odderancyart:

Vampire AU

Stretch’s arrival to the Castle of Dorenne

Future Spicyhoney

On AO3

”Edge,
look.”

A mild
voice made him look up from the book he was reading. Edge sat in one of the
gothic armchairs in his private parlour, having taken a pause from the
administrative parts of ruling the extensive grounds of Dorenne Castle. By the
door, which was an impressive meter-high oak door, Sans stood, holding a canvas
between his hands. Smiling, he beckoned the child forward. Fifteen now, almost
an adult. Time always flied for someone of his extensive age, yet somehow years
since Sans came to the castle had seemed faster than ever. It was almost
worrying. How on earth was the child only five years from coming of age? It
seemed like nothing more than a week since he was the infant his mother had
handed over.

Sometimes
he wondered what had happened to her. They’d attempted to find her, just to let
her know her child was happy, once they had Sans settled in, but as they had
not known her name or even where she came from, it had turned out to be
impossible.

Standing
up, he looked Sans over. He wasn’t wearing neither vest nor coat, though it was
for the best seeing how he was splattered with paint, all the way to the red
traces on his cheek. “What have you got there, Sans?”

With a
proud smile, Sans flipped the canvas around and Edge’s eyes widened. “Oh,” he
said. “Oh, that is really good.” The painting depicted a volcano spitting ash
and fire over a Roman city. The foreground was dark and only shapes of people
could be made out, but even then, they looked terrified. He released a breath
as memories washed over him. “Sans, that is fantastic, you are getting better
and better every day. I am impressed.”

He lit up,
beaming up at Edge. “It’s how I imagine it looked when Pompeii was destroyed.
Was I correct?”

“I believe
you were. It was a long time ago and my memories aren’t perfect, but it looks
like the Pompeii of my dreams.” The painting was dry, rough, so he reached out,
sliding his fingers over the Roman buildings and the fleeing people. The
mountain in the distance, destroying the people that had once thought it their
protector. He and Red had barely gotten away, managing to get onto a ship only
a minute before it left the harbour and the city they had grown up in.

He knew Red
still had occasional nightmares about the family they’d left behind. He
couldn’t deny he didn’t sometimes too woke up tasting ashes in the air.

“You’re
talented.” Taking the painting from his hands, he held it up higher, regarding
it closely. Then he looked down at Sans again, his smile softening. “Go show Red,
sunray. Then I’d like to put this up in the dinner room, if that’s okay with
you?”

Sans’ mouth
formed into an O as his eyes widened.
Obviously they had some of his paintings up on the walls, but they’d never
offered to put them in one of the more official rooms before. He smiled and
nodded. “That’s fine. Thank you.” When he was handed back the painting, a light
lit up in his eyes. “Oh! Speaking of, Alaric said you have a visitor down in
the grand parlour. A mortal.”

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Aww! 😏 Edge is a good boy. This was a very exciting introduction to their relationship (or potential relationship). It will definitely be interesting to see how Stretch handles this—and what Edge has in store for him.