Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for this plot...yeah I'm running out of witty things to say here
Peaceful ends
Laura passed out immediately after defeating Dracula, before she blacked out she could have sworn she heard two things. The first being the castle, it was beginning to crumble, from what she could hear at least. The second was Andrew's voice, saying that they needed to get her out of there. But before she could make sense of anything, she felt herself fall asleep. Common sense would tell you that was the end, but this was not so.
"Laura! Please...get up!" A voice called out, not Andrew's, but the voice of someone who cared about her just the same. Laura weakly opened her eyes to find herself in the arms of her mother, who smiled when she finally woke up.
"Thank Goodness! When you collapsed like that...I didn't know what to think! Don't scare me like that!" Mina cried, nearly squeezing the life out of her daughter. Laura embraced her mother, happy to see her, then she took note of her surroundings. They were in the field next to Castlevania, or rather, where Castlevania used to be. The only sign that the demonic structure had even been there was the rubble that covered the road. She looked around and saw that , along with her mother; her father, Kokoro, Mr. Arikado, an older gentleman, and a siberian husky were standing around her. But she was confused, the last thing she remembered was her blacking out right after fighting Dracula. 'How did I get out here? Did you do this, Andrew?' She thought to herself.
"It is good to see you are alright, Lady Laura." The older man said, snapping her back to reality.
"Boneson! You made it out? Then this big fella must be Justice!" Laura exclaimed happily, hugging the dog. Mina, Soma, and Arikado all looked at each other and laughed. Kokoro filled them in on where that nickname came from, but to hear it now was too funny. Boneson laughed as well, not caring that he wasn't a skeleton butler anymore.
"I suppose that name will stick until my time." He said happily while Laura played with Justice. Kokoro joined in on the fun too, happy to finally be done with Castlevania.
"Laura, what happened in there? We received reports of the castle appearing on our end, but by the time we got here the castle was all but gone." Arikado asked, finally getting back to business.
"Well it started when I had to break this seal, it was the same as when we first came here. It needed my power to be unlocked. When I walked in all of the dark power, well most of it, escaped me and gathered in the center of the room. It turned into Dracula, but I was able to beat him." Arikado and Kokoro gasped, Dracula came back?
"So you're saying...Dracula has returned?" He asked, and when Laura nodded both he and Kokoro began to complain like no tomorrow.
"Aww, can't he just stay dead?" Kokoro yelled, she could swear she felt to anguish of her ancestors through the Vampire Killer. In fact, up in heaven, the previous Belmonts were none to happy with the news.
"Oh come on...!" Trevor Belmont cried, banging his head against a nearby wall.
"God dammit!" Leon Belmont yelled, then he remembered where he was.
"Sorry! Sorry!" He added before a lightning bolt of judgment had a chance to zap him. Simon Belmont groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, not saying anything. Richter Belmont, being the most energetic of the Belmonts, fell to the ground and began to throw a temper tantrum. Juste Belmont shrugged and got back to his tea, being the only one who realized that none of them in particular had to deal with the newly reborn dark lord.
'Yep...they aren't very happy...' Kokoro thought to herself as she held the ancestral whip.
"Great...and just when I thought all I had to do was watch over your family...just my rotten, immortal, luck..." Arikado sighed.
"But he didn't seem so tough! ...Of course...I had Andrew helping me..." Laura said quietly, getting everyone to calm down somehow.
"Where is he, anyway? I wanted to thank him for looking out for you." Soma asked, when Laura began sobbing he knew what had happened.
"So...you're saying..." Kokoro began, but stopped when she saw the look on Soma's face.
"He...I...-sob-...he helped me in the final battle, on the inside...I felt his power coursing through me while I fought Dracula..." Laura explained, everyone was confused at this point, Andrew helped from within? What did that mean? When Laura saw the look on everyone's faces she began to explain even further.
"In order to get to the seal leading to Dracula's throne room...I had to go through this place that drained the life of any living thing that entered. Andrew checked out the place first though, and he could get through just fine...but then he said that it wasn't him, but his soul that enabled this..." Laura's eyes began to water again, Justice whined, snapping her back to reality.
"He said that...in order -sniff- to get through I had to...-sob-...take his soul with my power. He wanted me to...to...kill him!" She choked out before crying again. Everyone looked at her in shock, but no one said anything. Kokoro held her friend close, which calmed her down a bit.
"I didn't want to! There had to have been some other way! But then he attacked me and...then he did this weird thing." She explained, Arikado grimaced, he knew exactly what Andrew did, and he did not approve at all. He eventually came to the conclusion that in needed to be done, and motioned for Laura to continue.
"And when I was at the end of my rope...that's when...I'm so sorry! Mr. Arikado...Andrew...I'm so so sorry! Why did this have to happen? We were so happy together..." She continued before breaking down again. Mina and Kokoro tended to Laura while Soma brought Arikado to the side.
"How are you holding up? I'm really sorry." He said solemnly, offering his condolences. Arikado shook his head before speaking.
"It is not your fault, or hers. Andrew went into this mission knowing full well he might not make it out alive, I'm certain he has no regrets." He said coldly.
"So you aren't upset at all?"
"Don't misunderstand...I never said that I wouldn't miss him. Raising him and his twin sister has been an enjoyable experience, I had hoped it wouldn't come to this."
"Ah, sorry. Would you like us to be around when you tell Andrew's sister?" Soma asked.
"I imagine Laura will want to be there, and perhaps Kokoro, but I must ask that the rest of you stay behind on this matter. Amy is still very weak, even though her condition is showing rapid improvement." Arikado went on to explain that when Amy began to recover he suspected that something happened to Andrew. He knew all along that Andrew's power was the cause of Amy's illness, but decided it was best to keep this information secret from the siblings. He went on to say that when Amy suddenly was able to move about on her own he noticed the dark energy surrounding her soul had dissipated, this energy being the ongoing cause of her troubles. This energy was similar to Andrew's own energy, so it was ironic in a way.
"To put it bluntly, Amy could only recover because Andrew died to begin with. If Andrew had known, he would have put an end to his own life anyway. I only hope he can find it in him to forgive me for keeping this from him for so long." Arikado concluded. He looked over at the others, Laura had finally calmed down while Mina and the others were helping her to her feet. He turned back to Soma with a solemn look on his face.
"I ask that you keep this information between us, I've every intention to tell everyone in due time, but now is not that time." Soma nodded and shook Arikado's hand before the two returned to the others.
There were a few things everyone had to take care of after the group left where Castlevania used to be. Kokoro, still being severely injured, needed to go to the hospital. Boneson, Justice, and Arikado needed to go back to the agency. The older man and his dog needed to have tests run on them before they could be released. Normal humans should not be exposed to dark energies, especially someone at Mr. Caesar's age. Eventually, the Cruz family returned to their home, with Laura out cold in the backseat. Soma and Mina glanced at her then smiled, happy to have their daughter back.
"Alright, let's get you upstairs, young lady." Soma said quietly, lifting Laura up from her seat. He noted that she had grown thinner since she first entered Castlevania, maybe he'll ease up on her about getting a job. Then, when he took Laura into her room with Mina, he shook that thought from his head. Mainly because he nearly tripped on a controller cord. He nearly forgot how much money his daughter's hobbies cost him, and now that she was home, she was probably going to pick up right where she left off.
"Goodnight, sweetie...great to have you back." He said, setting her down on the bed. Laura's light snoring suggested that she was done for the night, if not several nights. Soma and Mina retreated to their own room, each feeling as if the weight of the world was lifted from each of their shoulders.
"Man, that was a close call..." Soma sighed, falling onto the bed.
"Yeah, I'm glad Laura's okay." Mina replied, sitting next to her husband, running her fingers through his hair.
"You know what? There should really be some sort of divine law that prevents things like this happening to people on a semi-regular basis." Soma joked.
"Well let's just be glad everything turned out okay, I mean...as well as they could have." Mina replied, suddenly going quiet. Soma knew immediately knew what she was talking about.
"Laura's gonna be pretty upset about that for a while, huh? I didn't gather much from what she said but...seemed like she was pretty close to Andrew." He said quietly.
"She'll be okay, now let's just lie back and be happy everything's back to normal." Mina said before falling asleep, Soma pecked her on the cheek before following suit. 'Normal, well normal compared to what just happened, I guess' he thought to himself, chuckling a little.
The next day Laura woke up to find herself back in her own room. She jumped up and looked around, thinking that everything that happened was a bad dream. But when she looked down and saw herself in the clothes she fought in she knew that there was no such hope.
"Oh yeah...I said I was going to visit Kokoro today." She thought out loud. After a quick shower (which felt like heaven, Castlevania didn't have the best hot water heater around), Laura went to change into more regular clothing. Noticing that her normal clothes were a little loose, she went with a pink and silver blouse she got in Castlevania (details in 'soul guide for dummies') and blue shorts. After letting her parents know she was leaving for the day she went on over to the hospital.
"I'm here to see Kokoro Belmont?" She asked the nurse.
"Room 309, the stairs are that way."
"Thanks." When Laura came to said room she heard a lot of TV noises going on and off. She sighed in relief. 'I guess she's feeling a bit better...' When she walked in she found a very pissed off Kokoro lying on the bed. There were flowers, a gift basket, and several get well cards on the table.
"How are you feeling?" She asked, Kokoro groaned in response.
"I. Am. So. Bored. There is NOTHING on TV, and I can't even go to the store without someone complaining and shoving me back in this prison!" She added, before flipping through the TV channels again.
"Well you DID get stabbed in the stomach, I'm just glad they don't have to do major surgery or anything like that." Laura laughed before going through the gift basket.
"Hey! Look at the cute stuffed puppy, it looks like Justice!" She added, hugging the stuffed dog.
"Yeah, that one was from Boneson...I mean...Mr. Caesar. The one next to it is from Mr. Arikado." Kokoro responded before pointing to another gift basket. This one had a few candies in it and a book. 'Yeah, this is pretty much what I expected' Laura thought when she saw the title of the book. 'How to become more organized for dummies'
"He's still pretty mad I forgot my mission overview." She added, giving up on finding anything on basic cable.
"Sorry I didn't bring you anything..." Laura apologized sadly, which got her friend to laugh.
"No worries, as tired as you looked yesterday, I'm just glad you were able to get out of bed to come visit...though bring me some DVD's and a portable player next time if you can." She replied, winking jokingly.
"Ha ha, I'm glad you're doing alright, so when are you getting out?" Laura asked.
"In about a week or two, though I'm not allowed to go back to my training for at least 3 months." Kokoro groaned.
"What am I going to do for 3 months? Can't they cut me some slack?" She added.
"Well you could hang out with me?" Laura asked. Kokoro nodded in agreement before speaking again.
"So where are you headed after this? Visiting hours are almost over, but it's still pretty early." She asked. Laura suddenly looked towards the ground and sighed.
"I'm gonna head over to Mr. Arikado's, he said he would come pick me up in a little bit." She replied solemnly, Kokoro knew why she was going; she planned to tell Andrew's sister what happened to her brother and probably apologize for what happened.
"I hope this goes well." Laura added, staring at the crimson stone bracelet Andrew gave her before he died.
"It should, Mr. Arikado wouldn't let you do this otherwise, don't worry." Kokoro said reassuringly, knowing that the ordeal wasn't going to be easy for her. She initially intended to go along with Laura, but her injuries kept her bedridden, so she could only pray that things don't end badly.
"Visiting hours are over, Miss Belmont? It's time for your x-ray." A nurse informed the two.
"Well it beats sitting in here all day, I'll catch you later, Laura." Kokoro said, Laura nodded and went outside. Outside, as previously agreed on earlier, Arikado waited for Laura in his black Mustang. The ride to his home was...not as quiet as Arikado hoped.
"Cool! This thing has a camera so you can see behind you?"
"How much longer until we get there?"
"So how many co-workers have crushes on you?" These were the sort of questions Laura asked the poor dhampir, which he tried so very hard to not snap at.
'This has been a painful half an hour' He thought, then wondered where he heard that before as a feeling of deja vu hit him. When the two finally rolled into the driveway Laura was a little taken aback by how normal Arikado's house looked. It was a big house, but it wasn't mansion big, more like 'We live in a nice suburban neighborhood' type of big. It was even a little like her own house.
"Amy should be waiting for us downstairs by now, she's had her medicine already so do not fret over her current condition." Arikado stated bluntly before unlocking the door. The inside of the house was just as normal as the outside, there was a living room with a flat screen TV and a few chairs. There was a coffee table in there as well, a coat rack by the door, even a pretty little potted plant on the table near the doorway.
"Nice place!" Laura exclaimed happily.
"Thank you! Dad here let me do some of the decorating, though it took a little convincing at first." A feminine voice responded. Laura jumped and looked towards the kitchen. A rather thin, but still somehow pretty, girl was preparing what looked like a grilled cheese sandwich.
"I'm Amy, by the way, you're Laura right?" She asked before sitting down in the living room. Arikado motioned for Laura to take a seat, before doing the same himself.
"Thanks, it's nice to meet you too." Laura said quietly, feeling reasonably uncomfortable.
"I already know what happened to my brother, Laura...it wasn't your fault..." Amy said, blue eyes watering. Tears eventually found their way down her face and onto her green pajamas. Laura stood up to give her a hug, which Amy happily accepted. Arikado knew when he wasn't needed in a situation, and after that display, he knew the two would be fine. He let the two know he was going to be in his office before leaving them.
"I'm really sorry...I wanted to tell you myself though..." Laura said in between sobs, still holding Amy.
"Dad told me, I was really mad at first, but then he told me he gave you his bracelet afterwards...that's when I knew that it wasn't your fault." Amy replied quietly.
"This was really important to him, huh?" Laura asked.
"...yeah." Another quiet response.
"Do you want it? He was your brother, you should have it." Laura offered, but before she could remove the bracelet Amy stopped her.
"No, he gave it to you. I have an entire room full of mementos of him, but you only have that. It sounds like he really liked you, I'd be disrespecting his memory if I took that from you." She explained, then got a smile on her face.
"Now that I think about it, you can see some of the things he has. Wanna check out his room? I rarely got to go in there myself soo..." Laura cheered up immediately, any chance to be nosy was not going to be passed up. Especially seeing how the room belonged to her late boyfriend anyway. Were he still alive, she would have ended up there anyway.
"I like how you think!" Laura chirped up before following Amy up the stairs. They came to a door with an MMA poster on it, Laura began to laugh uncontrollably when she saw that.
"Wow, really?" She managed to choke out through her laughter. Amy smiled and nodded before opening the door. The first thing Laura noticed was the amount of boxes that were on the floor.
"Those were the things Kokoro and Mr. Caesar brought back from Castlevania, just the things he had with him." Amy explained. Laura nodded as she looked through the boxes. They were filled with some of his armor, spare items, and a few more personal things he kept with him like his Mp3 player and a stack of cards he liked to play with. She was more interested in the rest of the room though. One quick look told her that Andrew was probably a complete slob. DVDs were all over the floor along with some of his clothes. A few other things were on the floor too like a few video games (Laura noted that they had similar taste in games, which made her pretty happy), some workout equipment, shoe boxes full of trading cards, and a sketchpad.
'Let's see what he liked to draw...' Laura thought to herself before going through it. There were drawings ranging from landscapes to anime style portraits. She was a little confused to find the last page ripped out.
"Yeah, look up there." Amy sighed as she pointed to the wall. There, stuck to a dartboard, was a portrait of a girl. She had reddish brown hair and green eyes. She was really pretty, so Laura got a little upset.
"Who's she?" She asked with just the slightest hint of anger in her voice.
"Casey, his ex girlfriend." Laura fumed a little when she heard this, but upon closer inspection of the picture she noticed little holes in it, only a few though.
"Andrew didn't have very good aim, in case you were wondering." Amy explained, turning Laura's attention to some darts in the wall AROUND the dartboard.
"Oh, wow!" Laura said before falling over in a fit of laughter, then thought about why the picture was even on the dartboard to begin with.
"Yeah, you don't wanna know." Amy said before Laura could even ask about it. While the two were talking Laura couldn't help but notice how alike Amy and her late brother were. Amy was constantly cracking jokes while at the same time being serious. She also got frustrated like Andrew did when she forgot that she left something in the oven. After she pulled out the piece of charcoal out that was once food she sniffed it and said 'It's still good' while shrugging. Apparently the siblings shared cooking skills as well as looks. Amy was basically a female version of Andrew with longer hair, but their facial features were nearly the same. Laura felt her head hurt when she wondered if it was Amy who looked a lot like Andrew, or Andrew who looked a lot like Amy. Before her head could explode Amy suggested something that got both girls to grin evilly.
"Wanna go bug my dad?" She asked in as devious a tone as a frail girl could muster. Laura laughed, then agreed before she passed out from laughing to hard.
"Good, because I was thinking he should loosen up sometimes. Now pay attention; there's only two times I've ever seen him get really mad. One time was when Andrew and I were playing baseball when we were kids. I hit a homer right into the windshield of his car...which, I'll admit, we kinda deserved the punishment we got for that." Laura laughed as she pictured a young pair of twins getting spankings.
"It wasn't funny...at the time, anyway the second time was when I put ice cream in his coffee." Amy continued, and when she saw the confused look on Laura's face, she spoke up again.
"I was bored! And it was fun!" She added adamantly. So the plan was set, when Arikado left his office the two would strike.
"Hey dad, you need anything while I'm up?" Amy asked as she led Laura back into the living room.
"I was just going to get a cup of coffee, no need to trouble yourself, Amy." Arikado replied. Amy scowled behind his back before Laura spoke up.
"Oh! I could get it for you?" She asked. Arikado raised an eyebrow, something wasn't quite right here.
"I was just thinking that since I'm a guest in your home it wouldn't kill me to be helpful, daddy's always saying I should be a bit more considerate." She added. Arikado thought for a second, he figured that DID sound like something Soma would say to his slightly immature daughter, he nodded and went back to his office.
"Phew! Now you get the ice cream while I get the coffee." Amy said quietly while preparing a cup. Laura nodded and went into the freezer.
"Which flavor?" She asked.
"Get the rainbow sherbert, he HATES that kind." Amy replied. After dumping a lump of the ice cream (Amy had taken extra care to get a scoop with all of the flavors in it) into the black coffee, Laura began to snicker.
"Wow, it's not even showing up! This is gonna be good!" She said quietly, in case Arikado was listening. Amy nodded and began to skip up the stairs, cup in hand. Laura followed suit, happy that Amy was cheerful despite the circumstances. When the two entered the home office Arikado was staring at his computer screen. When Laura took a closer look she was surprised to see him playing solitaire instead of doing something more productive.
"Here's your coffee, dad." Amy said stoically, handing her adoptive father the cup.
"Thank you." Arikado said before taking a sip.
'Oh man, here it comes...' Laura thought before she and Amy turned to leave.
"BLECH! What the-?" Arikado shouted, spitting out the coffee on his papers.
"AMY! LAURA!" He shouted, when Laura turned around she saw Arikado how few ever got to see him, full blown angry. He was still pale as a sheet, but the look on his face spelled 'Oh shit' to whoever he was looking at.
"Let's get out of here!" Amy shouted, laughing at the same time. Laura didn't need to think twice about following her, heck she didn't even need to think once about it. The two were out of his office faster than they could say 'Damn, he's mad!'. When the two retreated back to the living room Arikado was still fuming angry, yelling things that no one would expect him to say.
"Yeah, his coffee is one of those things Andrew learned to never mess with, after the first time I did that." Amy explained. Laura laughed along with her.
"He would probably fall out if he saw this." She said happily, then sighed when she pictured his face.
"I loved him, you know..." She added, getting Amy to calm down as well.
"Yeah, I figured. While we were in his room you looked on everything he had like it was a treasure. I'm glad he got to meet someone like you." Amy replied. The two were near tears when Arikado came down the stairs, still on his 'messed up coffee' rant.
"-and of course the coffee at work tastes like shit so-" the two heard him say as he angrily prepared a cup for himself. After one sip, he was back to his usual self.
"Laura, would you like to stay for dinner?" He asked politely, getting both girls to laugh like crazy. He raised an eyebrow in confusion before calling Soma and Mina, asking if they would like to join them.
Blitz: There it is, the last official chapter of Rebirth of Sorrow. Now I say it's the last official chapter because I still have to write an epilogue. Plus I'm still gonna be uploading chapters to 'Soul guide for dummies' because every time I play dawn of sorrow and get a new soul, my mind immediately wonders how badly it could go for Soma.
Soma: That explains a lot, but why do the bad things have to happen to ME when you play? I don't like your little 'tests'!
Blitz: Relax, at least you got your daughter back. Speaking of which; I originally planned for this chapter to be a LOT darker, especially the interaction between Laura and Amy. I was gonna make it one of those 'You killed my brother! I'll never forgive you!' type of things, but who can stay mad at cute little Laura?
Laura: What am I, some fluffy type of character?
Blitz: Basically; anyway, as I said earlier, this is the last official chapter, and after the epilogue that'll be it. There are still a few questions that need answering, and I intend to knock them out all at once. Thanks, R&R and all that good stuff, and look out for my Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology fic coming soon, starring Laura and Andrew, along with my other descenders! It'll be a LOT longer than this, and hopefully a lot better. It'll be another original story, because it took me forever to translate RM2 by itself, no way am I gonna mess with the storyline if I'm not even 100 percent sure I was reading the game right. I'll probably do some more Castlevania stuff too, I love this series so why not? Reviews would still be appreciated, even after this gets the little 'complete' mark over it. If you liked it, hated it, or were in between, let me know and why you feel that way. Anything (except flames of course) would be helpful, plus I like hearing from people so it's not like I'd read a review and not take what was said into consideration. Anyways, I'm out, later!