Castlevania: Let the Symphony Last for Eternity
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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Soma cheerfully polished off his drink, then stretched out on the couch once more, the poor Lord must have done something to be so exhausted Elizabetha figured. Alucard also finished his drink then followed his fathers' example by resting the glass mug on the table. It was a sweet call back to her sons' youth in the way he apparently decided his father had the right idea. Just as her baby once emulated his father, Alucard settled into his own chair and close his eyes. Isaac took note of the two sleeping nobles, having yet to finish is own drink walked out of the Master Chambers on his own. Lighting stepping to the best of his ability to stifle the sound of his boots on the stone floor.
"Isaac? Don't let my little boy faze you so, you may finish your drink in the Chamber like my family had," Elizabetha remarked quietly. Not wishing to disturb her loved ones while at the same time trying to assuage the nervousness of the poor Forgemaster. It was a shame, as far as she was concerned, the poor lad would eventually be sent back to his own time. His mental defenses already crippled by the events in the Castle would only make him more susceptible to her Lord Husbands' curse in his own time.
"Ah, but I do not wish to disturb them as they are sleeping," Isaac quietly protested humbly even as it earned him a thoughtful, genuine smile on her face.
"You do not slurp your drinks the way that my son did when he was learning to drink, and if you did. I highly doubt you are so loud as to wake people." She chided gently as she followed Isaac to the chamber doors, gliding along as ghosts did. Being a ghost also meant she wasn't going to run into walls or doors so it was easy for her to keep her eyes on him as they traveled.
Thus when he stopped and his already pale skin got paler she knew there was reason for alarm.
Sauntering forward as though he ever owned the Castle was that blue coated Belmont, his eyes ever hungry for battle.
"I know not what happened, I fled back into the Chamber, even if my Lord Husband is protected by his human body from the bite of Vampire Killer. My baby is not! The whip could kill him! Yet my Lord slept on undisturbed and faded from my sight, while my son uncharacteristically ignores the sound of battle in the very next room! Please, I implore you! Isaac is alone trying to defend the Master Chambers and I fear how far the Belmont wishes to go." Elizabetha wept before Leon her distress whipping her clothes and hair about as though she was in a wind storm.
"Lady Elizabetha, please, go inform Lady Shanoa of the events in the Master Chamber, tell her to stay their course. We will go to the Master Chamber and see what is going on, then will go to seek out Mathias."
"Go tell Shanoa?" Maria asked in confusion that was mirrored by Elizabetha.
"The only reason Mathias would disappear is if someone wishes to incite his rage once more. Clearly that won't happen easily as he is now, howeve; once that happens, no one will be able to see Lady Elizabetha. Nor can we afford to have someone go after the other group to inform them of the situation." Leon explained briskly, politely omitting the fact that Elizabetha's disdain for anyone else in his bloodline. Save himself. She would be less willing to talk to those with any of his blood in their veins. It would also be useless to send her directly to Sophia as she took part in the act that original turned son against father.
"Of course," Elizabeth gave a brief nod even as she faded from sight to hurry on her way towards the other group of hunters.
"I started to wonder 'why kidnap the fluffball' but ye answered that right fast," Grant commented as they began to hurry into the tower. He moved along the ground lit by those ghastly lights as he sought out the floor path to the lower half of tower.
"Wouldn't surprise me, the last priest here was into dark rites and tried to corrupt me when I was kidnapped," Maria noted with shudder.
"Think it could be him?" Hector inquired as Grant slipped down out of sight.
"No, Richter killed him..." Maria shook her head sending her long blond hair dancing along her back.
"Yet when I arrived Isaac was in battle against a Vampire whom he called a 'traitor', less we forget that is the reason we were originally brought here. A traitor in the Castle who wishes to take the throne from Dracula," Hector pointed out. "We've not had time really to talk to Isaac about that, I hope its possible to do so once we reach him."
Trevor thinned his lips at that, holding back the comment, though not the memory that he actually 'killed' Isaac before the timeline reset. He was starting to understand the man's insanity given what they were currently going through. Since Isaac appeared and behaved as though he had never encountered Trevor directly prior to this night... It would take a miracle for the Forgemaster to return to his own time sane, with time changing before him and Dracula's own wishes, thoughts, even appearance were so fluidly shifting.
And given the Curse that had existed? Trevor found himself with a twig of pity for the Forgemaster growing.
"Welp down we go, lads!" Grant commented as he started climbing down the wall.
"A trick hole?" Simon asked, blinking at the light shimmer that showed itself to his sight while Maria gave the hole a quick poke with the tip of her shoe.
"Apparently... I never noticed these before..." Maria noted aloud as Hector walked along side her.
"May hap not my lady, the Castle has ever been uncharitable to those who wish to reach the Master Chambers uninvited." Hector commented as he looked down at the ever visible hole before him. Grant was quick though and soon was stepping back from the wall leaving room for the others. "Well, one at a time I would suggest, there is a floor below," he announced before dropping to the ground below his hip pulled upwards as gravity was taken by surprise.
He landed wordlessly, bowing his head in acknowledgment of the pirate before walking outside to summon his Crimson. Standing outside once more, Hector could feel the wind rustle through his hair while below him he could see the rooftop of the Castle. Still a crippling drop for those who could not handle such vast falls, but more than enough room across for Crimson to carry the hunters up to the Master Chamber.
Simon was the first to step out to the sight of a large rust colored dragon with a large chunk of pink hued crystal jutting out of its back. A two legged dragon, sharp horns that lightly spiraled out from the back of its head and with its wings serving as its 'arms', though it was not as massive as some of the beasts that Simon had seen in his battles. But it was more than adequate to carry him above. The familiar stared at him with a baleful eye while Hector soothed the beast with words.
"He will carry you, just grab his feet, once he drops you off he knows to come back to me to get the next person who is to go up," Hector instructed.
For which Simon nodded as Maria fell in step behind them, "that shall be I. Richter 'should' recognize me."
"Of course my lady," Hector answered as Crimson rose up enough to let Simon grab its foot, before soaring off. The area wasn't great for the Crimson, Hector could see, what with it being forced to take off so close to the wall as it had. But Simon seemed to have no real trouble holding on as the Familiar flew, though... "My lady, will you be ok holding on to Crimson's foot?" He inquired noting that Crimons' feet were larger than Maria's hands. In his head he could see Crimson hold on to her like he would hold prey. But would she be willing to be carried by one arm pinned in such a manner or both?
"You need not worry, I'll be fine," Maria answered reassuringly as she watched the dragon move. "I have my friends with me, so he can grab both my arms and my friends will look after me. Not only that but I'm light so I doubt I or Grant will be cause of much difficulty for Crimson."
"I wonder if Alucard can control the Castle in this state.." Grant asked out of the blue as he walked out alongside Trevor. "Hey Hector, can he? Clearly Soma doesn't object to his son, so should the Castle be more ready to respond to Alucard than before?"
"Excellent question," Trevor nodded his attention fixed on the Devil Forgemaster.
"Yes and no, he can not 'control' the Castle, but for all purposes the servants should be more responsive to his wishes. Meaning that the Castle will carry those wishes to the servants, so while the Castle will not adjust itself for Alucard. It 'will' send messages to servants that may be out of range normally." Hector explained as Crimson released Simon on the top floor stairs.
The beast dove, spiraling down to the ground, yet Maria herself who took charge of the dive as she raised up her arms. "I'll jump out to where my doves will hover! So just grab on!"
Crimson clearly understood as it adjusted its flight path, its rust colored wings opening up as it saw the white flittering birds take off from the blond. They hovered in the air far higher than the human it was bonded to. More over it was far more comfortably away from the wall than the others, and the dragon like familiar bobbed its head. Instead of being forced to dive down completely it steadied itself and began beating its wings to pick up some speed.
For her part Maria had sent her doves above while channeling her white tiger's strength into her jumps. Seeing Crimson figure out the speed to move she took a short jog, leaping off the edge of the platform the others stood. In her vision she could see the sacred circle that always appeared when she began her higher jumps. The white and black glow of the tiger as she landed on it and began her next leap upwards with the circle giving her a type of 'land' to stand on. The next bounce sent her up to the next one bringing her closer to her doves.
Her rapid ascent sent them scattering now that both she and Crimson were on their way to the meeting point. She felt the next bounce and soared up like a dolphin leaping into the night sky, the moon full behind her and giving Crimson the perfect visual to accelerate even faster. She twisted so she was facing the same direction as Crimson, holding her arms out again in the position shown before. The beast soared by feeling the light touch of a human on the pads of its feet, causing it to close its taloned feet even as it shifted its feet inward some.
"Now that was beautiful..." Grant commented as he looked on. "I guess that's what angels look like when they soar to heaven."
"Impressive indeed," Hector agreed, she had familiars as had he, but she did not create them from the darkness apparently. She called forth aid from nature and She answered most kindly clearly, it was impressive and a right shame that Hector would be long dead before he could meet Maria in life.
"I doubt we will have long to converse with her or the others," Leon commented from the archway his tone regretful. "If this 'is' going to be an attempt to break Mathias and restore his wraith it will mean our time is short."
The other hunters turned to look at him while Hector kept his eyes on Crimson and his ear on the conversation.
"Mathias will not stay, I've known the man since childhood and he has advised on all military tactics that were assigned to me. He'll recognize the threat to himself and retreat which means he'll go home to his own time. If the others have not healed Juste in time, then the future from his point on will be altered." Leon explained patiently glancing up to see the smooth flight pattern Crimson had taken, dropping Maria easily onto the stairs.
"Good to know, I have confidence in the others, for now we should see the state of Alucard and the other forgemaster. I can not believe Alucard would simply 'fall asleep' and stay asleep." Trevor noted as Grant moved past to the edge of the platform.
"Right about that, the guy seems to begrudgingly like his father's future self, to fall asleep and let the fluff get taken? Something is up," Grant added as Crimson began making his round.
"Its a shame that we can not spend more time together, the chance to know all of you is so tempting," Leon commented as he walked further out onto the platform.
"Indeed, meeting you at all is an honor, we've only ever had stories that we passed on and shared," Trevor replied.
"Aye well, we'll talk after we're dead," Grant offered a gallows type of humor as Crimson swung around to pick him up.
"And on that positive note," Leon replied with a faint raised eyebrow.
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The group formed a semi circle around the ghost, their expressions somber as the Lady of the Castle reported the events of the Master Chamber and Leon's instructions. "We can't stay here, the others will undoubtedly be in a hurry to find Alucard then see to Soma," Shanoa announced and turned on her heel to head for the next turning platform.
"She's right, there isn't a lot about what happened in the Castle the second time around, but there 'is' a mention of a dark priest. A priest loyal to Dracula could take offense to Soma's nature, so we can't wait to see what whoever kidnapped Soma decides to do." Charlotte noted as she joined Shanoa on the move up the tower the others breaking off to join them.
"Say, do you think you can help us find Juste?" Jonathan asked as the others moved on. "If Juste hasn't sired the next in the line it could cause trouble for Soma."
Elizabetha would normally have ignored a Belmont, indeed a Morris was 'kind of' a Belmont, yet the mention of her Lord Husband compelled her to speak. "Trouble? How so? The Belmont may be a vampire, yet my Lord Husband is fine."
"He's fine, hence why we assumed Juste would be changed back in time. Only the Castle is proving to be extremely fluid to the changes in time. If Soma is pushed to go back to his own time and Juste is still a vampire, that will change Soma's history. What happens to the Belmont that is currently protecting Soma in his own time for example? If his bloodline directly goes back to Juste, and the family member that is Juste's son has not been born yet..."
"I... I will see what I can find out," Elizabetha finally agreed seeing where the Morris was going with that thought process. If she wanted to ensure one day seeing her Lord Husband for longer than a surprise visit, it was imperative to find the missing Belmont. 'Before' her Lord Husband had the Castle send him home.
"I can't imagine Alucard just sleeping through his mother's cries," Sophia mentioned as the sisters bookended her so they could lift her to the next platform.
"Yeah, it sounds like a sleep spell if you ask me," Charlotte called down following Shanoa as the woman moved, quick as a cat up the tower.
"Does it sound like something that Camilla can do?" Stella asked, glancing at her sister, before the other spell casters in their group.
"Maybe, though we shouldn't worry too much, most of us are skilled in the arts so its not as though we would all fall for the spell." Loretta commented thoughtfully while trying to keep an eye out for all the gears and the ribbons and frill of hers and her sisters' gowns.
"We're doomed Jonathan!" Eric called out good naturedly, jumping ahead of his girls from gear to gear.
"You get used to it with a book worm like Charlotte around!" Jonathan called back in answer earning an audible, and displeased, 'Hey' from the aforementioned young woman.
They passed through the archway, and soon found themselves invested once more in the conversation that they had been immersed in when Elizabetha interrupted them. If they were a vampire with a love of elegance and sophistication where would 'they' hole up? After all it didn't feel as though this was the time or place for Camilla. So she had to have been brought here by the castle as well correct?
"I think the gallery would be the only place that makes sense at this point, artwork would probably be the only thing that Camilla would view as beautiful," Sophia noted thoughtfully though aloud. "Without a woman at his side, I doubt Dracula would accessorize his Castle to be fitting for a lady..."
"Certainly a reasonable expectation, on both ends, Shanoa remarked as she walked along her eyes catching sight of the door out of the Tower and away from the unpleasantly loud eternal ticking of the clock. A physical reminder that time was no longer on their side.