Let the Symphony Last for Eternity

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Beta: Erin_Carde

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Sypha

She woke among cold grass, wet with the chill of the night warmed by her living body at the foot of a base to pedestal where a statue would be in place. About her were the shattered bits of stone, eerily reminding her of her tenure as the petrified prisoner of the castle of Dracula. Below her was the inlaid pebbles of a pathway that wove through a garden. About her was the towering turrets and walls of an aged and crumbling castle. With a foreboding lone tower risen high above everything else and a single broken staircase leading to it.

She wondered for a moment, if it had all been a nightmare of the worst kind. That she had only dreamed of Dracula's defeat and that for some errant reason, she was now free from her stone state. The only reassurance she had that it was 'not' a dream was the Gimmel Rings she wore. The physical proof that she and Trevor were wed. But even that could have been...

In the distance was... was that Trevor? Before she could find her voice, she watched him walk through a door off in the far distance. She stumbled to her feet, her robes tripping her some, as the weight of a false morning's dew dragged her robes down. What it all a dream? The staircase that led to Dracula had fallen into disrepair, so he had to have been defeated. But if that was the case, why was she down on the ground far below? Why was there stone pieces scattered on the ground around her?

During her time as a statue, she thought that she had handled it pretty well. She spent the months locked in stone, unable to see the world around her. But she felt that she had retained her sanity despite what she was trapped as. Or had she? Where was the Cyclops that had turned her into stone if she just woke up? She tried to ground herself magically, but the ground was ever tainted with the darkness of the Castle, the air itself was terribly hot. How was this possible? The air about her resented her presence, the negativity of this castle was worse then when she went through it before.

The moon above was a sickly yellow, the windows lining the walls seemed to look down on her with distaste. The grass along the paved stone actively moved 'away' from where she approached, as though they feared her even thinking of touching them. The air was oddly humid considering the time of year, while in the distance a lone figure seemed to be working in the garden.

She thought for a bit that perhaps she could go and inquire about what was going on. But then decided against it, she knew she had seen Trevor and decided it was safer to ask another human. Much safer than asking a possible monster, and forget if the Cyclops returned and found her. So she turned her steps towards the door she had seen Trevor take, hoping and refusing to believe that she had dreamed up her rescue. No, she had been rescued by Trevor and this was just someone else' evil plot. The night sky above was clear, the stars above shining a cold light down upon the garden, yet as she walked by a large ornate water fountain clear water turned blood red. Even the air from the water shifted from the clear lack of smell to the iron rich stench of blood.

She had to reach Trevor, her steps increasing in speed as she rushed to the door she saw him take. The elements felt wrong, every one she got near became corrupted, even before that didn't happen, as though the whole castle was ignoring her. A glance behind her encouraged her steps even more. As a series of statues began to mold their way out of the ground, all of them looking like her. All of them looked to be forming dismemberment, missing heads or limbs.

The blood soaked stone path that was laid out before as she near tore open the door reinforced that she was in a dangerous place. Against the walls were images of previous human warriors, gladiators of sorts posing, while distant monsters could be seen. Yet despite her standing right there, no monster made a move towards her. It wasn't like the last time where monsters flocked to harm her. Now she felt like she was being ignored, yet being ignored by monsters shouldn't have felt so disconcerting. But it did, there was this air of displeasure that seemed to flow around her and she couldn't put her finger on 'why'. The pulse of the castle that should have reflected the evil of the master was almost completely gone.

Instead there was a cold that seemed to radiate off the very stones around her. Clutching her robes closer to her body, she made her way along the path looking for another door. Trevor had to be around here right? She thought about calling out to him, hoping to draw his attention. But perhaps this was just a tentative peace if she called out with the monsters lash out as well? When finally she heard the faint sounds of someone talking in the distance, it gave her more encouragement than she wanted to admit to.

Leon

Leon didn't know what to make of this castle he was in. Turning his head with the intention to ask Jonathan more about this very odd castle, only found himself alone. The brown stone walls with their blood red stains held a foreboding feeling for the new hunter. They had taken the same door that he had used to enter the hallway where he met Jonathan. Yet he stood alone, his fellow blond wasn't behind him. Perhaps the 'action' wasn't in the paintings or in the hallways, but rather the doorways themselves?

But regardless, he stood there trying to formulate a rational understanding of what had happened. Taking one door, only to be lead to a hallway, and he still believed it would be impossible for a castle to be just one long hallway. Only to take the same door and suddenly be thrust into a completely different location than the first time. But he hadn't been alone, so was the door a ticket to a new location for only one person? In that case, where was Jonathan and was he ok? But the stranger seemed rather self assured regarding the castle, so perhaps he could handle it.

But that left the question of if Leon, himself, could handle this odd castle. He handled Walter's castle and if this was Mathias' own home than he would handle it as well. Leon's thoughts turned back to the images he saw in that one hallway. He wondered if the paintings were the longing of what Mathias had dreamed for his own future. At least until the illness that took his wife away hit, leaving him a widow. But Leon couldn't focus on that at the moment, as he made his way down the passages aimless an owl shot past him. He watched the large barn owl carry away a scuttling rat and dove back down through down through a near by shaft.

Which brought back the memory of the maids, they spoke with him when he asked. Perhaps there was someone down there that would be willing to provide him with information. With that he began his journey down into the shaft, where faint creaking sounds could be heard. Was it armor of a soldier? He would like to know who the 'Lady of the Castle' was, why the paintings showed the images they did. So perhaps now he would inquire about such things.

When he finally touched ground he heard the faintest sounds of movement, the creak of leather and armor. Down a little ways from him, a fully armored knight sat, the barn owl resting upon one gauntlet. The style of armor was different than the ones Leon knew, but all the same this stranger bore the appearance of a Knight. It was a calculated risk, approaching what was probably a monster and expecting either an answer or even the truth. But he had nothing to go on, save this one lone Owl Knight.

"Pardon me, Sir Knight? If I may have but a moment of your time, to inquire about something...?" He approached with a confident stride, waiting to see the response from the Knight before him.

The owl turned its' head to look at Leon as an empty helmet turned to face him. But Leon kept himself relaxed, the whip at his hip was ready, all he needed was a sign that he was being threatened. But the Knight's answer was to lift up its hand and stick it into the open hole of the mask, showing there was no head inside.

"You have no voice to speak with?" Leon hazard, which the Knight answered with an unearthly moan. Not so much the moan of a man in pain, as the moan of wind over pipes, the low soulful sound of the elements outside. The knight nodded slightly, merely armor filled with something that animated it, though if it was a solid body or...

But that left Leon with a problem, since it reduced him down to just 'yes' or 'no' questions. "Ah, I see, well then, at the very least..."

"Oh! I was right!" A woman's voice from above him startled him into looking up, the Owl Knight turning to walk off deeper into the hallway. "Are you human?"

"Yes, are you?" He called out in answer, before opting to jump his way up the platforms that jutted out of the walls.

"Of course!" The voice sounded a touch offended as he got higher up, "Identify yourself, before you come any closer!" The voice ordered.

"My name is Leon Belmont," he replied, stopping on the platform he was on, respecting the lady's wishes. Even now he was unable to fully break away from his old role as a knight. Above him was a long blond haired woman, dressed in white robes and a wary look on her face.

"'Belmont' you say? I know of no one by that name in my family," she replied, her tone dry and her expression exacting.

"Your family?" Leon resumed his leaps, finishing his journey up to the top of the shaft, placing himself on the other side of where the woman was.

"Yes, I am a member of the Belmont clan through marriage. My name is Sophia Belmont, though I am more widely known as Sypha Belnandes," she spoke with pride, though Leon knew no one by either name.

"Very well, then I shall say it is an honor to meet so brave a lady," he replied, politely granting her a bow.

"How is it that you came across that whip?" Sypha asked, her tone was positively chilly.

"Rinaldo gave it to me," Leon answered simply, unsure of what brought about this interrogation, then again if she was claiming to be a member of his family through marriage...

"I know of no one by such a name," she retorted, but he could see her concern in the way her body stiffened. Frightened, the confidence she had before was slipping away at the question of if her memories were correct.

"That is all well and fine, as I also know of no one by your name. Though I wonder, if you have seen an... as he put it, 'un-regular', vampire around here?" Leon replied, calm and confident despite being in a strange new place with such strange circumstances.

She balked at the question, taking her eyes off him finally to look about the castle walls. "What is considered 'un-regular'? I've hunted vampires before, but..."

"Something is amiss?" Leon asked, his head tilted a bit to the side, trying to encourage the woman to talk more.

"This castle... perhaps this is not the castle I thought it to be..." She stood there wondering if perhaps she had the wrong person. Sophia was still new to the Belmont Clan, was it possible that he had some family somewhere else, and that they too had a magical whip? If so, than she really shouldn't have been so cold to this person. "You said you were a Belmont correct? Forgive me, I have not yet had a chance to meet all the other members of my husband's family. I erred in judgment to treat you so, but I hope you can understand my dilemma." She gestured around herself as she began explaining her situation.

The present

"That indeed sounds very odd... I have gained no such sensation since my arrival," indeed the castle seemed almost welcoming. Then again, Leon didn't miss the look of surprise on Jonathan's face when he actually attempted to converse with a monster. But when compared to waking up in a garden that slowly begins making statues of you in various forms of dismemberment? Waking up to a flute and a violin playing peacefully was positively wonderful.

"Maybe... just maybe... and forgive me for implying this... but maybe the Castle doesn't like you?"

She frowned in answer, some would probably consider such a reply an insult, but if this was the castle of Dracula, then it was a possibility unto itself. But if it wasn't, then what was with the cold demeanor?

"Humph, assuming the castle has a personality of its own..." That wasn't possible was it?

Leon merely jumped over the shaft, joining Sypha on the other side, before tilting his head towards the path she had just come by. "I say that we find a way out of here, you took a door correct?"

Leon went about explaining his own situation, and his encounter with Jonathan in the entry hall, all the things that also baffled Sypha.

"It makes no sense, that the doors would become dimensional gateways... but it sounds like that is what it has done. I wish Alucard was here, he would know the best," Sypha finally admitted, missing her staff as she walked.

"Alucard?" Leon asked, such a strange name. He turned to look at the woman beside him, as she pulled her hood up to hide her face again.

"Yes, he is the son of Dracula, but unlike that black hearted monster he is a good man, he fought along side us against his father." Sypha recalled quietly as Leon jumped down to a lower platform.

'They turned his son against him?' Leon said nothing more on the matter, instead shifting his focus onto the one capable of possibly helping them. "Do you think he could still be here?"

"No, when we departed the castle, we went our separate ways, some more separate than others. But he knows the Dark Arts almost as well as his father, his talents would be useful here," she explained, professional in tone.

But it never sat right with Leon to force family to fight family, especially not after what he had heard about Rinaldo's daughter. Yet, if the paintings of the young man with the long blond hair was that of this Alucard person. Then the odds that he was stolen were slight and the favor was stronger that Dracula was indeed the birth father of this person. Then again, Leon knew little of Vampire lore, and was unsure if vampires could procreate the same way as humans did.

Sypha was planning on leaping down, but from below she could see Leon lift up a gauntlet covered hand, stilling her actions. While he moved ahead towards slowly gathering mist, as he watched, it swirled slowly into being. Taking the shape of a woman, a woman he recognized and long knew. If not from the portraits in that one hallway, than most certainly because this was the lady wife of Mathias. Had the dear lady been denied heaven's love because of her husbands' actions?

"Lady Elizabetha?" He brought his arm to cross his stomach, bowing before her, ghost or what not.

"It's been a long time, Sir Belmont. Were I to have time, I would so enjoy talking to you once more. But time is what I lack, so take this warning to heart. Please refrain from going any further in this passage..." she both greeted and warned before a hot wind from the path behind her blew away the mist she was made of. The sudden eruption of heat and evil choked away his ability to call out for her to wait. The mist was gone, blown away by a wind that was heated with evil. She sought to warn him though, were it somehow through Mathias' own actions that halted her words? Or perhaps this was the vampire that may have taken up residence? Jonathan seemed to believe another vampire could have taken over, that it had been done before.

Leon sincerely doubted that Mathias would treat his lady wife so poorly as to brush her off like that. It seemed that this 'was' where Mathias had come to hide himself away in. But if that was the case, then it seemed to mean another vampire did indeed take over. Perhaps the threat was only in this one passage? Though normally Leon would have pressed forward, he didn't feel he should abandon Sypha to her own devices.

While she stood above watching as a hot wind tore through the passage Leon had just entered. The heat of hate and pure evil rose up like a vile serpent and drove her back from the edge, somehow her own power over the elements seemed so petty compared to this hate. If this was Dracula's own hate she could only wonder how it could have grown so strong.

"Leon? Are you alright down there?" She peered down anxiously, her vivid blue eyes reflecting her worry as she peered down. She didn't want to tell Trevor that his family member was dead.

"I am well m'lady," he called out, before leaping out to the platform below her. She couldn't help, but, admire his skill, though he wasn't a magician he could use some magical skills. Coiling power for that double jump for example. He had some skill, though so far with no monsters there was no way to tell if he was a proficient fighter. "However, I think we should take another path for now."

She gave him an odd look from under her hood, but she didn't argue, after what she just experienced, she felt safer getting a better grip on the Castle. Before she faced something that could be superior to her own skills.