Castlevania: Let the Symphony Last for Eternity

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

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"Trevor? Sophia?" Grant stood there looking between the two confused at the sudden silence from the pair.

All about them was open air, standing on a broken staircase that rose up to the Master Chambers high above. All around them the Castle had yet to change, yet he knew time had changed when the full army of monsters had suddenly been washed away. He had been climbing a wall in an effort to snipe a few monsters from above. So he had been able to watch as a wave, for lack of better word, rose up and crashing upon the battle field. Much like a massive ocean wave, sweeping away everything around them. The piles of dead faded away leaving the three alone staring at each other before turning their gazes above. Towards the Master Chambers as they came to the realization that Alucard and Leon made it.

"They... they made it!" Sophia exclaimed as she hitched up her robes so she could rush down the steps fully and join the two men.

"Of course! Why would you even doubt them," Trevor called out in amusement as he watched her approach.

"So the family should be popping up all over eh," Grant asked, looking back at the stone structure they had been traveling through. "Think we should all go meet up with the pair and see bouts hunting down the rest of the hunters?"

"Yes, now that we know how the doors work, if they went back to being warps we should help the others find their way here," Trevor agreed.

The way here hadn't seen much of any trouble, from the seemingly underground tunnel with its broken stairs and broken upper floors. From there they reached a room with a stone platform hovering in the air. The walls had mounted lion heads with their mouths gaping open and candles burning inside the mouths, illuminating the room. Taking the platform that held a green pattern around its side, the trio took that rose them up into the upper floor.

From there they found themselves at the foot of the stairs when Trevor caught sight of something, something that felt like a sucker punch to the gut. A pair of men, one with white hair and long red coat and a darker deep brown haired man with a tan. Trevor stiffened and his expression showed his shock and dismay, earning a shared concerned glance between Grant and Sophia. When suddenly she crumbled in reaction to something he couldn't see.

"What... what is this feeling?" She muttered, huddling in on herself as though she had just bore witness to something alarming.

When Grant looked back up at the top of the stairs, he could see the two men had turned their backs on the trio and were bowing in deference towards the chamber. So something in the chamber upset Sophia while the appearance of the two men upset Trevor.

Great.

"Maxim? Hey Maxim!"

A new, male voice cut the confused tension that Grant started feeling, freeing him into whirling around to see who was behind the trio. For which he found himself looking at a new blond hunter and honestly between the reds of his coat and the way that the guys' hair wore his hair, brought to mind Leon. He also carried a rather impressive spear in one hand and recognized one of the two men. "Say, you know those men?"

"I know the guy with the sword, sorta," the blond confessed as his head tilted to the side in confusion. "Met him at the wall... but..."

"They've been turned," Trevor answered sharply, "damn it I shouldn't have left Juste." Guilt rose up like ocean waves as he realized his worst fears had come about. A vampire had found Juste and turned him when he was defenseless.

"Juste? Oh! I know that name," said blond said, his tone relaxing as he recalled the 'long' spiels about how special that Belmont was via Charlotte. Only to suddenly realize what was said and now having a name to go with the pale figure above. "Juste Belmont, Charlotte talks about him sometimes, greatest magician in the Belmont line. Wait... 'they'?! How did that happen? How can a Belmont be a 'vampire'?!"

Grant went pale under his sun kissed skin, remembering the story that Trevor gave about his arrival in the Castle. More importantly, the first person he 'encountered', and he suddenly worried over the current state of the Castle once more. A Belmont turned would damn the future generations of hunters wouldn't it?

"Juste!? Please, come down here!"

"They don't look interested in listening to us," Jonathan commented thoughtfully as he walked over. "And I can't see a way to get up there, if Charlotte was here I could..."

The two Vampires above suddenly stood up, almost at attention and rushed forward, yet any sensation of 'Vampire' quickly faded away. Possibly indicating a teleportation spell had been used or such devices.

"Damn it," Trevor growled as he slammed his fist into his empty hand in outrage. "This is all my fault!"

"Oh well, time to find Charlotte," Jonathon rolled his shoulders and began wondering if he could launch himself with the spear then double jump over to the other side. Or maybe he needed to turn around and just go back where he came. He didn't have proof that she was in the Master Chambers after all, it just was one of the last places he had left to look. Also, knowing her, she would go there on her own.

"And what pray tell will this 'Charlotte' do?" Sophia inquired for her husband who looked ready to use harsher words.

"Well, Juste created a spell that undoes a Vampires bite if the victim didn't turn of their own accord. He just couldn't cast it, however; Charlotte can, so I just gotta find her," Jonathan replied, with the same confidence he normally exuded. Despite feeling a pea sized bit of apprehension, lest he forget that there were 'two' restrictions on the spell.

"Well there are two restrictions on the spell actually. People have various sizes of willpower, depending on how strong the Will is proportional to how long the spell can work. Even if they originally wanted to be reverted to human, if they've been a vampire for too long? Well that Will will probably be too depleted to turn a person back."

True he had seen Maxim recently and given the man was a Vampire Hunter there was an expectation that he had a strong will as well. But given the doors and just the hell the blond had gone through just to get to 'this' part of the Castle. He hadn't forgotten the tales of his father and Eric having traveled to various parts of the continent just trying to face Bartley. What if they left the Castle all together and fled to other parts of the land? Restoring the pair could very well end up a lost cause, but knowing the man beside him was a Belmont? 'The' Belmont who created the spell?

Now that he was turned, Jonathan couldn't see Juste willingly waiting around for someone who could actually cast that spell. Not because he wanted to stay as a Vampire, but any vampire who realized just 'who' they turned? Would certainly want to keep Juste away from such a spell caster until the spell's effectiveness was lost. Even if the spell wasn't known to the Vampire in question, to capture and turn a Belmont, they couldn't be so dumb that they couldn't figure it out or just ask Juste.

"A spell that turns a vampire back into a human? That can be 'done'?" Grant asked doubtful though there was some hope in his voice. As he stood there looking at this newcomer who easily had such a solution.

"Yeah, I met twin vampires who were turned back via it, so I know it can work..." Jonathan began when suddenly he remembered he was supposed to have manners. "I'm Jonathan Morris, nice to meet you."

"Oh! Aye, I'm Grant DaNasty, this here be Trevor and Sophia Belmont... I guess you been aware of that though."

Jonathan struggled not to gape as he looked the three over again in stunned amazement at what he just heard. He may not have known a 'lot' of the Belmonts, but he knew of Trevor, thank you Charlotte you bookworm. Who would have thought he would get to meet some of the legendary founders of the three core clans?

"We have friends who made it to the Master Chambers, if we are fortunate they'll be able to find her," Trevor offered. His worry over Juste was still at the forefront of his thoughts, but if Jonathan was right...

"I'm not sure I can jump the distance," Jonathan admitted as he saw something moving above. "Hey! Is someone up there?" he called out, startling the trio at Jonathan's boldness.

A moment later and they saw a cap and then the head of a zombie walked out into their line of sight. The maid's pink uniform showing that this was no mindless zombie, and would actually give a proper response. She planted her hands on her uniform to keep the wind from gusting up the skirt as she got closer to the edge of the stairs. "Yes?"

"Is there a way to get up there? We're looking for someone!" Jonathan called out cupping his mouth to help project his voice. All the while the trio was stuck admiring how ok he was with all of this, yet as he spoke Trevor caught sight of the whip at the man's hip.

He didn't know of anyone named 'Morris' so if he had Vampire Killer it would imply a name change or something. Yet if that was the case, why did he not carry the whip at his hip proper as a weapon?

The maid nodded and moved back further into the room, apparently on her way to find help or at least an answer to give Jonathan. "Jonathan? Why do you carry Vampire Killer in such a manner?"

"I... try not to use it," Jonathan admitted though he reached down and under his coat to retrieve the weapon. "Unless I'm dealing with a vampire, I avoid it, my family is only distantly tied to the Belmont clan. Not close enough to avoid the issue that the whip carries," Jonathan explained.

"Hence the spear," Sophia spoke up as she studied the spear, she could feel its dark power, and it was a surprisingly strong weapon from what she could sense. The ornate blade fairly glowed with darkness to her vision. Yet it made her think of Alucard rather than a source of evil so she was wary of just accusing it as an evil weapon.

"Ah yeah, the Alucarde spear, it belongs to the LeCarde clan, but right now there are only the twin sisters. Stella only uses swords so there's really no reason for the girls to have it back... And right now it causes more emotional harm than good. So I look after it," Jonathan admitted looking up at the spear following her gaze towards it.

"'Alucarde spear', 'LeCarde'? What has the guy been up to between our time and yours?" Grant asked leaning back a bit to admire the blade before them.

"Yeah, Loretta said that a man of that name was their clan's benefactor and 'bequeathed this spear to lend aid to the Morris clans' effort with the Vampire Killer'." Jonathan explained shifting his voice to mimic Lorettas', made more difficult with the twist of his lips as he spoke. "Though from what the girls said it sounds like the Clan changed their names, to help hide something thus becoming the LeCardes..."

"Indeed, we don't talk about the spears' namesake for his own protection," Trevor noted, touched to see that Alucard would still be working tirelessly for the protection of the world. Making returning Soma to the world all the more important to the Hunter. If he really 'was' a benign version of Dracula than his presence would ensure a peaceful life for the Dhampire and he most certainly earned it.

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"Why... why would you let her go?" Alucard finally asked, wanting to seriously understand how his father could be aligned with Vampire Hunters and let Vampires 'go'.

"She a 'vampire'," Simon pointed out when it occurred to him that Soma might not see that as an instant kill reason. Even if he was somehow in a new body and essentially human, there was no reason why he wouldn't see vampires as people.

"But she hadn't done anything..." Soma began.

"That doesn't matter, Vampires need to die!" Maria retorted.

Soma blinked then jerked his hand to point at Alucard, with one slender white eyebrow rising up in a 'really here folks' posture.

"Er... no... of course not..." Charlotte backtracked for her fellow hunter awkwardly.

"I'm not a racist, I'm not going to kill someone just because they're not human," Soma retorted folding his arms across his chest in annoyance.

"If they serve you in the past assume that they're evil and need to be killed on sight," Loretta suggested, her tone rather civil as her gaze went to where Issac stood. Resolutely not leaving his Master to a room full of Vampire Hunters. Even if he was evil, he was staunchly staying by Soma's side making the room increasingly awkward.

Especially for Hector, as he remembered Issac's fall from sanity and he had a gut twisting realization of just what 'might' have been the start to that fall. The 'humiliation' that Issac had stated back when Hector first returned to the Castle seeking his revenge. That Rosaly would die because Isaac was taken far into the future and faced these events which would cause his fall into madness. Really wasn't Hectors' fault yet it was too late to feel regret that he didn't do more. Leaving him feeling only pity that his one time fellow Forgemaster would be driven mad due to time travel.

Maybe if Hector had known before hand, the night he abandoned his post he could have taken Isaac with him. Yet the fact that Isaac was willing to stay in a room with vampire hunters, in an effort to protect his master? It made Hector doubt he could have reasoned with Isaac even back then.

"Well there's nothing to be done about it, the man isn't leaving Dracula's service and so long as Dracula is not trying to kill us... Might as well accept his presence," Shanoa resigned aloud as she moved away from the near clustered women in an effort to stretch her legs.

Simon stewed as he saw another chance at fighting someone get ripped away from his hands, yet before he could give the woman a scathing answer...

"Well you could have forced her to summon Juste here so I could turn him back," Charlotte pointed out. Her tone almost cocky, but confident more so than she actually felt. Not because the spell was hard, just time consuming, rather because her reaction to her exposure to Soma, and therefore Dracula's power rattled her deeply. If he could do this, as a mere, near powerless reincarnation, how had the Belmonts or her and Jonathan get as far in their battles against him?

Even if the logic was that the Belmonts were blessed with extraordinary holy power, that didn't account for anyone else. All who shared not a shred of the Belmonts blood had bowed at Soma's displeasure. Was it then a mere fluke that she and Jonathan had managed to defeat Dracula? Or was it something else? Given Soma's nature it seemed almost, strangely, as though that perhaps he 'wanted' to be defeated. If not, why not crush the world during the time when the Belmonts were missing? In retrospect Shanoa had confessed that when Dracula was resummoned he really didn't 'do' anything. That she found him in the Master Chambers just sitting around, and now having met Soma, that behavior sounded...

Lonely.

While Leon could only see the painting in his minds eye and the hunters who stood as Mathias' defenders. That he was being allowed to run about this castle and learn to control his own dark powers uninhabited by civilians said something. Soma seemed, not light hearted, but at least kind and open minded. The same way he was before his wife died, though now knowing he had a son was clearly affecting Soma in the way he responded to Alucard. Not to say that Leon would have been any better really.

It was actually endearing in a way. Soma was such an idiot dealing with that.