Let the Symphony Last for Eternity

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

A/N: Fixed up a bit of this and that, hopefully this is better.

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

Leon walked through another doorway into a darker room, the walls a deep stone red and with torches posted every so often from black metal scones. There was a single jump before him that he could see making and that was right in front of him. The steps below him led downward where a candle burned, illuminating the darkness from below.

While the flickering glow and warmth of the flames hung in the air mingling ever so faintly with the smoke. While another torch on the platform he would be jumping to illuminated the area leaving no surprise trip ups. Casting its light forth and letting the shadows dance in a more organic feeling than the clock tower, what with its proper, methodical movement pace. Yet the clock tower, and he knew it 'was' a clock tower because he saw it, stood tall and erect above the wall where they had left Trevor and the others. This area looked dilapidated.

So what were these massive walls on the sides of him?

If they were just walls that had fallen into disrepair, he would have been fine, that made sense to him. Yet instead the walls were not just 'collapsed', they revealed a cavern like outer wall as though he was underground in a cave. How did Mathias convince Elizabetha to live in these conditions? He couldn't fathom the lady being willing to go through a clock tower to see her lord husband.

The area felt like rooms that had fallen on each other, as he saw the rare large chunk on the floor collapsed for some reason. Holes in the ceiling revealed more floors or at least small rooms, making what this room would be used for more a mystery. While another mystery that held a stronger hold on Leon being the status of the group they had to leave behind.

No monsters... correction, Dark Children, were giving chase, there were no cries of victory or defeat to catch Leon's notice. Which implied that Trevor was still holding his own, but was Sir Grant and Lady Sophia as well? They had to be doing well, though, if not wouldn't Alucard also disappear? It was Trevor who brought Alucard into Vampire hunting after all. So would Alucard even have done what he had if Trevor stopped existing?

But then he caught himself before he went too far into that particular rabbit hole. Reminding himself that Trevor was from 'after' he met Alucard and faced Mathias. It was dependent on himself that Trevor was still able to be born at all. So Alucards' placement wouldn't be affected unless something happened to Leon. With that thought, however; a new one came to light, causing him to turn to look at the Vampire.

"Alucard, if you had never met Trevor... what would you have done?" Leon inquired in mild concern.

But having already been interrogated by Leon already, Alucard was thoroughly unwilling to endure another round. "May I ask your reason for inquiring about my thought process or choices I make in life?"

Leon nodded, picking up the subtle displeasure from the Vampire, "Of course. I was thinking about how this particular Belmont was sealed away causing the change in time lines. It then occurred to me that, one of us will have to enter the painting to retrieve the Belmont and we're not sure 'where' he is in the painting. But upon doing so it would possibly cause a substantial change in the timeline as well."

Alucard blinked and slowly began nodding as the thought had only occurred to him in passing, but it was a serious enough thought to go over. "In truth I did think on the matter, if I left to retrieve this Belmont or if it was you. If I went into this painting, the time line would still be safe for Trevor would still be here."

Their shadows were cast behind them as they walked towards a series of torches, while their own thoughts tried to flesh out potential futures.

"Perhaps it would be best if you went in? While I have my issues with Mathias, if we can get him to be reasonable; I can keep my peace for the greater good." Leon suggested as they walked up the steps of a broken staircase that had become lodged in the ground.

Only for Alucard to shake his head in uncertainty, "I'm not sure that would be wise. The only Belmonts to ever face my father in this new time line was Trevor and his descendants Christopher and later Simon. After Simon disappeared due to his current imprisonment in that painting all the other generations disappeared. When the Castle returned my father was fully restored to power, and despite my attempts I was no match for him. For I had awoken then, instead of today, thus I found myself searching the land for the Belmonts to see what had taken place."

They were passing another series of large torches when Alucard finally paused as he realized this was not going to be topic with an easy solution. "Father had decimated the Belmonts, without Simon fathering an heir and having Vampire Killer in his possession upon his disappearance the clan couldn't survive. Father stormed into their homes, slaughtering everyone who held even a hint of the Belmonts blood. Amid the tales of destruction wrought, people told stories of the clans only three members who faced my father. Trevor you have met, but Christopher has seemingly not appeared in the Castle, and that means we know where Simon is."

"It is Simon who I fear will prove difficult. For we know not how long this could take to rescue him. But if you disappear into the painting, the world loses Trevor and Christopher, as well as the two victories that Simon earned. However; and this is the biggest problem, Simon disappeared after his second victory and had a legacy of loving to hunt. He had become, as both humans and Dark Children noted, blood thirsty of the worst kind." Alucard recalled his thoughts going back to this second timeline and reigniting that headache. Trying to remember and retain his identity from the original timeline while now having to remember memories of the life he didn't want was pure hell.

"Blood thirsty, you say?" Leon inquired, not liking the sound of that one bit. No Dark Children existed in this area, meaning their conversation was the only sound they could easily hear. Lacking proper walls on either side caused the sound to become disjointed. While the sound of flames endlessly sizzling consumption of the wood as the wind from the open patches of wall carried away the natural smell of burning wood.

"Indeed, after the second hunt, he proactively hunted down anything that displayed non human traits. But not in the sense that he was paranoid or traumatized by his experiences. Rather, from where I am standing, it sounded almost like a vampire lost to the lust for blood. Hunting some of the Vampires in this time who had proactively cultivate the humans as pets in their minor areas. They do not feed until the humans die, rather drinking from the collective to sustain themselves." Alucard explained, feeling the need to explain that there 'were' ways to feed on humans without draining one dry.

"Ahh, a sound idea if I ever heard one, allowing both races to survive so long as it was respectfully done... But what you say about Simon is worrisome, you are correct about not knowing what to expect when either of us enter the painting. Were something to happen to you as well, I highly doubt Mathias would ignore it. If we both entered the painting, we strip the world of my clan all together and that would change history. But your explanation leaves me pondering one thing."

Upon Alucards' response, a raised eyebrow, to Leon's oddly placed cut off thought, the new hunter carried on, "Would not Simon recognize you? Trevor never attempted to take sole credit for his victory over Mathias, so what threat is there if you enter? You are a friend to my clansmen, hunter or not it would be most disrespectful for Simon to attempt to slay you on sight."

Alucard sighed, remembering Trevors', and indeed the others, initial surprise at the sight of him, and the reality of how he used to look verses how he currently looked. "When I first met Trevor, I didn't look like this. The weaker I am the darker my hair becomes, and in those days I had hidden myself in my coffin in the lower parts of the Castle. I did not feed on blood, nor did I ingest human food either, leaving my hair black and, with a few choice simple spells.. I changed a few aspects of my appearance skin tone being one of them. Undoubtedly Trevor, if he left any descriptions for my appearance, would have used that instead. More over, when I fought alongside Trevor I was a Dhampire, now I am a full vampire. Were I to tell him my identity, what reason would he have to believe?"

"I see, though you were blond in those paintings of your child self," Leon pointed out, while his thoughts went back to those paintings. Alucard had looked so happy and lively, and Leon had kind of hoped that all that cocky confidence, that happy go lucky attitude was still around.

It wasn't.

"Paintings?" Alucard began, wondering what his father had hidden through out the castle now. "No, I'm a natural blond, the change is.. more like a rose wilting, my hair darkens the weaker I become magically."

Leon blinked in answer, his expression thoughtful as he stood there, realizing that it would been about the time of Elizabethas murder. It was a bit of information that Leon found interesting, since it pretty much established that Alucard was, in a lot of ways, like his father. How fascinating that as a display of vitality and good health Alucard's hair was golden like his mother. But when restricted or possibly made ill his hair darkened to his fathers' color.

It was becoming clear that Alucard was his fathers' son, yet there was something, undoubtedly his mother, that kept Alucard from giving in to the same darkness that consumed Mathias. But that meant there was the question of what kept him as a Vampire Hunter when clearly his father had won. Was it out of duty to Trevor and the world, or was it some form of devotion to his unseen mother?

But back on topic, as he realized they had started straying, "though again, what would you have done if Trevor never had arrived that night?"

A question that Alucard found himself unsure how to answer. He had waited in his coffin for a hunter strong enough to face his father. The few that had reached him couldn't overcome his already inhibited power, so he had never bothered with them. Trevor was the sole person to ever defeat him in combat at that age, without that Belmont Alucard wouldn't have been able to face his father. Indeed uncontested since after Simons' time, his fathers' power had only continued to grow, Alucard was no where near that level. Not in the original time line where he went to sleep or in this one where that She vampire turned him.

Which left them in a conundrum, because he had spent years training vampire hunters in this new time line. But for whatever reason, or so he thought at the time, none could reach the level of power that Trevor and his blood had by nature. Though now he understood where all the other humans had fallen short. Not for being human, but because the Belmonts were 'actively cursed' to face his father over and over again. It was a vendetta born ages ago and one that couldn't be undermined by anyone else.

At least not directly, though if they left things the way it was now. Alucard was partly sure he could come up with 'something' to help the humans level the playing field against his father. Yet now that he had been forced to think on the matter fully, he realized that they had made a possibly critical error. Seemingly at the same time as Leon made the discovery...

"We should have brought Grant."

He was the only one who fit what they needed, Simon would recognize his ancestor Trevor, but possibly disappear if Trevor entered. Even if he didn't, Trevors' absence would steal away the times of peace from Simon and Christophers' placement in the time line. Which also excluded Sophia despite her heading her own clan because she was the mother of the bloodline. Leaving only the pirate safe enough as a human to approach Simon and explain what was going on.

Only they left him with Trevor and Sophia...

"Times like this make me regret Elizabetha's death in my time." Leon finally confessed, earning a mildly confused expression from Alucard. Prompting him to elaborate, "her death is what set him on the path to being a vampire. However; he 'was' my tactician and he would have spot the flaw of our plan long before now..." With that he turned to look back down the way they came, his brows furrowed as he wondered what to do now.

"If my father is such a brilliant tactician, as you seem to believe. Why is he so careless about what he does in this castle? Granted the hunters never reach him, but Trevor and the other Belmonts have defeated him time and again." Alucard asked, though not because he felt his father was 'stupid' far from it, but he found himself genuinely curious about how this man 'thought'. Because he had always felt his father was an 'inferior' tactician, while Leon professed the opposite.

Leon turned to look back at Alucard, and felt a poignant type of remorse for the vampire. He only knew of his father in the form of a Vampire Lord, while Leon offered a link back to a time when his father was human. The stories Leon could impart upon the vampire was undoubtedly important, a part of his fathers' life that he could learn from. Yet Leon's time in the Castle was limited, they were already so close to the Master Chambers and it was possible that soon Leon would be returned to his own time.

However...

"Look to Soma... He might have your answer," Leon offered instead as his eyes took in the hilt of the claymore this mysterious person bequeathed upon Alucard. "When we arrived in the castle everything was akin to a human castle, everything was seemingly at peace. For which we now know we can place at Soma's feet as to why, his presence influenced that change. I would wager that it is ultimately his own doing that brought us all to the castle for whatever reason. He had a plan, a goal that he did not share with any of us for we never met him. While you were unaware of who he was, and despite clearly not knowing who you are either. He bequeathed onto you a weapon for your own protection and his blessing."

When Trevor spoke of Soma, the stranger sounded young, relaxed, almost like a harried lord uninterested in his own duties. But Leon recalled how the castle 'changed' and how between all of them, realized it happened approximately around the time that Soma himself was removed from the castle. Its calm, darkness only, status turned anxious, simmering slightly in an anger as though they lived in the tremors of an earthquake.

Soma didn't seem interested in dealing with the situation in the Castle, or perhaps it was that he was aware of how easy one of Leon's blood would recognize him. He couldn't just realistically walk up to any of them and introduce himself without possibly getting attacked. So passing himself off as an average stranger made sense, and clearly that's 'how' he was acting given how that Devil Forgemaster behaved. So whatever happened in the Castle, it was more than likely that Soma brought them there to resolve it. Only that clearly hadn't happened.

Did Soma realize how dangerous a game he was playing? Endangering the future by putting his past at risk? Or did he not realize that was what happened?

"Father has begun to settle down, if I can keep him at peace, then even if it takes you a while... The change in time lines shouldn't be too severe, I wouldn't have defied him without Trevors' assistance, but I would mitigate his rage.. If I enter, pray that Simon would hold his blood lust long enough to allow me to speak." Alucard finally theorized out loud for Leon, leaving the hunter between a rock and a hard place.

Endanger the future generations, even for a moment, or risk Alucard, unless, "Should we try to rescue Trevor's group?" Leon asked, allowing Alucard to decide if it would be wiser to see if they could fight through the forces and retrieve the trio or to press on.

For which the Vampire shook his head and sighed softly, "press on is my vote. There is no telling if Grant is still alive, though we 'do' know right now that Trevor lives still for the castle has not changed even further."

Leon nodded and they resumed their walk through the room, moving through the long passage under the broken floors towards another series of torches. The passage shrank down into what was a reasonable sized hall before opening back up into another large room with the sound of a duo of swinging pendulums. As though they stood at the bottom of a grand grandfather clock. With a path that lead straight up and another that kept them going forward. With only a series of steps leading upward though how 'much' further upward was the question.

"And here I feared giving up my knighthood to rescue my beloved would result in a long and boring life after her rescue..." Leon mused aloud, shaking his head ruefully.

'Boring'... yeah...

Right.