know that we cannot keep you from being yourself, even with a new gender and slightly new personality, so I cannot just tell you to try not to think about it so much...but you must not over-think it."

Aeon watches him fade into the shadows, standing beside the desk near the door, until she hears something.

It sounds unusually like Alucard, but not, at the same time.

Because whatever she hears, it sure sounds a lot like crying.

Aeon exits her room and pauses beside Alucard's. The sound is muffled, but certainly there. She hesitates to open the door and ask what's wrong, so she stands there until the crying fades away. She then opens the door, walking into the room to see that the dhampire has fallen asleep facing the ceiling. His hair stretches in a silvery sheet across the pillow, and his chest rises and falls softly with each breath.

Aeon finds herself captivated by him. Her stomach flutters just out of reach, utterly controlled by the butterflies in them, then drops and dies when she sees that he was, in fact, crying.

"A-Alucard...how often have you done this?" she asks herself, surprised when he stirs slightly and murmurs something so softly she can hardly hear it, never mind understand it.

She blinks back tears of her own and adds, "If I knew what was wrong..."

It suddenly occurs to her that she might be what's wrong, slipping into an important part of his life without warning. At this point, she does cry, silently, her shoulders shaking, and brushes the curtain of hair from his eyes, caressing his cheek.

As she looks at his face, she can't help but feel the emotions inside her swell. Why does it have to be this hard? What is Bob's Master's true purpose for all of this?

She wipes the tears from her eyes and gently pushes his hair back behind one of his ears, which are just barely pointed at the tip.

Then all of a sudden a handsome ginger princes runs in and screams "booyah!" Then he leaves.

Aeon looks up at the puff of smoke that still remains from the sudden appearance of the prince.

"What in the world was that?!" Alucard exclaims, sitting up and glancing wildly around.

"I...don't know," she replies with one eyebrow raised. She then raises a fist and says, "Apologies, but the author must continue this scene seamlessly. Your being awake is a disruption to the flow of time."

With this said, the wanderer promptly knocks Alucard back into unconsciousness.

She takes a deep breath to keep in another sob and sits down at the edge of his bed. After another long silence, Aeon lays with her back facing the wall and gently brushes her fingertips on his bottom lip before falling asleep.

~()~

When Alucard awakens, all he is aware of is the warmth of another body pressed against his, an arm wrapped around his waist, a hand curled into his own, a head pressed against his chest. He drowsily opens his eyes. Aeon is curled up against him, sound asleep, breathing in sync.

He smooths the hair on the back of her head and gets out of bed before whispering her name, telling her to get up, and then leaving the room to save both of them from embarrassment.

Hours later, after a simple breakfast, Alucard walks back down the hall and knocks on the door to Aeon's room, carrying a tray of food in one arm.

"Aeon? Are you alright?"

He doesn't wait for a reply, opening the door and looking around, quickly shutting it and recoiling at a foul odor that hovers everywhere. The curtained window is open, but does nothing to help.

"O-over here," Aeon's voice calls softly from somewhere to Alucard's right. He walks in that direction and comes to a door that lies partially open. Pushing it slowly inwards, he enters the bathroom and sees Aeon with her hands braced on the rim of the sink. She shudders and then dry-heaves into it. Her face is pale and clammy.

Alucard sets the tray on a small table and hurries over to her, pulling her hair back behind her ears.

"Do you have...?"

His question is never finished. Aeon passes him a short leather band and he ties her hair up with it. He strokes a few stray hairs back behind one ear and picks up a glass of water. She carefully takes a sip, then leans back against him and sighs.

"I'm sorry," she whispers.

"Don't be," he replies guiding her out of the bathroom and to her bed. "Get some rest."

She is quiet for a little while longer, then murmurs, "You were crying."

"Everyone has to cry once in a while." He pauses at her disbelieving expression. "Even a son of Dracula."

"That's not the real reason...is it?"

He sighs. "No. No, it isn't. Get some rest."

This time it comes out more as an order, and is followed by a spell. He watches her eyelids droop, and her body goes slack.

That is when it happens.

Perhaps he sensed it, somehow, and sought to keep her from further pain, but...

Her form glows and morphs into a form he knew, but hardly knows.

Aeon has changed back into a man. A wave of disgust seeps over Alucard as he is reminded, yet again, that he has kissed this very man. However, he shakes it off and returns to the bathroom, casting a Heating spell over the tray to keep it warm and carrying the glass of water to Aeon's bedside table.

With this done, he sits at a desk chair and rests a hand at his forehead.

"What are we going to do?" He sighs, smoothing his hair back over his head.

"What, indeed..."

Bob emerges from the shadows right beside the dhampire, his hand clenched on the desk. Immediately, Alucard rises, but remembers that he does not have his sword on hand—his only weapons are spells. He sighs and sits back down.

"Do you know what's going on? What am I—what are we to do?" he asks.

Bob sighs in his otherworldly, echoing voice. "This was not supposed to happen... Tell me, son of Dracula, have you noticed the chain around Aeon's neck...?"

Alucard's brow furrows. He vaguely recalls seeing the necklace hovering over him on that first day, and the cold metal being the only thing that wasn't burning him when they kissed, but he didn't pay attention to it.

"I didn't think it was important. What of it?"

"That is the vessel which contains Aeon's enchantment... I assume the spell put upon it has grown weak."

Bob's clenched fist loosens on the table when Aeon's form changes again. He stiffens, however, and when Alucard looks questioningly back at him, he says cryptically, "...the wanderer... She is in great pain... It worries me."

"Why would it worry you, of all people?" Alucard asks with a raised eyebrow, rising once again to wet a cloth and spread it across Aeon's forehead.

"Because I wonder how she will cope with the reality of why she is not well, and why it hurts so badly..."

His eyes widen, and he turns to grab the front of Bob's cloak. "What do you mean? Why did it get like this? How will it affect her if she's switching between male and female?"

"We will wait until she awakens, but I can tell you...one thing..." Bob disappears, slipping out of his grasp, and appears beside the bed.

Alucard refrains from cursing, but glares over at the room's other conscious occupant. "What is it?"

"She needs to be in her female form."

~()~