Let the Symphony Last for Eternity

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Beta: No one

A/N: Not much to fix here. Thank goodness

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

"Well, we're nearly outside," Charlotte noted casually as she released her grip on Shanoas' hand. The chain that they had formed when going through doors was getting amusingly longer she decided as she turned to see Stella and Loretta letting go of Erics' hands. Five female hunters and, the yet to become, father of two of them. They had yet to cross paths again with the Vampire or Juste Belmont. Charlotte knew she could cure Juste, but she needed time to cast the spell and taking on the strongest magic user in the Belmont Clan?

For that matter, how did Juste get turned?! There was no records of such a thing, or any history of people being caught in some type of time prison. Which was the only way she could think to refer to what the Castle had apparently become. They needed to find Juste, a way home for each of the groups, and figure out if the Castles' strange behavior the symptom or the illness of why this was going on? They had three straight out fighters with them, but could they subdue Juste long enough for Charlotte to cast Sanctuary without accidentally killing Arcane Hunter? Putting that aside for a moment, she turned her gaze towards the hallway they found themselves in. Joining Marias' in her scrutiny of where they found themselves.

The breezeway was a series of wooden walls with rounded triangles on the ground level with small torches resting in scorns against stone wall segments. Tombstones lining the walls between torches and one of the less macabre hallways they had seen. But the group was much larger now, whatever fear the Castle might have induced was reduced as the group got increasingly larger.

In the distance Charlotte saw a flash of blond and red and got hopeful as she began running ahead. "Jonathan!"

The others called out to her as she rushed forward, her feet pounding hard on stonework and wood. Ahead of her she saw a flash of white shooting up and she could only assume that the person jumped up. But if it was Jonathan, why wouldn't he stop when he heard her voice? Maybe she was wrong? With that concern in her mind, she found her steps slowing down from a dead run to a quick walk until nothing.

"Did you see Jonathan?" Loretta asked, calling out from the back where she had been with her sister. Redirecting her thoughts from their fathers' presence was comforting to Loretta, despite being with Eric, the man seemed less interested in them as he was in finding and slaying Camilla. Which was proving to upset Stella, though her elder sister was trying very hard to hide. Eric had yet to ask anything about them, while Stella seemed to be trying to politely make him notice them.

"No, I'm sorry, it was stupid I know," Charlotte apologized as the rest of the group caught up to her half way down the hallway. "But still, it was another person, maybe we should try to catch them if there's still a chance?" She turned to look at the group who nodded, in Shanoas' case she sped back up onto the hunt.

The hallway rushed by as they ran or floated along towards an entry way leading to a dark room. Above them were a pair of lifts, which explained what the stranger was doing and no lights to see what was going on. But even as those like Maria and Charlotte were stuck on the ground for a moment, the sisters were already gliding up into the air to check for this elusive person. A swift glow from the Glyphs on her back and Shanoa was a batwinged demon following the sisters. The last to follow taking the lifts, while Charlotte used her spells to turn into an owl from the lift and flew up to join the gang.

Above, the sisters landed to see a blond haired man standing upon a broken pillar with his face turned towards a small flock of birds with fleamen on their backs. The monsters flew away in an unhurried manner and the man seemed neither alarmed nor aggressive towards the monsters. Words, buffeted by the beating wings of the Fleamens' mounts couldn't hide the comment of someone 'not being here'.

Shanoa joined them first, Charlotte coming in a quick second while Maria and Eric followed up the rear while the stranger turned to look at them. Surprised at the the sight of them, than again there was a good number of them and all of them were human, Shanoa as well in a moment. But upon distant inspection it was reasonable to see Charlotte's confusion, short blond hair, a long coat with red upon it. Though she was hiding it, Charlotte would be concerned for Jonathans' safety given the nature of the Whip.

The sisters took it upon themselves to float over to him, for which he straightened his posture up, though he still seemed at ease.

"Ladies? For what reason do I have the pleasure of this meeting?" Leon looked upon them with the calm assurance that they wouldn't attack him. Their pace and posture was not aggressive, and though carefully schooled, their expressions were as inquisitive of him as he was of them. Deciding that they weren't a threat he gave them a polite bow as was trained into him. For which the two ladies responded with an equally polite curtsy.

"We've been trying to figure out what has been going on in this Castle. During that we've been trying to rescue as many people as we can due to the nature of the doors." Loretta explained as the others followed behind the pair.

"You say that you have rescued others, and I see that you are in a sizable group, as opposed to the lone travelers I have come across. May I ask to accompany you as well?" Leon asked, his eyes quickly scanning the group and noting one particular honey blond who stared with a bit of disappointment. Was she hoping to he was someone else? Another blond haired hunter perhaps?

"Yes, of course you may. My name is Stella LeCarde, this is my twin sister Loretta," Stella replied with firm confidence, before turning towards the rest of their group. "This is Shanoa, the blond with the book is Charlotte Aulin, the blond with the birds is Maria Renard and the lone gentleman in our group is our fath- I mean, Eric LeCarde."

As a knight, albeit one who left his station, Leon had long been taught how to behave in social situations. Which was why hearing Stella start calling the man 'father' made him a little concerned. He hated the idea of walking into a group with a current private situation, but he didn't feel it was his place to ask. Yet the facial expressions among the group ranged from unconcerned to sympathy, which was fine, but an awkwardness began to take over the meeting.

So he took charge.

"It is a pleasure to meet all of you, my name is Leon Belmont." He began when the honey blonds' eyes went bright, in a way that called to mind whenever Mathias started to speculate. "As so far you are the only ones to seem to have a grasp on traveling through out the Castle. The human hunters have all been as lost as I, while the monsters," he gestured towards the direction where the Fleamen had disappeared to. "Have only been marginally helpful."

"They said that someone wasn't here?" Shanoa inquired from what she had heard when she had reached the archway earlier.

Leon gave a simple nod, "yes, they said that I should not go to the Master Chambers." Leon turned back towards the building high above him. "I inquired as to the location of the Lord of this Castle and they told me that he is at the front gates. So then I asked who was up there, and they replied a 'Belmont in blue' and that I should not pay a visit."

The information was valuable to the group, Charlotte noting that this was 'the' Belmont, the first of the clan. But Maria was alarmed and with a glance at her winged friends she sent them flying skyward towards the Master Chambers.

"Maria?" Eric voiced in confused concern as he saw them gaining air.

"What has Dracula done to Richter? Why would he leave Richter in the Master Chambers and leave for the front gates? Is he trying to escape?" Maria asked, her eyes anxiously situated on her doves.

Shanoa's answer was to let her Glyphs activate returning her to her demoness form. Bat type wings spread wide, she soared up after the birds. The Castle and world fell behind her as the wind rushed by whispering a soothing melody that drummed along her fur and flesh. A fake, she wasn't a real demon and despite wearing the skin of one, the Castle knew her to be untrue. The winds kicked about suddenly, just enough to remind her not to get careless. Remind her that the skies were never hers to begin with and a fraud was just that. While her quick ears caught the sound of cloth fluttering in the wind and she could only assume that the Sisters were following behind her.

Loretta hoped that the flight and search for a window to look inside the Master Chambers would distract her sister. Stella had been so ecstatic to see their father until they realized that he wasn't from their time. Watching Stella reel from learning that, despite having helped defeat Dracula, Eric was still mourning his first wife had been painful. Eric was not ready, or perhaps even interested, in bonding with daughters from another woman. She wanted to give Eric time, knowing that one day he would heal from his loss and embrace his family.

So Loretta stuck close to her aggressive sister, sending as much of her own sisterly devotion to Stella to fortify her. After all, that was what sisters were for right?

Meanwhile...

"Do they always just leave so suddenly?" Leon asked looking at the ground below. The rest of the group kept their eyes fixated on the three girls, which made Leon stick out.

"Um why are you looking at the ground?" Charlotte asked, her eyes questioning as she tried to find some hint that maybe something was more important far below. But all she saw was the gardens sectioned off with one reflecting the sky above with a large fountain while the other had horses running across. She saw no hints of other hunters who were lost and traveling through out the Castle.

"A knight, even one who leaves their station, simply does 'not' look up a dress."

All the ladies turned towards Eric, curious to see what 'he' was looking at, just in time to see him look down.

"That's a nice looking garden, a pity that such a monster is the owner," Eric noted in such an awkward tone that it oozed avoidance. His hair helped hide his face from the group despite the wind lightly tugging at it.

"Yes it is, I do believe that those two horses are partaking a joust, despite missing their hind quarters," Leon casually acknowledged while the girls shared a grin at the knights' behavior.

Charlotte looked at the Knight in question thoughtfully for a moment causing Leon to glance at her and then turn his attention to her. She was besmeared in blood on her clothes, though she herself looked uninjured. Her dress was ridiculously short, but so was Loretta; given their personalities he could only expect them from the future. Oh how the future was different from his comfort zone, female hunters and he was pretty sure his mentality would annoy them.

"When I saw you from a distance I thought you were a friend of mine. So despite this being a long shot, have you met a hunter named 'Jonathan Morris' while you've been here?" She asked, her tone politely restrained and concern in her eyes only partially subdued. What were the odds that Jonathan would run into Leon in the Castle with the doors acting the way they were? After all, how many different hunters were currently running through the place at that moment?

But his formal facial expression lit up to an unexpected smile and nod as he turned to face her fully.

"Indeed I have met him, he was the first person I met upon awakening in here. Quite a pleasant fellow I must say. Is he your lover?" It was nice to know his training made him quick to notice changes and to move accordingly. Thus he took several steps back and raised his hands up to ward off potential blows as Charlotte, well. She looked angry. Clearly not only was his way of thinking going to put him in possible danger, even trying to forward his way of thinking was unsafe.

"He is 'not' my boyfriend!"

For a moment Leon wondered what a 'boyfriend' was when he said 'lover' but, well language apparently was a thing again. Which was an odd thing to note, considering they were all able to talk to each other despite the year differences. He would have thought that language might have evolved to the point where he wouldn't be able to understand. Meanwhile, behind Charlotte, Maria was grinning at her outburst, even laughing, for which she turned her gaze onto the huntress.

"Its a good thing though, that he has come across Johns' son," Eric pointed out, a distraction from Charlottes' fury. He didn't want to admit out loud that he wanted to meet Johns' future son, when he apparently had a pair of future daughters right with him. Yet looking at Stellas' blatant devotion and Lorettas' calm faith bothered him. He failed to protect Gwen, and now he knew he would remarry, lose his 'second' wife and apparently be killed leaving his two daughters orphans. Regardless of the age, he felt such a deep seated sense of failure he couldn't really face them. Worse yet, he knew he was hurting the girls.

"Was he carrying a weapon on him?" Charlotte asked in a formal business tone, her eyes searching his as though she wanted to pull the information out of Leon's brain.

"Several, yet a spear was by his side, may I ask why the concern?" Leon inquired, before giving the sky a very quick glance to check on the girls.

"Vampire Killer is dangerous in the hands of anyone outside of the Belmont Clan, even though Jonathan can use it, it drains his life force. He'll die if he over uses it, like his father did," Charlotte explained when Eric stepped forward quickly.

"What? I never heard of this!" Eric placed one leather covered hand on Charlotte's shoulder and turned her towards him. What kind of fathers would they be? Abandoning their children to grow without them?

Charlotte turned about to look up at Eric and gave him a sympathetic expression placing her hand on his. "Well, its not like we heard about it either until it was after we had entered the Castle. Though Jonathan hasn't use the Whip for as long as his father."

Leon looked down at his own whip, 'Sara, are you really killing people as the price for wielding you?'

A howling mixture of demon, human and bird screams pierced the air causing Leon to look up towards the girls.

"IT BURNS!"

Stella and Loretta were knocked out of their flight and were tumbling out of the air a mix of elaborate cloth and hair. Charlotte turned herself into an owl and began getting air as quickly as she could to try and catch someone. She wasn't sure who she would grab, but the open space between where the non flyers were and where the girls were falling was too big to hope that someone could jump it.

"Dragon!"

Eric saw from his peripheral a green dragon almost as big as a man soar out and up towards the fallen. But his eyes could only focus on the twin girls and the horror of failing them now. He couldn't fly! The burning shame of thinking that once again he was letting any member of his family down damned his sense of self esteem. He was instead, forced to watch as the dragon latched onto the twins and pull them up from their fall while Owl Charlotte got a hold of Shanoa. The pair of animals began carrying the girls towards the rooftop that they stood leaving the rest wondering what had happened.

Eric used his spear to help hook the twins closer to him in aid of the dragon, while Leon caught Shanoa in his arms. The twins looked dazed, the hairpins that had held up Stellas' hair had been undone allowing her hair to fall down in a cascade over her face and shoulders. Their clothes had dark spots all over them that Eric couldn't understand.

"No, this can't be..." Maria shook her head in disbelief and mounting concern before dropping to her knees and shaking Loretta.

Charlotte landed and immediately pulled out her spellbook and flipping towards the page with the healing spell. Only half listening as Maria protested that this was the effects of Richters' Hydro Storm attack. Her frustration and anxiety was obvious, but Charlottes' only duty at that moment was to find and cast the healing spell. While Hydro only stunned the twins, Shanoa had been in a demoness form, and the holy water had pitted its way into Shanoas' skin. Leon had her hand in his as he held her up with his other arm, while she struggled to stay still. But she had to be in agony, Hydro Storm was known to destroy monsters with ease. Would Shanoa succumb the same way all the other monsters did?