Author's Note: The very beginning may seem somewhat familiar since it was taken from the game(in italics right under this note,) so I do not claim ownership of that dialogue but it is there with a purpose. I actually haven't written a fanfiction or much of anything in quite some time so I may be a tad rusty. I'm giving it my best though.

Enjoy!

"Say, Carrie... when we get back to the village... will you marry me?"
"What?!"
"Please, Carrie! Do say yes."
"But, this is so sudden..."
"I'll make you happy, I promise."
"But we are both too young. It's far too soon to get married."

"Well then, when we grow up we'll be married?"
"Malus, will you become a brave warrior and protect me?"
"Yes! Whatever happens I'll protect you!"
"Is that so? Well, I'll think about it."
"No, no. You must promise now! Say you will be my bride!"
"Oh, Alright.
"When you grow up, I will be your bride. Is that alright?"
"Yes, very good. Now we have a binding contract..."
"What? What did you say?"
"Oh, its nothing."

Nine years had passed since the defeat of Dracula.

The great castle vanished,

but the monsters and demons only fell in number.

No one could quite explain why,

or even how this was happening.

things were still grim for mankind,

but looking up at the very least.

Carrie Fernandez

and her young friend: Malus...

The two of them spent all nine years together

growing more powerful ,

growing a strong relationship,

as they were no different than kin.

and now, our story begins again...

Carrie had grown into a strong young woman. She kept her hair cut short and still favored blues and greens for her outfits. She raised herself and Malus as if he were her kin; they were nearly inseparable, each for their own reasons. They shared the good times and bad times together. They found themselves ran out of one village alone, after Carrie had defended herself and Malus with her light magic. The villagers these days were quite wary of magic thanks to the armies of demons that once roamed the land. The demons weren't as bad as they once had been, but there were still enough of them to cause trouble.
The pair of children survived by working hard together in another small village after that incident. Malus was friendly enough with the children there as he grew older and Carrie hoped he would at least find himself a good wife to settle down with. He grew to be a very handsome man and a strong one, too. She wanted what was best for him and she felt he really could have used a lady companion other than herself to talk to.
Carrie never really settled down with anyone. She did date someone a couple of years before, but the man simply disappeared. There was no warning of his leaving, or any trace of him otherwise. She could only guess that some foul demon must have killed him outside of the village; he did occasionally deliver goods to family in a nearby city.
All she had left of him was a ruby ring he had given her just a month before he vanished. They spoke of marriage at the time, though she was very unsure of the prospect of it, but now...there was nothing to speak of Alonzo but memories.

Carrie kept her chin up the best she could, knowing she had other things to worry about. However, for a short while she did quietly cry to sleep. She wanted to avoid worrying Malus as much as possible; so, she often kept these things to herself. She recently tried to remove the ring to help herself stop thinking about him, but she found that it was actually stuck, and that she would have to just deal with it the reminder.

Carrie often sat in a chair near the cooking fire of their home, waiting for Malus to return.
She stayed and waited to greet him daily as she just sat and thought about the past and as she wondered about the future.

Malus was the only person that made her happy at that point in her life. She and Malus had become very good friends over the last nine years.

Carrie recalled the silly little promise she had to make with Malus so long ago. He still quite young and she felt it was best to simply humor him at the time.

She knew he remembered, as well, but when he did bring the promise up one evening he laughed about it, "Was it strange needing to make a promise like that to such a small boy?" At his age, back then, then he certainly didn't know any better. It was cute at the very least.

Malus did manage to keep his part of the promise, regardless. He was a strong man. He'd grown so much. He was paid rather well to help a few others guard the town, though he was often asked to do so at odd hours. He carried a sword at his side at all times, never knowing when a demon might strike. He was well appreciated in the village for his swordsmanship.

In the meantime, Carrie often practiced her magic in secret, fearing what some of the villagers might have thought. Some nights she would follow him just outside of the village to help stand guard. Though she really wasn't permitted to, it was often allowed regardless since the captain didn't want to argue with her over it. She really knew how to stand her ground.

That day, Malus took a day shift and wouldn't be home until evening. On certain days of the week Carrie worked as well. Some time ago took some time to learn to sew, and so she helped the local tailor part time.

Carrie sighed as she thought of the past in her usual chair. She felt some sadness over some events, but others had left her very wary of other people. Some nights she had a difficult time sleeping. Normally, she stayed awake easily while waiting for her brother-like friend to arrive home, but today she just couldn't keep her eyes open as she sat near the warm fire. No matter how much thinking she had to do, her eyes were just too heavy.
For the first time in a very long time, she had fallen asleep while waiting for Malus to arrive.

"Malus!" Carrie chases after the young adult, who was exiting the village. No matter how fast she would run, she couldn't seem to catch up. "Malus!" she calls after him, "Wait! Come back!" Malus wouldn't even flinch. He just keeps walking. It is like he is unable to hear her at all.
She passes two burning white candles before a sudden appearance of a massive skeleton, that moves much like an ape, which scoops the man up before bellowing a blood-curdling roar.

Carrie tries disparately to conjure magic, but she finds that nothing is working. Her powers are sealed.
She can only look on in terror before covering her face and dropping to the ground, hearing the helpless man scream in agony.

"No! No! No! No!" she screams as loud as she can, "Go away! You're gone! You're dead! Stop taking them away from me!"

Carrie awoke rather startled and feeling foggy. She wasn't sure where she was or what was going on any more.
"You must have been awfully tired." Malus' voice commented.
"I still am." she responded. She could hardly keep her eyes open, really.
"Are you feeling okay? You're not hurt?" He sounded very concerned.
"What?" Carrie started to understand that her surroundings weren't what they were supposed to be, "Where... are we? This isn't home."
The room was well decorated. She wasn't in her usual chair at all, but instead laying on a bed. The covers were decorated in white with a repeating brown pattern and above her was a white canopy. The walls were also white with a decorative carved wooden panel at the bottom, all the way around the room. The floor was decorated with a woven carpet in the colors of brown, green, beige, and red.
The room was very familiar.

"Malus. Where are we?" Carrie looked worried and noted that Malus was sitting in a chair not far from the bed.
"You don't remember this place? We're in the villa. Just outside the castle itself."
"You don't mean Dracula's Castle?"
"Oh, yes that is exactly what I mean." Malus had a very serious and concerned tone.

She looked around the room. Yes it was familiar. Years ago, she had fought a vampire in this villa, twice. Charlie Vincent used to use that very room as solitude from the ghosts and demons that wandered about. For whatever reason they never would enter that room. Though it was also possible that Mr. Vincent himself knew how to ward them away.
Carrie's heart sank and she slipped off the bed and on to her feet, "How did we get here?"
"It appears you were put into some sort of trance or sleeping spell. I tried waking you up but I couldn't." Malus stood and crossed his arms in thought, "I don't really remember how I got here. Maybe the same way, however that was. I woke up in another room entirely." he sighed, "I have an awful headache too."
"So do I, actually." Carrie wandered the room a little bit, "You didn't run into monsters?"
"Yeah, a couple of them." Malus smiled at her, "I'm a lot stronger than I was last time I was here, you know. I've also found a sword."
Carrie looked to the palms of her hands, "Yes, so am I." She looked at the exit to the room, "I've been wanting to put what I've learned to the test...but, this is hardly how I wanted to do it."
She turned to look at Malus. "We've both grown stronger and wiser. I had my suspicions for quite some time now but, if Dracula's Castle rose again, then he certainly can't be dead."
"Then we should go find some answers for ourselves." Malus headed for the hand-carved door.
"We should stick together." Carrie quickly spoke up and stepped towards him.
"No. Its only the villa. If we split up we might find information faster." Malus assured.
Carrie thought about it for a moment as Malus looked to her for an answer. She responded with a sigh, "I suppose so..but we should meet back here soon."
"Shall we take an hour each?"
"Hmm...alright. Before sundown, then." Carrie showed him a fake smile, "Be careful."
"Carrie..." Malus approached her before he gave her a tight hug, "Its okay, really."
She returned the hug, "Just be careful. You're all I've got left." Carrie bit her upper lip as she tried to hold back her tears.
"I'll be fine. I promise." he smiled gently, "Trust me."
"Alright." she took a deep breath, "I'll trust you. I believe in you." she smiled up at him the best she could. It seemed like only yesterday that he was so much smaller than her and needed her help so badly.
They let go of one another and split up to search the building and its surroundings.

Carrie stood outside of the bedroom for a few moments. There were no shadow-glass monsters in the hallway, though it looked as though they had been shattered already. It was probably Malus's doing.
It had been so long since she had been in the villa. Everything seemed the same as it was years before. She looked a little to the right. Maybe she would head down the stairs and check out the garden?
Carrie walked along cautiously with her right hand glowing with her warm light magic. It was a weaker spell, one of the first she ever learned, but it was quickly charged and could home in on enemies. If she could find a staff or wand of some sort she would be able to cast stronger spells. However, her lack of magical knowledge served her well enough the first time, so her simple holy light spell would have to do.

She descended the stairs, to where the roses were the last time she had been there.

The "white" roses in the circular garden room were just as red as she remembered.
"The vampire woman must still be caring for them." Carrie spoke to herself. Perhaps she could catch the lady in the early morning again? She would have to come back later to find out.

For now, she would head to the front room. She first passed through a hallway with windows that showed her the clear night sky.
She opened the door at the end of the hallway and stepped in. The room's red carpeting and gold decor was no different than before, and all of the candles on the first floor were lit and dancing gleefully. She remembered this room very clearly. She remembered how she fought her first vampire as she reached the bottom of the stairs. It was a frightening experience but she had to be brave. Back then she had to avenge her dear foster mother. She thought she had taken care of the problem, but that demon Dracula was still somewhere in the castle commanding his army, she was sure of it. He had to be destroyed.

She paused there and looked up to the ceiling a heaved a heavy sigh. Did life always be full of sorrow and wicked things? The time she had to live a relatively normal life with Malus seemed so short. She looked to her hands and stared at them. That dream she had, was it an omen? That gigantic skeleton demon that snatched Malus from his place...yes, she fought the wicked beast twice. She distinctly remembered in her second encounter how it fell apart piece by piece, until it was no longer living-dead. In her dream she couldn't fight it. Her magic just didn't work. She felt helpless, but she wasn't helpless now and she knew that. She clenched her hands into fists and looked to the candles in the room. There were also two white candles she passed, but what significance did they have?

Carried sighed again, and then every candle in the room went out.