Everyone Deserves a Break

A Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow fanfic

A/N: This is my very first Castlevania fanfic EVAH! I'm so excited about it, been thinking about the plot for a few days and that's how this one-shot fanfic came to being (plus my love for the game itself). Please review, I would love to hear some feedback (be it compliment or constructive criticism). Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Castlevania, Konami does. Which I'm sure you've heard a bagillion gazillion times, and if you haven't... well now you've learned something new for today now dontcha.


The year is 2036; the cool crisp air of mid autumn can be felt high up the pinnacle of Castlevania. Everything seems quiet, perhaps too quiet. But if listen carefully you can hear the faint sounds of footsteps beating at a fast rhythm, approaching closer and closer to the peak of the castle.

Julius Belmont quickened his pace when he saw the pinnacle up ahead, his mind focused on the one sole objective, to defeat the new dark lord. Racing far behind him were Yoko Belnandes and Alucard, having what appears to be a conversation.

"Hey Alucard, were almost at the highest part of the castle."

"Indeed, I can feel the strong surge of chaotic power emanating at the very peak. We must hurry."

Yoko smiled absently. He paused and stared at her, wondering why on earth is she smiling at a time like this?

Yoko looked up to meet his stare, which prompted Alucard to drop his stare and shook his head; trying not to look paranoid and to knock some sense back into his head.

"Umm… Alucard, since were getting real close to the throne room… I was thinking…."

Uh-oh this can't be good, Alucard thought, preparing for the worst.

"I was thinking since we've been running for such a long time, we should have a race to the throne room. First one there wins!"

Ugh, I must be having the worst throbbing headache I've ever had. Deep inside Alucard's head, Yoko's silly words kept playing back like a broken cassette tape player: "I was thinking we should have a race to the throne room. First one there wins! First one there wins! First one there wins!..."

Now it was Yoko who was doing the staring and pondering; two full minutes had passed and not a single word came out of the poor, shocked, jaw-dropped Alucard.

"Alucard, are you ok? You haven't been talking for more than two minutes, are you feeling under the weather?"

Speechless for several minutes, it became a struggle for him to utter the right words at the right time. All he could say off the top of his head was: "What… the …hell…why did you do that? Now is not the time for random and whimsical acts. It's our obligation to end this, as difficult as it may be for us, it must be done."

Yoko sighed with an apologetic note, "Sorry… I was trying to lighten up the uneasy silence around us with a harmless laugh, and it looks like it didn't work.All this time, ever since you joined with me and Julius on our endeavors, you've been very silent and morose. I was hoping you wouldn't take it seriously, but I guess I was wrong."

This time he didn't turn away with surprise like last time, but instead glanced toward her. "No don't feel bad about it. It must be pretty hard on you, more so than I. You just caught me off guard. It was much unexpected, to the point where didn't act conscientiously. Perhaps it's best if we just drop this now and forever."

"I can guarantee you that", Yoko sincerely smiled. "My lips are sealed."

OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

About an hour or two has passed since…the incident… and Julius was showing no signs of stopping his rush to the throne room. Yoko on the other hand had something different in her mind and she was ready to voice it out.

"Julius... hey Julius!" Yoko called out at him, "We've been running around this castle fighting monsters and dodging traps for hours now, how about a little break?"

"Why do you start bringing this into discussion up so suddenly." Julius asked. "We're almost there anyway and..."

"Besides... I'm hungry." Yoko interupted and there was a little rumbling from her tummy.

"Oh... I see..."

"C'mon, are we gonna have a break or what!" Yoko was anxiously waiting for a reply. "You know me, if I get really hungry I become very cranky."

"Don't we all..." Alucard butted in the conversation, speaking the truth. Everyone does get a little off the edge when their hungry or sleepy. (A/N: I do. XD)

"Well, you don't see me complaining now, do you?" Julius said and continued to keep running. "Now is not the time to be thinking about stuff like this."

Yoko sighed. "Geez... I just wanted an answer, not a lecture. Let's have a BREAK!"

Suddenly out of the blue, am ominously mysterious sound broke their heated conversation.

"Hey! Did you just hear something?" Yoko inquired. "What was that?"

Alucard paused for a moment, "It sounded like the menacing growl of a werewolf. Stay alert! There might be an ambush!", and with it he drew his sword, prepared to fight.

The faint low growl grew louder and louder.

"It must be coming closer, but where is it coming from?" With the vampire killer whip ready in his hand, Julius stopped and looked around to spot any potential dangers.

"Hey that's weird", Yoko thought, "If you pay attention listening to the noise, it sounds like it's coming from..." She walked towards Julius and leaned forward, with her hand on her ear listening very carefully.

A big roaring growl came out of Julius' stomach.

"What!..." Alucard exclaimed. " I can't believe it, all this time we've been worried... and for what... Julius' gut."

"Ahahahahaha!" Yoko was laughing uncontrollably, covering her mouth with her hand to supress the hysterical laughter. "That has got to be the funniest thing that's ever happened since we entered in this castle. Your mind may want to continue journeying, but your body says otherwise."

"What's to laugh about?" Julius answered back, looking pretty bothered by this embarrassing moment. "I'm human, so it's completely normal for me to experience this feeling called hunger. But I've always had such a strong willpower... so if you think about it I don't need to eat right now. I'm not yet hungry."

An even longer more louder growl roared out of his stomach, echoing almost throughout the pinnacle.

"Sounds like your stomach has other plans in it's agenda." Yoko giggled. "It's saying something completely opposite of what you want it to say."

"All right all right we'll have a break now." Julius knows when he's been beaten and he wouldn't argue for a lost cause anymore. Also, the idea of taking a little break wasn't so bad. He'll need all his strength for the final battle and perhaps taking it easy for just a little while will help. Truly, everyone deserves a break.

Sitting on the rooftops of the pinnacle, Julius and Yoko were setting up their lunches while Alucard was standing not so far off the distance on a lookout for anything that might pose as a threat.

"Seriously Yoko, why of all the places in this over-sized castle did you have to pick the rooftops to have a lunch break?" Julius asked, looking confused.

"Well do you have any better ideas?" Yoko replied. "I'm sure the Garden of Madness or the Demon Guest House would be much better but there's no way we're backtracking now. We've come too far to turn back."

"If you put it that way, I guess this spot isn't so bad."

Julius pulled out a turkey sandwich, a can of pop, and apple,and a cookie, though his meal looked delicious, he wasn't at least a bit happy or should we say satisfied about it.

"What's wrong Julius? Don't you like your food?" Yoko was curious why Julius didn't seem to look a bit content with what's in front of him. Most people would be jumping for joy for lunch after a hard day of work.

"No it's not that, well its because I've always made my own meals and lets just say I'm beginning to get tired of having the same stuff every single day. I want something different and exotic for a change."

She took a look inside her brown bag, "I could trade some of my stuff for yours."

"Really, you won't mind?", his voice suddenly carried an excited tone.

"I think its a good idea to try thing new. Boredom is one of the worst feelings anyone can experience." Yoko seemed to know a lot about what it's like to be down and bored. "Here's the deal, I'll give you my curry and juice box for your sandwich and pop."

After much thought Julius decided a different proposal. "I don't mind, but I'd like to have your orange and mango pudding cup in exchange for my apple and cookie."

"If that's the case then why don't we just completely switch lunches then."

"No!" Julius quickly answered back.

"Why not?"

"I want some variety in my life, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to eat what I made." Julius reasoned.

"I see... a mans got his pride to keep." Yoko quietly whispered.

"Did you say something?"

"No, it's nothing."

And with this aside, they had finally decided to trade half of their lunches to each other. Yoko now had Julius' turkey sandwich and cookie, while Julius ended up with Yoko's curry and mango pudding.

Julius wolfed down his pudding cup in just a matter of seconds. Yoko gave him a weird glare while she slowly ate her sandwich.

"If you don't slow down and chew your food you'll end up choking yourself." Yoko warned.

"I won't choke. Besides, whats to chew... this is pudding."

"Ok then, do as you please." There's no sense arguing anymore about the little things.

The pudding cup was now barren and devasted by the continous spooning done by Julius. Now his attention has shifted to the curry, waiting to be eaten.

"How's the curry I made Julius?" Yoko asked. "Is it too spicy?"

"Mmmmmm... just right." Julius can barely say a sentence between bites, with his mouth full and everything. "Not... too spicy...at all... I like it."

"Good, I'm glad you appreciate my cooking."

Five minutes later... (A/N: Wow! Julius eats fast! He's really hungry. O.o)

"Whew..." Julius stood up and started to stretch. "That's got to be the best meal I've ever had for years! So awesome!"

"I still can't believe that you ate all of that, including the rest of the deserts in just five minutes Yoko exclaimed.

"When you're hungry, you are capable of doing many unbelievable feats." Julius proudly finished putting away their mess.

"This whole journey is becoming stranger and stranger by the second." Alucard murmured.

"Ahhh... now that we're all well rested and energized, let's resume with our adventure." Julius gave a big thumbs up gesture.

Alucard commented with a look of satisfaction in his face. "It's about time we continued."

"And this time there won't be anymore interuptions." Yoko added.

"Let's go then!" Julius said, and he started running when all of a sudden he collasped on his knees with both hands on his stomach, showing the universal sign of a tummy ache.

"Is something the matter?" Alucard asked.

"Ugggghhhhhhh... my stomach hurts!" Julius yelled out in pain. "It must be something I ate."

Alucard gave Yoko a glare of inconceivable skepticism.

"What are glaring at me for?" Yoko said. "There is nothing bad in my curry, I followed every single instruction in the cook book.'

"You've... never... made... curry... before..." Julius was struggling to even say something.

"Of course I've made curry before, it's just that I was experimenting on this new curry recipe that I got from a bookstore."

"Just out of curiousity", Alucard said. "What kind of curry did you concoct that caused all of this upset stomach problem."

"Thai peanut curry." Yoko answered.

Julius' eye widened the moment he heard those three words. "Ummm... Yoko... did ... you ... just mentioned... that your... curry... has peanuts... in them?"

"Yeah, otherwise it wouldn't be called a peanut curry in the first place."

Julius let out a very big scream, echoing across the pinaccle and beyond. It was so loud that all of the monsters must've shooked in shock "Arrrrrrrrggghhhhhhh! I'm allergic to peanuts!"

"Oh My God!" Alucard uttered in disbelief.

"Oh dear lord! I'm sooooooooo sorry Julius!" Yoko cried out with panic and confusion. "I didn't know you were allergic to peanuts. I'm..." Just then, Yoko's tone changed from apologetic to interogative in an instant: "Wait... if you are allergic to peanuts then how come you never told me about it?"

"I thought 'Why would she want to know about my allergy problems? It's not like she needs to know every single detail about my life.' So I didn't tell."

"All this time I've been your partner and you never told me something as serious as an allergy problem. I can't believe it!"

"If you are allergic to peanuts," Alucard butted in. "Then how come you didn't realize that Yoko's curry contained peanuts when you ate it?"

"I ate it too fast to recognize that one small detail." Julius admitted, looking embarrassed.

"It's a HUGE detail!" Yoko corrected, blowing the word out of proportion, then again having an allergy attack in the middle of a monster-infested castle is one of those worst-case-scenarios that no one ever imagined will ever happen to themselves.

"I was also too hungry to even stop and think what's in the curry. Besides... uh oh..." Julius stopped in his train of thought and began reciting the word 'Phase Two' repeatedly.

"What's 'Phase Two'?" Alucard wondered.

"I've read that when someone is experiencing an allergic reaction they suffer from various kinds of symptoms."

"And what are they?" Alucard inquired.

"I have the book with me." Yoko brought out a tiny survival/medical pocketbook manual.

"Let me see." Alucard took the book and started reading out loud the paragragh entitled: Common Symptoms of an Allergic Reaction to Food. (A/N: I got this very informative knowledge while I was researching about allergies. I just wish to acknowledge the website who provided this info: http/pediatrics.

Symptoms typically appear within minutes to two hours after a person has eaten the food to which he/she is allergic. The following symptoms are:

"Tingling sensation in the mouth, Swelling of the tongue and throat, difficulty breathing, hives, vomitting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, drop in blood pressure, loss of consciousness, and death."

"Hold it!" Julius yelled, "Did you just said 'and death'?"

"Well... to be frank, yes. It's a possibility."

"Arrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh." The vampire hunter went into another uncontrollable burst of screaming and mass nervous breakdown. And he eventually curled up into a fetal position.

"Way to calm a panicking man down Alucard," Yoko sarcastically said. "You could've at least lied about it."

Alucard shrugged. "I thought it wouldn't be such a big deal. Anyway, what's done is done. Now what are we going to do about Julius?"

"I'll use my magic to lessen the severity of the reaction." Yoko suggested. "But I can't do much about it, so our best bet is to wait until it's completely left Julius' system naturally through time."

"Oh great... another endless waiting." Julius grunted. "WHY OF ALL THE FUDGING PLACES DID THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN TO ME HERE!"

Due to this rather unfortunate "accident", the trio had to call it a day and take an impromptu break from their regularly busy scheduled vampire-killing. Thus, Konami decided to insert "Julius Mode" in their game Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. (A/N: 120 percent not true, although it could happen in real life or in a parallel world) And this is the part where you fellow gamers come in and help Alucard, Yoko, and of course our poor, peanut-allergic vampire hunter Julius defeat Dracula like good boys and girls.

THE END.


How was it? Hope you guys and gals enjoyed this whimsical one-shot fanfic of our beloved Castlevania series. Please R and R, I'd love to hear what you thought about it.

See you later.