Castlevania: Let the Symphony Last for Eternity
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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Another maid, as unremarkable and same in appearance as the others, walked up to the great doors of the Master Chamber and dipped down into a curtsy, "my Lord?" Her appearance gave the room something to look at instead of dealing with the madness currently in its walls. Which was always a plus.
"Yes?" Soma responded with, a marginally tired voice borne of the insanity of dealing with kid, hunters and a devote dark one. He turned to face the maid, and now given acknowledgment she straightened up and walked up a respectful distance to Soma.
"There are guests down below at the foot of the broken stairs, three men and a lady, they wish an audience with you."
'Three men and a lady...' Leon thought to himself, realizing quickly it 'had' to be Trevor and his friends. Who the third man was, he didn't know however; the maid did not speak of there being any animosity and he had yet to see Jonathan again.
He watched as Soma agreed to walk with the maid out to the landing of the chamber and see who it was. With Isaac sticking close to his masters' side and Alucard refusing to let Soma out of his sight with a Forgemaster around apparently. In fact as Leon stood there, he noticed how 'all' the hunters started moving towards the door. Pulled by the thread of Soma's presence, for which the Dark Lord seemed to realize as he stopped and turned to face everyone.
"I can go to the door by myself you know. Its right there, you can see me from here," he lifted his arm and pointed to the aforementioned door with the most unimpressed look on his face.
"It could be a threat!" Isaac protested, and then barely, but still visibly flinched as Soma began rolled his head a bit to face him.
Perhaps it was out of pity for the man, but Leon couldn't really bring himself to see Isaac get scolded. Rising his voice so Soma could hear, "I believe that to be Trevor, and the remaining hunters in the Castle. Given how they may perceive you, I can't say I blame Isaac's desire to see to your safety." There, let Soma redirect his annoyance at Leon instead of Isaac, while Leon hoped that the 'third man' among them was Jonathan.
"I'm not a baby, Leon!" Soma protested, turning his displeasure away from Isaac though with Leon, Soma was a bit more lax about things. He didn't wait for anything further out of Leon before he turned and fairly stalked his way out of the Master Chambers with the maid following close behind.
Leaving Isaac a bit anxious at the door and Leon feeling he should try to reassure the poor Forgemaster. Yet he didn't know anything about the Forgemaster, he didn't even know what the term 'meant' since the 'Devil' part made it clear that molding metal wasn't part of it. Given how the other Hunters behaved as well, it was clear Isaac was to be considered a threat.
Stella started as Shanoa broke away from them and started walking after Soma, calling out to her fellow hunter.
"Someone has to help carry the new hunters up here, otherwise we're all going to crowd the dining room. I'm pretty sure doing that would annoy Dracula further and I am not interested in a repeat of his anger." Shanoa explained as she walked past Isaac and Alucard and into the hallway. Nothing hurt quite like the feeling of her, or to be exact the demons, energy trying to punch out of her body through her tattoos.
"I doubt he's that emotionally unstable," Loretta noted, though she began floating after Shanoa as well. "I think he would have to get exceptionally angry to affect us. But you have a point there," she agreed as she floated past the same two men.
'Leon, Trevor, Christopher, Simon, Juste, and Richter... Maria is from this castle's point in time so that means Richter is here... So it has to be Trevor, his friends and Christopher. But where's Jonathan?' Charlotte pondered while she turned her head towards Simon and found another train of thought rising up. Out of all the hunters Simon was the one hunter of the direct Belmont line who was the most avid hunter. He traveled to various castles collecting the pieces of Dracula after he had been cursed by the vampire.
Meaning that possibly he could hunt down Juste despite the latter Belmont having now become a vampire. If they could just find Juste and hold him down long enough so she could cast Sanctuary, the sooner the better.
"Excuse me, Simon?" She asked walking up to the stoic hunter and watching as his sharp gaze turned itself towards her. "May I ask how you got stuck in that painting to start with?" She inquired wondering if it was because of Juste or something else, after all Richter was still MIA.
Simon turned to face this little spell caster, noting her incredibly petite stature compared to that other blond girl. She looked more like she belonged in some school or a church rather than as a hunter, but for all that, she was the lone possessor of a spell that could undo the vampires' kiss? But if it was enough to make the Vampires retreat, such power in such a short package. "I have no idea, I ran into another Belmont with in a blue coat who challenged me. We fought, when another Vampire appeared and dragged me into that accursed, boring painting."
'Another Vampire'?' Charlotte wondered to herself, the wording made it clear that it wasn't Camilla that he was confronted by, and being challenged by another Belmont who wore a blue coat? Jonathan 'had' described Richter as wearing blue, and he 'was' the last Belmont to wield the whip so it had to be him. But why attack Simon? Was he lead to believe that Simon was an enemy? How?
"Wait," Maria interrupted in mounting alarm as she walked up to the pair, her ears barely catching the sound of 'blue coat' and her original mission coming back to her. "You mean you found Richter? He's here in this Castle? But why would he attack you?"
Maria's interruption asked the questions that Charlotte had felt not necessary to ask at the moment, but Simon turned to face the other blond while shrugging his thick, muscle corded shoulders. "I don't ask the idiots who challenge me 'why' they do it, normally they are monsters that I just kill. Though, admittedly I was going to have to inquire what madness consumed him, seeing that he was a fellow Belmont." It felt like an eternity since the last time he faced someone who could give him a good challenge.
Making standing around in the Master Chambers while Dracula stood there in another room having some conversation with someone down below almost agonizing. He wanted to go a few rounds and see what this powder puff version of the Vampire Lord could do. But 'no' he was forced to stand in the Master Chambers while everyone socialized like some grand ball was taking place. He wanted to 'fight' someone!
"We don't know what happened in the Castle, I know of his first trip, but his second visit had nothing really recorded. Save that it was the reason he took the whole clan into hiding and passed the Vampire Killer on to the Morris branch of the family." Charlotte explained to Maria, now that they had actual confirmation of the presence of Richter in the Castle.
"I didn't hit him 'that' hard!" Simon argued, the notion that a Belmont with the Vampire Killer would lead the Clan into hiding. It just seemed preposterous, "yet, though that was part of my plan... hitting him hard, not put the clan into hiding."
"So, we have Juste, the man who created the very Sanctuary spell, turned into a vampire and Richter willingly fighting other members of the clan..." Charlotte listed before opening her spell book and flipping through the pages.
"Charlotte?" Maria asked watching as her fellow female hunter went nose diving into the book.
"Just making sure the spell is still there, because I used that spell on the twins and if his future changed we're going to lose Stella and Loretta..."
"Meaning to stop fussing and worrying because those two are still human therefore we're going to get that brat changed back and all this fixed." Simon elaborated for the sake of those involved in this conversation. He watched as that Shanoa woman flew down out of his line of sight while Charlotte shut her spell book with a snap.
"Exactly!" She replied, her confidence shooting to the stars as Simon pointed out the obvious she had ignored, so long as the twins stayed human the future was safe! Giving her a reason for her next target, the painting above the throne of Dracula, so she walked over to join Leon and take a good look at the painting that he had been fascinated by before.
The painting hung above the throne, and she noted the four people with Soma, one appearing to be Alucard... if Alucard had dark hair... Soma's eyes were only mostly closed with only the barest hint of gold.
"His eyes were completely shut when I first looked at the painting since arriving in here, only upon his outburst did the eyes change," Leon mentioned aloud for her. "Though to be honest, when I first arrived, he didn't even exist in the painting, the others did. However; he was absent in the center so did he manifest now because of his level of control has grown?"
Charlotte blinked looking between Leon and the painting as the thought that perhaps this was less a 'painting' and more a... a sign of his power?
"Sooo, this young man, is our Mortal Enemy and yet has no clue he had a son for all this time..." Eric's voice spoke up from behind causing both Charlotte and Leon to turn around and look at him. "I actually feel for the young man, suddenly finding out one is a father can be... intimidating." The Spaniard confessed turning to look at his eternally trailing daughter, Stella.
She was clearly strong willed, assertive, and for all that, emotionally fragile. A fragile state that left him heartsick knowing that he was going to be killed leaving the two alone. That his daughters followed him into Vampire Hunting said a lot about their internal strength and the bond the three shared. It also left him with a terribly strong burden to try and figure out what their mother looked like so he could find her.
But finding her could result in losing them, the twins were born naturally after all, he didn't have some knowledge before hand... though actually all things considered, he 'did' have knowledge. Did he originally know about them and stage things so that he could father them? Could he have been able to do it? He couldn't imagine himself having 'that' detailed a talk with them about when they were born or the night it probably 'happened'.
"Ah yes, that has clearly affected Soma, in both positive and negative ways..." Leon agreed thinking of how Soma was struggling to deal with both Alucard, his son, and Isaac, his incredibly devoted follower. Was this what it was like to have children who squabbled for their parents' attention? The mental image was enough to make Leon shake his head in disbelief and partial amusement, poor Soma.
"Leon! There you are!"
Leon started out of his reverie, turning towards the large doors of the Master Chambers and saw Jonathan walking in nonchalantly.
"Jonathan!" Leon called out warmly, while Charlotte sounded a mixture of excited and relieved as she spoke his name.
"Oh you're both here! Hope Charlotte didn't talk your ear off Leon," Jonathan began causing a strange sense of heat to suddenly build up next to Leon's right side.
"What's 'that' supposed to mean?!" Charlotte demanded in an offended outrage, causing Leon to just slightly start in surprise at the rather, loud, voice.
"And it begins," Stella muttered for her fathers' ears, as Loretta and Shanoa entered the room with three more hunters.
"I just mean that knowing you, the poor guy has been exposed to the whole history of the Belmont clan," Jonathan teased as he joined up with the small group.
'Not a bear like his father, must get his looks from his mother. Yet this is Johns' son... He would be pleased,' Eric thought to himself as he took in the family spear that was in Jonathan's hands. Remembering that the girls entrusted the spear to him and that this young man was helping look after his girls until they were married.
"I'll have you know that I have done no such thing! And I 'certainly' hope you didn't embarrass yourself in front of him! He's only the 'founder of the whole clan'," Charlotte retorted hotly.
The fact actually took Jonathan aback a bit, causing him to look at Leon in a new light, "you're the founder of the clan?"
This whole conversation turned immediately embarrassing and humbling at the same time, for the new hunter. 'Clan Founder' of such a long standing legacy was humbling to be sure, and the respect that was already been shown him told him of his and their significance. But to have it put into words only reinforced what had been hovering on the edge of his thoughts. "Ahh yes, all be it I confess I was unaware of the clan when we first met."
"Ohhh you really met Jonathan," Charlotte lamented as her head sank into her hands while Eric stepped up from behind them.
"Jonathan? Johns' son? Its a pleasure to meet you before you're born, looking after my girls I hear," Eric commented as he extended his hand out to Jonathan.
Jonathan jerked his hand forward only to remember the spear, switching hands awkwardly before shaking hands with Eric. While this strange coiling pain hit him in the pit of his stomach as he got the chance to see Eric alive. He lacked the hat and his hair was held back under a hood, but more than that. It was seeing the blooming pride in Stella's eyes as she stood by her father, after seeing her break down before at his loss. It was a grieving pride, the stinging awareness that he was dead in their time on the very edges of her eyes.
"Trust me, the pleasure is all mine," Jonathan answered, as he stoically kept his vision as fixed as he could on Eric.
Something that Eric seemed aware of as the future father gave a faint nod, "and you know my daughters Stella and Loretta."
His voice lacked the confident pride of a man showing off his beautiful children. Instead it was a bit louder as though sound would replace the regret of a man knowing his time was fixed and that his death would not be a peaceful one. Loretta floated herself over to Stella and quickly grabbed her sisters' hand in solidarity as Stella's eyes began to shine with tears again.
It was a gut punch to Jonathan to see Stella struggle and realize she must have been struggling this whole time. "Yeah, Stella and Loretta are great..."
Leon stood there amid the growing silence of this sudden small reunion, feeling more and more out of place. "Well, it may not be long but we have the moment to see and know each other, best not to waste it."
"Yes, he's right, and that's exactly what's been going on," Charlotte joined in a reassuring voice as she fought down her own misty eyed response.
Meanwhile; Soma stood at the entrance of the Master Chamber, eyeing the reunion going on to the far right of him and all the vampire hunters in the room.
"Sooo, am I supposed to find Juste? Maybe just bully him back here under the rules of 'my Castle my Rules'?" Soma finally asked the room in general. "I mean, sure he doesn't have Vampire Killer and he 'is' a Vampire, but you know... I have to get pretty angry to pull another 'bow in my presence' stunt."
"We're going, we're going," Maria called out as she walked towards the door while Simon followed suit behind her.
"Are we seriously being ordered out of the Master Chambers by 'Dracula', to find another Belmont?" Simon asked Maria while Grant looked at him then the room in general.
"Does 'no one' here have an issue with the fact that Dracula is now super fluffy?" Grant asked, looking over at Leon and the group he was standing with, then towards Maria. Seeing the change of her form and the three new women the progress was becoming more attractive by the moment.
"Leon, glad to see the trip proved fruitful," Trevor called out while Soma started glaring daggers at Grant.
"The legendary heroes!" Maria proclaimed cheerfully as she walked up to Sophia, who was busy waving her hand between Grant and Soma to get them to behave.