Although Alucard still just wanted to go to sleep, a sudden realization hit him. While conversing with Mori, he had forgotten about the other four cards that were piled next to him. Upon realizing that they were there, he picked them up and, silently rearranging them, gazed at Mori.
"Do you think the others have changed like you too?"
"I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised," she replied thoughtfully. "They probably have similar stories to mine. Or maybe not. Maybe I'm the only one..I guess the only way for you to know is for you to summon them and see what happens."
Alucard was surprised at the reluctance he felt. "But...Does that mean that you'll be sent back?" In Castlevania, he could only have one familiar active at a time. And Mori had seemed so terrified while describing her altered state of consciousness that Alucard didn't like the idea of forcing her back into that unless it was absolutely necessary. He lacked the absolute dedication to her that she possessed towards him, but he also felt a connection to her, as if he was bound to protect her the same way she claimed to be to him. He thought it was strange to see his former companion in adventure in a body nearly equal to his; in the past he had always thought of her almost as a pet, a possession he used for his own defense. He had always assumed that her loyalty to him was that of a dog to its master, not that between friends, as she seemed to be indicating now. In fact, he had never even realized her gender. As a bat, he had always assumed she was male. It was purely an assumption; there was nothing masculine about her, but possessing no knowledge to tell male and female bats apart by their mannerisms, he had guessed that she was male—
"Alucard? You there?"
Mori's concerned voice cut into Alucard's thoughts. He hadn't realized how deeply he had been sinking into his thoughts. He did this a lot, just fell into his thoughts and left his surroundings without even meaning to. Lost his hold on reality, almost. It was hard to explain, but it often left his conversational partners (the few he had) annoyed, because he appeared to be insinuating that their speech was boring. It had nothing to do with that, really. He could be extremely interested in something and blank out—
"Alucard?"
Alucard almost smacked himself in the face. He'd done it AGAIN!
"Yes. I apologize; I lost myself in thought again. It is a habit of mine."
"I answered your question, but I guess you didn't hear me," Mori said with a trace of sadness in her voice. Alucard mentally clubbed himself. He had already hurt her. He almost preferred the innocent, pure devotion she had showed as a bat, because that required no mental effort on his part. It wasn't that he was being selfish or that he didn't like to have someone to trust and be trusted by, it was that he seemed to always screw things up. Always...
"What I was saying is that I don't think so," said Mori, snapping Alucard back to reality yet again. "I don't feel bound the way I do before, like I could go back there any moment, at your command. Not that I'm accusing you," she added hurriedly. "I know you had no idea what it was like, and there was no real reason for you to pick me over your other familiars." Alucard was relieved, for he had been willing to mentally beat himself again for allowing her to suffer pain because of him. However, he felt a surge of guilt at her last comment. She seemed to feel inferior to them, and he had probably not helped this. He should have used her more often...
"I still feel attached to you, soulbound to you, even", she added, "but I don't feel the obligations the same way I did in there. It's hard to explain. I still feel just as dedicated to you now as I did then, but I don't feel like your servant. Just as your friend." She smiled slightly, and Alucard wanted to smile back but he found that he couldn't seem to. It had been so long since he had smiled...so long since he had been happy...He couldn't even remember being happy since he was a little boy, and his mother was still alive, and his father loved him and wasn't a monster..not a monster that had died at his own hands..
Alucard turned away from Mori, the familiar feelings of angst and hatred welling up inside him. He had completely forgotten that Maria was seated next to him, and she seemed quite distressed by this. If he had been paying attention, he would have been relieved. He really wanted her to leave him alone.
Mori, sensing the pain that Alucard was in but unsure of how to help, lay a hand on his shoulder. "Do you want to see what happened with the other familiars?" she asked, hoping it would distract him. It did, at least to some extent.
"Alright.." murmured Alucard, obviously far away into his own thoughts. Mori had a feeling that they weren't pleasant, so she pulled a card out of the stack and handed it to him.
"Here, try the Fairy Familiar."
Alucard listlessly picked up the card and tapped it.
Neither he, Mori nor Maria was prepared for what happened.
A girl tumbled to the ground, instantly squealing. She had long blonde hair, and wore a fluffy pink dress that ended just above her knees. Her most unusual feature was the wings. Where Mori had a pair of batlike wings, this girl had large, butterfly style ones. Alucard quickly glanced at Mori and was relieved to see that she was still standing there, and appeared to be conscious.
The fairy girl looked up at Alucard and, brushing a hand through her hair, glared at him.
"You just, like, messed up my dress! EWW!"
Alucard blinked.
"Like, who are you?"
"My name is Adrian—"
"HEY!" she interrupted him. "I just, like, realized! You're, like, that guy I've been totally following around for, like, forever!" She giggled.
Alucard groaned inwardly. He had taken to Mori quickly, but he had a feeling that this girl was going to be more of an annoyance than anything else.
"And whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?" Mori could tell by his tone, although it only changed minimally, that he really had no pleasure at all in speaking to her. Mori admired his constant formality while speaking. She thought it made him sound intelligent and cultured, and his relatively flat tone seemed to further this view in her eyes. She wasn't sure why, but it did, and she liked it.
"Like, um...Oh yeah! My name's Nayra!" She gave another one of her vapid giggles. "Like, I'm not sure exactly how I, like, ended up here! Last I remember I was totally in that nasty castle! Eww! It was all, like, dark and damp and it TOTALLY ruined my hair!"
"What were you doing in Castlevania in the first place?" Alucard had to admit that right now was the closest he had come to laughing out loud in years. He managed to suppress it in his tone, however.
"Like, um...I totally don't remember! That was, like, forever ago!"
Alucard suddenly began having coughing fits into his sleeve. He couldn't even remember the last time he had laughed, and this was admittedly a pleasant change. However, the prospect that he might have to deal with Nayra on a long-term basis was enough to quickly change his viewpoint into one of horror.
"What do you plan to do now that you are free of Castlevania's confines?"
"Like, um..." Nayra seemed to have difficulty comprehending his statement. "Like, I'm totally gonna stay with you! I, like, have to!"
"I require nothing of you," replied Alucard, his tone quickly becoming much more sober. "You are free to do as you wish."
"But, like, I wanna stay with you! You're totally cute!" She began to giggle again.
"...Cute?"
"Like, yeah!" She winked at him. Alucard was horrified. He could think of few prospects more frightening than this one. In fact, Nayra made the idea of being with Maria, previously a dismal idea, seem as if it had been fated from the start.
Mori seemed to be equally repulsed by Nayra's vapidity. However, she knew how strong the soulbond was, since she possessed it herself...She knew that Alucard was stuck with Nayra, because the soulbonded literally could NOT be apart save one of them dying. This was a frightening possibility, because the death of one usually left the other terribly crippled emotionally. Usually. Mori had a feeling that Alucard would have been relieved to be rid of Nayra.
She wondered what it would be like to have several individuals soulbonded to her, the way Alucard did. He had her, Nayra, and whoever the Ghost, Devil and Sword familiars would manifest themselves as. For Mori, Alucard was her entire life, the ultimate axis of her emotions, the center of her consciousness. She did not exist if not for him. It sounded like some sort of highly advanced infatuation, but there was nothing she could do about it. It would have happened with whoever had rescued her from her mental prison, no matter how unsavory a character. She could hate the person as a person, yet serve them with her whole being, her whole mind, soul and body. Not that that's what it was like with Alucard..no..she had never met someone as wonderful as he was, ever...
As Alucard continued to exchange words with Nayra, Mori began to sink into her own thoughts the way Alucard had earlier. She felt like she was intruding on Alucard, that she was a burden to him. When she had first appeared in his lap, she had been ecstatic, until she had noticed a girl sitting next to him. Surely he loved her, surely she was just getting in the way, there was no way she could ever be anything to him...Mori didn't know if she loved Alucard romantically or if her feelings were simply a result of being soulbound. She knew, though, that she never wanted to be seperate from Alucard. And she knew that if he married another woman, like this girl who he was with before she had dropped in and ruined everything, that he wouldn't want her around. She would probably be driven out, either by him or by herself...
She could imagine few things worse. It was worse for one of the soulbound to be refused while still alive than for the connection to be severed by death. That partner would have to live the rest of their life still bound to the other, yet rejected in the most painful sense possible...Their entire life would revolve around trying to find a way back into the favor of their partner, even if there was no way possible..
Mori couldn't imagine how this would develop if someone had more than one person soulbound to them. Like Alucard. She wasn't sure if all soulbonds were the same as hers, but what if they were? What if the rest of her life was doomed to be in competition with someone for Alucard's attention? He would probably end up rejecting them both! Mori could think of few things worse than being rejected by him. She would rather die than live with that pain. Except that that might cripple him the way it would if he were to die...But probably not. After all, he had the other FOUR soulbonds, while her entire life was already directed at maintaining one bond. She knew the bond was less binding to the one who had done the rescuing than to the one who had been rescued. Otherwise Alucard wouldn't be nearly as horrified to have someone like Nayra bonded to him. He would be ecstatic. If he didn't have an emotional breakdown from the overload of having to maintain more than one connection, though. Mori couldn't imagine it, since so much went into just one..
I wonder if he cares about me? thought Mori. I see how he is to Nayra, even if she doesn't...Does he secretly think I'm the same way? I hope not, but I don't know..I don't know..
Mori and Alucard simultaneously glanced at each other, Alucard to see if she was still holding up and Mori just to look at him. Their eyes met for a moment, and Mori, reading his expression even though it was blank, knew that Alucard felt horrible about having to deal with someone like Nayra. She was unsure of how he felt towards her. She hoped she wasn't like that...
Both of them wondered what was in store when the rest of the familiars were released from their mental prisons. And both had begun to dread the possibilities.