Castlevania: Let the Symphony last for Eternity

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

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Soma dashed forward in a panic, "come back! Come back! Come back! The one I just sent with the request for a drink. I want that one to come back right now!" He ordered as the realization of what he just ordered came crashing down on him. Soma could barely restrain his panic until he saw the maid's cap appear from the ground as the Zombie began rising back up. If she was here then she wasn't making anything to drink... Good, good.

Soma didn't even wait for her to manifest more than her head before he asked, "how do you make a Virgin Blood Mary?"

She blinked before giving a tentative, "find a virgin named Mary and beat her bloody?"

Soma gave a whimper of pure horror before covering his face in abject mortification.

"I... never mind that order, uh, just get my an ice cream float... make that two... no make three..." He instructed earning an actual relieved expression from the maid as though it expected to have been given a trick order of some sort. When he first arrived, he had been tentative about even trying to give orders. But he made it clear that he wanted no blood, as he was a human now and needed 'human' food. Asking for such a drink seemed more like a cruel test for her, "Four..." He turned shakily around to look at his ghost wife who looked above and beyond amused at his suffering.

"I can not eat, but you have my thanks," she answered watching as he gave a weak wave of the hand to indicate the maid to leave.

The maid left yet Soma was drawn and pale, more so than his natural state in fact, as he walked towards the dais to the throne, in fact he looked rather faint. The castle generated a couch resting at the foot of the dais as though answering some silent order...

"Hello Darkness my old friend..." a deep voice emerged from the seeming air around them.

"Ok Castle you're on point with that one!" Soma called out before laying down upon the couch facing the back of it. All the while 'Sound of Silence' played softly in the air in the Master Chambers.

"What are you doing?" Alucard inquired with all the quiet frustration bordering on loud yelling that he could muster. He was 'not' going to fall into a shouting match against his father in front of his mother!

"I'm quietly developing a nice healthy case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder thank you very much," Soma replied. 'Beat a virgin named Mary bloody... Oh My God what even?'

Alucard stood there, unsure exactly what 'post traumatic stress disorder' even was though watching Soma lay himself out on the couch. It was his father behaving this way, it was another side of his father that he had never bore witness to. Even his mother seemed unfazed by this sort of behavior, so was it something that his father used to do?

"Maybe we should let your Lord Father have some time to settle down?" Elizabetha suggested her lips a small amused smile.

"But he sent for Ice Cream..." Alucard argued automatically before the rest of his brain could stop him from sounding like a child. As though part of his mind that he thought long gone had awaken at the presence of his mother. That somehow it was time to 'be a kid again' and enjoy the things he enjoyed more when his mother had been alive and his father at peace.

He closed his eyes in embarrassed frustration as he recalled Soma's seeming fondness for human food. Or was he just expressing a normal human's need 'for' food? When he first met his father, the Dark Lord had been looking for a place to enjoy his snacks peacefully. 'Father's 'human needs', this is my father as a human, as frustrating as he is...' he thought to himself. His father was being kind and considerate, swayed by more human emotion than he ever was as a Vampire, where he had been formal, self contained and only emotional when his mother had been killed.

"Oh that's right..." she beamed at her little baby before looking over and seeing Isaac looking a bit lost.

He watched as his mother floated a little closer to Isaac, while Alucard walked a little closer to his father's huddled up form on the couch. "What possessed you to order such a thing?"

"Its just a drink name in my time," Soma whimpered as he laid there, his fluffy coat and hair shuddering slightly. "I didn't want anyone to die... Thank God I didn't ask for a Sprite!"

"What is it with the names of food and drink in your time?" Alucard asked, growing baffled. Granted the Castle had a tendency to provide things that didn't exist anywhere else in the world, yet these drink names were a bit much. How could the Castle or the servants even begin to know what to get or do?

Soma's answer was to lift his hand up and point at the portrait above the throne, "You see that guy in black? That's you. You're going to be alive in the time I reincarnate so you'll find out for yourself eventually."

'My father is a brat,' was a thought that suddenly decided it needed to be on repeat in his mind as he stared at Soma's back. He had already looked at the painting and saw his place apparently in Soma's life. His eyes went back to the ghostly figure of his mother and he found himself terrified to lose this version of his father. Losing his father as he was at this moment meant losing his family a second time. For all the bratty behavior, his father was being kind, and even if his mother was a ghost, this was his family. As such it would behoove Alucard to protect his father at any cost...

Now if only his father wasn't a brat!

All the while Elizabetha was on cloud nine, her Lord Husband and precious baby could see her once more, the Castle was quite peaceful. Now all she needed to do was settle down this poor unseated child who looked ever so lost. "Isaac, I realize this is sudden, but you need not look so alarmed, my Lord Husband has returned to his kind nature."

"Ah, of course my Lady," Isaac blurted out before bowing low before the Ghost of his Lords' wife. "I am merely overwhelmed at my blessed fortune to be in the presence of such a momentous occasion."

The Master Chambers was normally a placed visited only by the most highest ranks of the Castle's inhabitants. Yet he had been allowed to stay in the room and watch such private moments of his Lord and Masters' family. He had been torn between leaving out of respect and staying to take in how a Dark Family functioned when everyone was accepted. After all his Lord Master was now human, yet despite discovering he had a half vampire son, and ghost wife, he had shown none of the natural rejection.

Startled? Yes, most certainly. But he was more afraid that the princes' presence was due to his own depraved acts and did not reject the prince for not being human. His compassion seemingly had no limits, protecting Isaac's life while surrounded by Belmonts. He even seemed accepting, if that was the word, for the fact that he was now being visited by his wife's ghost.

Yet for all the life and strange type of happiness that was on display before him. Isaac felt like he was forgetting something, something important that buzzed about the back of his mind.

"Well I hope you're curious about foods, because it appears that my Lord Husband included you on his 'ice cream float' thing." She brightly noted, taking in the cracks and damage that came with Isaac's attire. She had faint recollections of her walks through the castle and seeing the young man, and he 'had' been a boy at the time. His vivid red hair was what stuck out in her mind the most, though he hadn't been so covered in tattoos when she had been alive.

A Dark Child who looked utterly human and a victim of the fear that could be instilled in the masses when they were confronted by strangers. It had been a shame really, not only that rejection, but because she also remembered how his death came about. How her Lord Husbands' rage had become a curse, infecting the poor boy's mind and twisting him into this form. That he looked like this when he was lost completely to her Lord Husbands' curse. Leaving her both surprised and pleased at how her Lord Husbands' reincarnated form seemed to soothe away and neutralize the venom of his own curse.

Poor Isaac looked so drained of that madness, that while he looked lost and confused, he looked sane and in his right mind. Making her regret the notion that he would be sent back to his own time and back into that cursed environment. She would have preferred if he stayed here or better yet, go back with her Lord Husband...

Oh... Oh that was right, she had all but forgotten that her Lord Husband wasn't really 'in' the Castle. True his future incarnation was, however; there was that priest who had tamed a Belmont... That was right, the blue clad Belmont was currently 'defending' the Castle. The reality was that her Lord Husband was still within the Chaos and this a mere future version of him. In the end her Lord Husband would return to his own point in time and she would have to wait until 'that' day before she could see him, and be seen 'by' him again.

But now she had hope! Hope and the promise that one day her Lord Husband would return to the Castle cleansed of the anger that her death brought about. She would be visible and the three of them could enjoy each others' company! Even if her husband and son's idea of 'enjoying each other's company' was incredibly vocal and mock confrontational.

Oh well, apples never did fall far from the tree...

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"All I'm saying is that I think its a bad idea to leave Dracula and his family alone in the Master Chamber is all," Jonathan argued.

The rest of the Hunters found the argument an interesting mixture of amusement and thought provoking. If no one listened to what the pair were actually saying, it was far and away too easy to brush aside their comments. Like mostly ignoring the eternal chattering of small children really, and for some of the Hunters it was treated as such for a short time.

The others were already taken in, amused by the bickering when they realized how important the bickering really 'was'.

"Jonathan, this castle is 'filled' with monsters loyal to Dracula. What we need to do is focus on finding Juste," Charlotte countered with a long suffering tone of voice.

"Yeah, 'loyal to Dracula' like 'lets go kill the humans' loyal. But what we 'have' in the chamber is 'not' that type of Dracula. Sure the grunts are all ok with doing whatever Fluffula says, but this is Maria's point in time right? This is the time when Richter was running around in the Castle and we haven't found him at all." Jonathan argued, a valid argument that caused more ears to perk up and listen.

"So? You saw Camilla take off on Soma's say so, its not like any of them are going to charge into the Master Chamber and complain. He gets angry and we're all going to know about it, also he's not 'alone' he has Alucard with him," Charlotte noted, realizing that Jonathan 'had' an understandable point of view. But she felt there was just not enough to validate his concern, after all Alucard 'was' a noted Vampire Hunter. He was powerful on his own and coupled with his father who controlled the Castle what could anyone do?

"Yeah well, you keep thinking we're in 'our' time and everything is established history. But we're not in our time, we're in the point where Alucard has only 'just arrived here' and that means that its still during the time Richter was missing. Only we don't even know what happened at this point of time because Richter never talked about it, and Alucard had been asleep this whole time. How can we be sure he even has the ability to do anything yet?" Jonathan pressed unimpressed by her counter, while at the same time sparking a growing concern for the others as they remembered that Richter wasn't absent in the sense that he just never was brought to the Castle. Rather he was missing because he had yet to be found by anyone in their group 'again'.

It was a concerning point to be sure, Richter was the 'last' of their line until the one in the painting above the throne. Something must have happened. While Charlotte clearly knew a great deal about the history up to her point in time. There was a gap involving Richter that even she knew nothing about. A gap that Jonathan was right in being concerned about as they thought about it, it even dragged Simon into paying attention. Despite his best efforts to ignore things...

"Sooo we can assume that Simon faced Richter, given the color of attire that Simon described crossed with what we know of Richter," Sophia commented quietly. She so hated interrupting the rather amusing bickering, but this 'was' important. Only Simon had seen Richter, and that was before time was warped by his removal. So where did Richter materialize when time righted itself?

He didn't appear in the Master Chambers, they had yet to cross paths with him either, and the more they thought on it. How could Richter think Simon to be a zombie or something other than a living human, was a mounting concern. As, given what Charlotte argued, Richter was considered the strongest of the whole clan. If Soma was intentionally depowered to learn how to use darkness on a basic level, he wouldn't survive facing Richter. Maybe if he called back his powers he could hold Richter off, but that was a problem as well. The Belmonts got stronger to balance Dracula, Soma was on par with his Belmont, Richter wouldn't be strong enough. But what if Soma had to fight Richter? Could he subdue without killing?

"All we knew was that Richter packed up the clan and went into hiding. I discovered a village of descendants to the clan, but even they didn't know what caused the move. However, his behavior seems dangerously off if he is mistaking the living for the undead. Perhaps some of us 'should' return to the Master Chamber to ensure both Alucard and Soma's protection?" Shanoa inquired, deciding she needed to be part of this argument.

"But..." Charlotte began, only to be caught by the logic that Shanoa had expressed. "Only..." No that wasn't a good train of thought either, "however,"... oh dear. "Who do we send?"

The question caused everyone to stop walking, leaving only the sound of the distant clock tower's gears and the neutral sounds of night from behind them to fill in the silence among them. That and the eternal coos from Maria's doves as they looked about from their perches on her shoulder. Maria was obvious, she had to go back to the Master Chamber, she was already looking for Richter and being from his time, he 'should' recognize her. While Charlotte 'had' to go after Juste to rescue him and his friend from Camilla. Eric would go on principle for what Camilla did to his first wife, and the twins would go with him by default.

But that left a number of Belmonts trapped by the situation. Just 'where' exactly would their greatest strengths be best used? Simon had been apparently enjoying his fight with Richter, and he was their physical power house. But Trevor had the most people with him, he worked best with Sophia and Grant...

"So, if I may," Hector began, "I can say that, in regards to 'what would happen if Richter went after Soma'. I can say that not all the monsters we've encountered belong in this time, I suspect that a number of them are manifested via Soma himself. That they are aspects of his own power influencing the Castle, so should he be put under stress and need to regather his power." He began and upon seeing a few lost expressions, mainly Grants' and Jonathans'... "I realize for you hunters you recognize him purely by his power. However; for those of us who are ever aligned with Dark Powers, we can sense the nuanced differences. He is a puppet master connected to his puppets, if you will, little remains in him that validates a true 'power' though that power 'is' substantial. If he is threatened he would merely pull the power that dances about the Castle back within himself."

"A puppet?" Grant asked confused, scratching at his chin while Jonathan shrugged.

"I guess that's as good as any way to compare it to... Given we're under a time limit at the moment," Jonathan shrugged. "But if he has no power to him and Richter finds him, we'll know just by seeing the monsters go poof."

"Yes, however; as I am sure the magically inclined have already noticed, half the castle is sealed away, the chaotic half in fact. Soma has only been learning to control the 'darkness', I fear that if he is only learning to control 'that'. It may be a sign from the future that he can not handle the Chaotic half and those from the future who are sealing the Chaos; may get pushed beyond their limits if he is endangered."

"Oh now I see where you be sailing, Hector." Grant nodded as he finally caught on. "Fluffy, right now is just learning the ropes, but if he has to protect himself, he may pull back more power than he can handle. Or that power is going to come with the Chaos that he can't handle, which will be too much for his future protectors. Their hold on the Castle snaps, and the Castle goes back to the way it was before Fluffy."

"Exactly good sir, Soma may not be able to handle the Chaos, and we do not know how he manages it in his own time. But he knows his son and wife are in the Chamber, should Richter appear and go after 'them', well... I doubt I need to remind you of what Lord Dracula can be like, and while it might be easy to write it off and say 'kill Soma'. I would prefer that not to happen, his rage can become a curse, I neutralized it in my own time. But if he is enraged again would that not infect his point in time? Who in his time will know the spellwork to undo it that? They will be unprepared and this will start all over again."