I had some difficulty with this chapter and so it took me a little longer. I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

Part 12

Sixx-Bit very slowly removed the gun from my head. "Hello, Master."

"I'm NOT your Master. I would never allow filth like you to serve under me."

I turned my head to Soma. "So—"

My voice died in my throat. Soma's hair fell messily into his face, but his eyes…his pale eyes were now blood red and they glared up at Sixx-Bit with intense hatred.

Sixx-Bit didn't seem offended by the reprimand, though. "I do a lot of stuff for you in your name, though."

Soma rose to his feet, his sword still pointed at Sixx-Bit's throat. "What makes you think I'd allow a sniveling weakling feigning power the honor of being my underling?"

"I'm no weakling, Count," said Sixx-Bit, though his tone was now harsh. "I'm merciless and cunning. No one can defeat me."

Soma pressed the tip of the sword closer to Sixx-Bit's throat. I saw a small trail of blood begin to run down his neck. "Why have you threatened her?" he didn't look at me but he was obviously talking about me.

Sixx-Bit didn't react to his puncture wound. "If she's not here, you can arise to power. Don't you want to arise to power again, Master?"

Soma snarled and swung the sword, intending to take his head off. But Sixx-Bit jumped backwards, aiming his guns at the both of us.

"Soma—" I began quietly, reaching for him.

"Well, I'm in a bad position," Sixx-Bit announced suddenly, his words ominous but his tone calm. "But…I still have a job to do."

He turned one of the guns at me and fired.

I found myself flying backwards through the air, landing hard on my back on a bed of grass. Before I could recover a loud explosion rocketed in my ears and I sat up instinctively. I'd only been thrown back about six feet, and I could clearly see what was going on. The tree Soma and I had been sleeping against had been blown in half and was on fire. Did Soma do that?

Sixx-Bit pointed the gun at Soma. "If you insist on interfering, Master, then I will have to forcibly weaken your resolve!!"

He fired the gun at Soma. Soma just swung his sword and destroyed the bullet. Only, the bullet didn't disintegrate upon impact. A loud explosion rocketed from where the bullet met the blade. Soma jumped back to avoid the blast, and then jumped away again as Sixx-Bit fired at him again. The bullet missed Soma but hit the ground, and a geyser of soil burst towards the sky with the force of the blast.

It wasn't Soma. Sixx-Bit's bullets had to be enchanted, or something.

The fight went on for several minutes. Sixx-Bit would shoot at Soma and Soma would either dodge the bullets or smacked them with his sword. The effects of the bullets started to vary after a while, going from explosions to balls of fire to sheets of ice or lightning sparks. But, not one of them hit Soma…or me for that matter. But if this was all Sixx-Bit could do to us, just shoot enchanted bullets at us, what were his cohorts like? Especially Xenon?

The tide then turned in Soma's favor. He swatted aside another bullet, which was a fireball, but lunged right through it at Sixx-Bit. This took Sixx-Bit off guard and he tried to jump back. But Soma was too quick for him. In a flash he was swinging his sword and he cut Sixx-Bit right hand clean off!!!

"AAAAAAHH!!!!!" I covered my ears at this scream. Even though he'd tried to kill me, waves of sympathy overtook me. I tried to turn away from the fighting, to not watch anymore. But I couldn't. Oh God…I could see the severed hand laying in a pool of blood on top of the grass. It was still gripping one of his guns.

A trickle of blood was running down Sixx-Bit's chin, his face becoming quite pale. He dropped his other gun to cradle his other arm to him as he fell to his knees. "You…You cut off my hand!!! My hand!!! What'll I do without my right hand?!?!"

I slowly rose to my feet. "Soma—"

Soma only laughed at Sixx-Bit and pointed the tip of his sword at his throat again. "Forgive me, but I was aiming for your neck. I usually have good aim, though. How about I try it again?"

"Soma—"

Soma swung the giant sword again. Sixx-Bit tried to roll away, but his injury debilitated him and Soma was just too quick. I couldn't help but scream right along with Sixx-Bit as the sword raked across his back, slicing off the back of his coat and even the epidermis of his back.

Soma just laughed again and repositioned himself. "I don't think you can blame me for that. Try holding still this time. Though as they say, third time's a charm."

"Soma, stop it!!" I cried, running over to him. I didn't bother scrubbing the tears off my cheeks.

Soma didn't look at me. He didn't even seem to hear me. "You attacked us without just cause and threatened her life. The crime for these is death. Do you have any last words?"

"M-Master!!" Sixx-Bit croaked, trying to crawl away from Soma, crawl in the direction of his hand.

Soma shrugged and snickered slightly. "That sounds good enough."

"Soma, STOP IT!!!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I grabbed one of his arms. "Please, stop it!!! You won the fight!!!! He's lying there helpless, don't do this!!!"

"What makes him any different than the monsters I killed today?" Soma asked me calmly. "They all tried to kill me too, and they were all helpless too when I disabled them. This man tried to kill me, to kill YOU. He doesn't deserve to live!!"

"He's HUMAN!!!" I wailed, trying to pull his arm down to his side. It didn't budge. "He's human, which means he has a soul and a chance for redemption!!! Those monsters are creatures of darkness, which live for death!!! They kill in discriminatorily!!! I don't like it, but if you didn't kill them then they would continue killing!!! This man isn't like that!!!"

My words were having no effect on Soma. He simply stared back at with his blood-red, unfeeling eyes. "But isn't he? He has aligned himself with the cause to resurrect me. He's aligned with the people seeking your death. What do you think will happen if I let him go? He will go back to his leaders, give them an update on this fight, and return to action whether or not he manages to sew his hand back on. Don't be so naïve to the true nature of man. They are self-serving vile fools who only look out for their own interests."

"But Soma…" His posturing hadn't moved, but his words scared me so deeply. I knew it couldn't have been Soma who was saying these things. "Soma…you live to help people. You don't kill people."

"But I have killed people in the past. Graham, Dmitrii, and many, many cult leaders and followers. You have never cared about these lives that were lost, so why should you care about this one insignificant fool?"

I stared at him numbly. He took the opportunity to shrug me off of him. "I've wasted enough time. Look, he is trying to get away and get back to his group."

Sixx-Bit was still crawling across the grass feebly, reaching out for his pushed past me and stalked over to him. "And just where do you think you're going?"

"SOMA!!!!!" I screamed again. Not sure what else to do I grabbed him from behind, clinging to him as tightly as I could. "Soma, just STOP IT!!!! This isn't you!!!! You don't do things like this!!!! You may have to kill in necessity, but you never, NEVER torture someone to death!!!! You never pick apart your foe's body!!!! You stand for what's good and right, and what you're doing is NONE OF THOSE THINGS!!!!! You despise this sort of behavior, so don't do it!!!! Please…" I pressed my face into the back of his neck. I was crying so uncontrollably that could barely get the words out anymore. "Please…this isn't you. This isn't…Soma, come back to me!!! Come back as your normal self and stop these people as your normal self!!! Please…please…"

I didn't notice that Soma had stopped walking for several long moments. I slowly raised my head to see the giant sword trembling above our heads. After several long moments, it lowered very slowly until it came to rest at his side.

"…Get out of here."

I gasped. That was Soma's voice!! Before I could react further he collapsed against me. I caught him fast as we both fell to the ground. As we fell I felt a rush of air on the wind and looked up. Sixx-Bit was nowhere to be found. But he couldn't have left on his own, not in his condition. Somebody must've grabbed him and left.

Soma dropped the sword and raised both hands to his head. "What…what happened to me?"

"I think it was Dracula's influence," I said grimly, scooting around so I was seated beside him. "Sixx-Bit tried to kidnap me at gunpoint and you suddenly woke up under the Dark influence."

"I…" Soma glanced at me briefly. It was such a relief to see his light eyes staring back at me. "I remember…I sensed danger and I woke up and I saw you…" He quickly shook his head. "I could've dismantled Sixx-Bit easily but I became so angry. I couldn't control it and…" he swallowed and looked at the ground. "I failed you, Mina."

"No you didn't," I assured him, laying a hand on his arm. "You protected me."

"But you keep getting hurt. The only reason they're even after you is because you're my closest friend."

I think there's more to it than that, I thought grimly, but I didn't say that out loud. "It doesn't matter. I love you and want you to be safe and…" I 'eeped' and covered my mouth. What the…I just blurted it out!!! I couldn't help myself, it just came out!!!

Soma looked at me again and smiled. "Thank you, Mina."

"A-Anyways!!" I announced suddenly, trying desperately to redirect the conversation. "We better get out of here. Should we wait someplace else for Arikado-san and the others to show up?"

"We'll run into them eventually. If we turn into sitting ducks, then more of those guys will come after us." Soma struggled to his feet and I quickly helped him up. As he straightened he paused, his eyes looking down. I followed his gaze to see a piece of paper folded on the ground, unstained by the blood on the grass. I snatched it up and opened it.

You're here. But you're still asleep. We shall wake you up.

~C

"…'C'?" I read aloud. The note was written in Japanese, but this was the English letter C. "Who's 'C'?" I don't think any of the profiled people had a name beginning with C.

Soma shrugged stiffly. "I don't know."

I looked back down at the note for a moment before tearing it to shreds. "We're bound to find out eventually. Let's not dwell on it until that time comes."

Soma nodded to this. "I agree. We should work on getting around this area. Chessa called it the Gala. I don't remember a Gala from the previous castle and so navigating in here might be tricky. Just stick close to me at all times, Mina."

I smiled a little. "I don't want to be anyplace else." I quickly covered my mouth again. Stupid, STUPID!!! Why are you saying such embarrassing things, Mina?!?!

---

The Gala was…beautiful. Oil paintings and intricately woven tapestries hung from the walls. I was expecting them to be sinister, but they were a lot like Renaissance paintings. Landscapes, random portraits, animals, and the like marked each surface. Of course, some of the paintings had sinister overtones, but they were subtle. The walls were glistening bronze marble in nearly every room, and the floor matched the walls. In most areas colorful carpet covered the floor, and it made a 'crunch' sound as we walked. Not like bones crushing, but more like the sound of a brand new carpet when you first walk onto it.

But…it was still a dangerous place. Tall candlestick stands jumped out at us, exploding with flames and trying to set us on fire. More mole men were around to jump at us and on us, laughing all the way. Armored knights, walking chairs, and plants came to life to attack us. The sinister paintings came alive and reached out for us, but we didn't realize the danger right away.

That is, until one nearly pulled me into its portrait.

I didn't see it coming. It was a tamer corridor and so we slowed our pace to a walk. I didn't pay attention to the paintings in the room, only looking out for other dangers. We past a simple painting of a man shrouded in a black background, his face and body contorted in horrible agony. It was terrible to look at and I only glanced at it before.

Then…hands grabbed the back of my shoulders. I screamed and Soma quickly turned around. "Mina!!!"

I was quickly pulled backwards and my arms flailed in front of me. Soma grabbed my hands as my world began to change. It was so dark and cold…and I could hear an inhuman screaming. I twisted my head around, but I saw nothing and no one. I looked behind me to see the man from the painting. He was the one screaming in agony and he was screaming right in my face.

I felt a jerk forward, Soma's hand still tight on mine. He succeeded in pulling me free of the man and I was pulled out of that dark world and straight into Soma's arms. We both tumbled to the floor, more than happy for the lack of other dangers right within the room. "Are you all right?!"

"Yeah," I gasped, trying to get control of myself. Soma helped me to my feet and we looked at the painting. It was back to its normal state. "That was so horrible. Who could paint something like that?"

"I don't really want to know," said Soma. He tugged on my hand. "Let's hurry."

"Right…" It'd been horrible. A dark cold world of agony? Maybe that was what Hell was like. I could never wish that upon anyone. Well…maybe Boomer or Xenon.

The corridors only got more dangerous, but Soma kept charging forward. He didn't seem as tired as he was back in the Entrance Hall. Was it because we took a rest at that haven? I wasn't complaining, but I wished I could help him more outside of warning him of sneak attacks.

I kept expecting some big, horrible monster to jump out like that skull head. But none appeared that we saw. Soma kept pressing forward and I followed him. Just how big was Castlevania? It might take us a while to get somewhere important.

We turned a corner and found a door. Soma tested the knob and it opened. He pulled me inside, slamming it shut in front of a couch that hopped over to us. This corridor looked oddly familiar, especially with the neat line of torches lining the walls of this long hallway.

Realization dawned on me and I groaned in dismay. "Oh no, Soma!! We've turned around!! This will take us right back to the Entrance Hall!!!"

Soma pulled out the map and looked at it. He quickly shook his head. "Don't panic, Mina. We're actually pointed more towards the Outer Wall."

"Are you sure? This looks like the same hallway—"

"It's our reprieve before entering a new area of the castle." Soma closed the map and tucked it back into his coat. "We should be all right here for a few minutes. Let's find a place to sit and take a break."

"I'll sit on the floor," I grumbled, though I followed Soma. "All those chairs attacking us…I swear they'll make me jump for the rest of my life."

Soma burst out laughing. "You've been attacked by zombies and giant skull heads and it's the chairs that are traumatizing you?!?!"

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Shut up, Soma!!"

He only laughed harder and I found I wasn't really all that upset by his mocking. It was actually a relief to see him laughing in spite of everything. Somehow, I knew I would have to stay optimistic for him. He was having a difficult enough time trying to be strong for me, so I couldn't afford to complain to him.

Just keep your positive attitude, Mina. It should help keep him strong, too.

My hand trailed on the wall as we walked. My fingertips met a protruding surface and I turned my head. It was a painting frame, the only one in the hallway. My nerves jumped at the memory of the other painting, but this one seemed like normal oil on canvas. Two sweetly scented candles were framed around it, although they never waxed or melted in any way. I didn't look up yet, but I looked the rich colors along the bottom of the frame.

The bottom of the frame…my eyes caught a plague there, which looked like it needed some polish. I squinted and leaned closer.

"Mina?" Soma came up beside me. "What's wrong?"

"It…" I felt I could make something. "E…Elisabetha Cronqvist."

Shock flooded my body and my head shot up. I gasped as I saw her, that face I knew so well staring down at me. I'd seen it in my dreams and at the hotel…that had been the face I'd seen in the mirror where my face should've been.

"You are uneasy."

I blinked. The room suddenly became so might brighter, and the painting looked so much fresher. I looked down at my hand resting on the base of the painting. It was so pale, and…it didn't seem like my own. My sleeves were frilly and bunched out at the wrist. But I was wearing a winter coat.

My mouth was moving without me realizing it. "You loved her, didn't you?"

"With every breath in my body." I turned my head to my right. I was expecting to see Soma standing there, but it was him. Vlad…the one who'd called himself Dracula, but he had a face full of kindness…love, and he looked at me with such emotions. "When I lost her, my being was lost."

"But I'm here, aren't I?" I protested feelingly. "I'm here and I love you, Vlad. And this child…" My other hand reached down and held my stomach. It was round and large…I, no, Lisa, was very far in her pregnancy. "He is of you and me and he will love you too."

Vlad walked towards me and cupped my face in his hands. "I understand, Lisa. Do not worry over my words, or of Elisabetha, even as you carry her with you. I see YOU too, Lisa, as a doctor and a very strong woman full of love and light. I love you as you are for these reasons, not just because you are my dead wife." He leaned forward and kissed me on the lips. "And I love that you carry my child, even as he will be dhampir. There has been this empty void inside of me for so long…but now you are here. And very soon our son will be here." He leaned back and looked into my eyes. "You anchor me, Lisa, as Elisabetha did. This child of ours anchors me, too. Without you both…I have nothing."

I blinked again, my hand falling away from the painting. The hallway was now dark again, the painting more faded. I looked down at my hands. These were MY hands, and these were my clothes. I was back, although I don't know where I went.

"What…" I raised a hand to my face; I was shaking. I was use to seeing flashbacks in my sleep, but I was certain I didn't fall asleep. Was I awake? But how could I relive those flashbacks if my conscious was awake?

And Lisa…she claimed to be reincarnated of Elisabetha. She experienced the same flashbacks I did. Did this mean I was Lisa, too? But Lisa was with Count Dracula…and the Count…

I realized I could no longer see Soma. I panicked and looked all around. "Soma?!"

I heard a low groan and turned back around towards the direction of the Outer Wall. Soma was sitting on the floor leaning against the wall, his head lowered. I ran over to him. "Soma, what happened?! Are you injured?!"

"…No," he said quietly. His face was so pale and it looked like he might be sick. He lifted his head to look at me, but it looked like it caused a great strain on him. But his face…his eyes were full of so much sorrow and pain. Tears burned my own eyes at the sight. "Mina?"

"What is it?" I whispered, fearful that talking any louder would cause the tears to spill out.

"Elisabetha…" he looked away and sighed sadly. "I told you I didn't know her. But…I didn't know. I didn't know anything."

"Now you do?" I asked. "You do know her?"

"Yes. Dracula, he…I…" he shook his head. "She's my wife."