Castlevania: Let the Symphony Last for Eternity
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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"The things you learn," Jonathan noted as he walked to the door that would lead them, hopefully, to Soma. He pulled open the door to reveal those strangely common hallways that he had encountered once the doors had settled down. The hallway wasn't very long, the rugs were course making it easier to scrub away any mud or soak up excess water from outside.
"Jonathan," Eric followed the blond into the hallway striving to hit that 'causal' tone that would not worry his girls.
"'Switch back to the spear.' Yeah I know once the Belmonts show up I won't need to use it. I planned on it," Jonathan cut Eric off with a tired retort. "That's usually Charlottes' demand."
"I was going to say," Eric countered, though he did internally wince at how Jonathan knew where he was going with this automatically. "I'm not going to make it clearly, so please look after my girls for me."
"You could try not being killed," Jonathan suggested with a thin, sardonic smile on his face. The kind of smile, expression of someone knowing the futility of such a request.
"And you could avoid looking down my daughters' dresses," Eric quipped only to suddenly get cut off yet again.
"He looked down what?!"
Hi Stella.
Hi Stella's wind slash blades...
Once the group was inside the hallway Jonathan walked up to the door that would lead them into the Marble Corridor officially connecting the Outer Wall of the Castle to the Marble Gallery where Soma was being held.
"There's no real knowing what we're about to face, we've not seen Soma do anything as a threat. Who knows what he has at his beck and call, or if those very defenders have the ability to be reasoned with." Sophia commented from near the back of the group, trying not to be on her toes to see over the taller women in the party.
"And with that cheerful reminder," Jonathan replied and placed his hand on the doorknob to push open the door. "Its show time."
The Marble Gallery was expansive in size with thick pillars of amber hued stone that stretched from the ground to the archway ceiling above. Those pillars stretched out quite the distance with a pair of stairways pressed against the walls. Red stone work interior walls that had large glass doors that spanned at intervals. Beyond 'that' were bushes and other shrubbery that would make one think of the castle gardens.
It was also lit up with the hues of an overcast early evening despite it being night time behind them outside the Outer Wall. Soma, about this castle.
There were statues of two women in simple gowns that were held up in their hands revealing a great deal of their legs. Only their hair, one done up in a bun the other bound at the nape of the neck, distinguished the pair from each other. They were placed as though ladies in waiting, waiting on either side of the carpet that extended from one door to the, probable, twin.
Like the rest of the castle the room was lit with candles that were mounted against the pillars through out the chamber. Their warm unearthly blue flames a source of reassurance against the living breathing shadows of the corridor. The light reassuring them as the oppressive weight of the situation began to rest on their shoulders like a mantel. Somewhere in this area Soma was being fed fears to rouse his powers' self defensive nature.
Yet how would that power manifest itself? They had only seen Soma call forth servants to attend his needs. The most blatant had been the simple order given that caused everyone with magic to bow. Lowering their heads in response to the growing anger in a man who was not even their leader or master, yet compelled to obey. It was strange to think they were about to face his powers in an effort to rescue 'him' from the bad guys. Despite the fact that those very same bad guys were 'his loyal followers' though albeit not to the person he was now.
Could the monsters, rather the 'Dark Children', be reasoned with? Would it be possible to get them to understand that the Hunters were 'not' the threat this time? Or were they being compelled the same way as before in the Master Chambers? Obviously no one was in a state of complete obedience as before. Then again Soma wasn't entirely his old self so how would he translate the use of his powers now? Would it be different than what he had done before or more of the same?
Jonathan stumbled suddenly before catching himself, digging the butt end of the spear against the stone floor. Vampire Killers' sudden singular keening shriek shattered into shards of shattered glass ripping through his senses. Both whips were reacting strongly to something they felt. Be it to a Vampire or the violation of a Belmont already accepted now turned into one of the hated.
Regardless, the sudden scream took Jonathan completely unaware as his knees nearly buckled under the weight. His vision narrowed as a red tinted outline began to burn out of the darkness into humanoid shapes. Floating above the ground and delicate in structure told Jonathan that it was Camilla, while two other shapes, both masculine stood upon the floor.
While in the shadows beyond the vampires he could see glowing eyes starting to open up. Whether it was slit like a cat, a flame, or a discolored, they began opening up in pairs along the shadows of the pillars.
"Jonathan!" Charlotte pushed her way to his back and around to his side as the group stopped in response.
"They're here," Jonathan responded quietly, gesturing with his free hand towards where he saw the trio.
"The whips?" Stella asked in concern, her brow furrowed as she summoned her own fencing rapier.
"Yeah," he answered as he forced himself to stand straight. "So this is what its like to have two whips at once..."
'This will not do,' Loretta thought to herself as she looked down at where the second, Justes, Vampire Killer rested. Like the other one, it was clasped to be easily released at a moment's notice, and in a moment of decision she reached out and pulled it off Jonathan. The weighted leather weapon was cool to the touch, for all the power it possessed. While Eric acknowledged her decision with a approving nod, warming her own heart upon her fathers' approval.
Meanwhile Shanoa moved forward on the alert now that the threat had been pointed out. No point in silence given the keen senses of a Vampire. "We know you're there Vampires. We also know you have taken the Lord of this Castle and we demand his safe return." Her voice carried strongly through out the hallway, echoing off the pillars about them. She was certainly a sight to behold in her royal blues and smoky blacks and the darkness of her own powers.
Laughter danced along side the echo of her voice, a deep laugh that was nothing but condescending. "Oh I assure you I am perfectly fine," Richters' voice became stronger as he leisurely walked around one of the pillars. He rested his back against the cool stone, folding his arms across his chest. Allowing this group of hunters to see him for the first time, which gave Jonathan a moment to reflect on the differences.
The memory of the Whip had Richters' hair shorter, and his clothes were sturdy but modest unlike this elegant suit that was now worn. The colors were the same, but it was as though this was some type of aristocratic interpretation of the hunter. Of course he was also a hunter possessed into doing the bidding of their enemies. So did the Whip just ignore this point in his life all together and focused only on when Richter faced Dracula?
"I wasn't addressing you," Shanoa retorted evenly sending Charlotte into mental math computations as she wondered.
'Eric? Sir is this your mom? I can see her being the twins grandmother... I should have asked what year she was born.' The young witch thought only to have any further thought struck from her focus as she saw, too late that Richters' hand had grasped the whip.
"Facing the memory is hard, he's so fast and I had to literally out think what he was going to do just to avoid his attacks."
Vampire Killer clashed against a bloody ruby blade that pulsed into life instantly in Shanoas' hand. It was a fluid, graceful motion that only registered after the moment it happened. Richters' strike was a forward, disciplining strike intended to chastise the would be huntress. Where as her response, placing the tip to point to the ground and 'cutting' a three quarter circle around her. Redirecting the whips' attack harmlessly to her left.
"Oh, think you can keep up?" Richter looked thrill, a smile curling the corner of his lips as he he recoiled the whip into his hands.
"They do look fun, and we didn't get to finish playing with the others..." A voice in the back noted despite his silent footfalls.
Though Jonathan easily recognized Maxim's voice from their conversation at the Outer Wall. The tanned warrior who was friends with Juste and had taken the whip. Watching the man walk forward, Jonathan could already piece what probably happened. 'He's friends with Juste, and I gave him Vampire Killer in case we all went home. But given how the whip reacted in the hands of a vampire, it should have burned Maxim the second he tried to remove it. Shouldn't it?'
There should have been physical damage from the whip at his side and in his hand when he removed it. Unless he took it off before being turned, possibly meaning that Juste was used to lower Maxim's defenses allowing Camilla to turn him. 'They must have meet up in front of the clock face near here...' Jonathan reasoned to himself. 'The clock would have made any audible threats harder to hear as a human. But I can't use the whip on them, even if he's not 'the' Belmont of his time, do I have the right to inflict what could be life ending injuries on him?'
"Hey Maxim, if you were in my situation, what would you do?" Jonathan casually asked, despite the severity of it. Save Sophia and Charlotte they were essentially the 'B' team of the group, the help rather than the heroes. The world would be crushed under Dracula if not for the Belmonts, so their whole existence as non Belmonts was to protect the clan. It was a touch hard not to have 'some' bit of bitterness. Perhaps making Soma's existence a comfort in its own strange way. As the guy proved that their losses and sacrifices were worth it in the end.
"Don't hold back," Maxim replied without pause or remorse. "If you're really a hunter, if you're really invested in protecting what you care about. You fight. No regrets."
"I've got this," Charlotte murmured.
If Maxim was a reminder of duty, Charlotte was a reminder of hope, as the one person in the room who could reverse the Vampires' Kiss.
"We will oversee Charlottes' protection," Stella quietly announced bracketing Charlotte with her sister. "Sophia, we're entrusting our father to you..."
And given just how devoted the twins were to their father, Sophia recognized just what she was being entrusted to do. 'I won't let you girls down,' she thought before replying, "understood."
She could see how the room was quickly dividing itself up leaving her and Eric to deal with Juste. Given the Spears' almost passive aggressive version of the Vampire Killers' life draining skill, it seemed wisest to face Juste. Hopefully the spear could extract some of the Vampires' power away. Though this was going to be the first time she actively fought along side someone who wasn't her husband. The techniques they had developed over their time fighting their way through Dracula's castle were an unknown to Eric.
But being a Belmont meant that Juste was exclusively a whip wielder who was now deprived of that weapon. All he would be able to do would be to use spell enchanted weapons and spells themselves. So long as Eric could keep the pressure going there was little reason to think she couldn't keep up with her magics. Leaving Camilla with only two women she would have to overcome to get to Charlotte, so her wiles were now negated as well. 'Yet it leaves us with no one to go after Soma. I'm sure you're racing here Alucard. Save your father before his powers start getting involved in protecting our enemies.'
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ The Great Library \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
"Isaac? Are you going to be ok?"
It felt like a loaded question, Isaac was fairly sashaying down the hall with his fingers being dragged along the spines of the books he passed. Occasionally he raked his fingers across the spines of the books he walked by, other times he let his fingertips. With Maria's experience with animals warning her that he was becoming dangerous.
It was the same as when facing a large predatory animal that had been significantly wounded. Approach with caution.
"Why should I not be?" He was terse in tone, and tensed with every word that was forced past clenched teeth.
"Isaac, I..."
'What 'do' I know though? He's loyal to Dracula, but its pretty clear that Soma did something that has divided Isaacs' loyalty. Dracula is violent, dangerous and gone evil while Soma may be all of the first two things, still he's not evil. At least not without being forced hard into it, while I don't know enough to...' Maria began when she noticed Isaac's hostile gaze focused on her from over his shoulder.
"Isaac, I... 'what'?"
"I..." Maria stopped as Isaac did and after a few more moments of grasping for the right words she finally lamely asked. "What was Dracula like before Lisa's death?" When he turned around to face her, she gamely went on as her eyes traced the tattoos that marked his body. "Its clear that you're absolutely loyal to him. Even after he became the human hating monster that the Belmonts have strove to stop time and time again. Yet its 'Soma' that resonates with you so strongly that you're still helping us. His priests, the vampires who claim kinship to him? They are willing to hurt Soma to revert him to a state he doesn't want to return to. Yet you're the one to side with the very side of him that the others want gone, and that can't be easy."
Isaac's lips formed a straight light as he stood there silently, his eyes burning into hers, "You're right." Was all he said before he resumed walking along side the wall of books.
"So... what are we looking for? I can try to help," Maria offered gently as she fell into step behind him.
"I need a pair of glasses, the Library often had spares laying about for the random person who would need them. I can enchant the pair to see past the illusions that Shaft would have woven around the orb controlling that Belmont." Isaac explained as he walked along, the tables in the large room so far providing him with nothing.
"Oh!" Maria's eyes lit up with understanding and hope as she began scanning the tables that Isaac had already finished. "Ok... so I'll check the next floor and meet up with you?" She offered only to hear a disapproving 'Shhhhh' hiss out while a zombie maid stuck her head out from an alcove.
For a moment Maria felt embarrassed as she was chastised until she remembered the Maids duty in the Castle. Running forward she approached the zombie with her best 'I need help pwease' look as the Zombie stared at her. "Excuse me, I heard there are spare reading glasses in the library and we really need a pair." She whispered as Isaac took up the rear now.
The maid blinked owlishly before she began patting down her apron as various pockets heavily swung from the impact. One blue tinted hand slipped into a pocket only to slide out with small brushes and rags. "Ze Butler must 'ave them." The maid finally answered when all her pockets proved to lack the requested item. "I will find 'im." The Zombie Maid finally announced before dropping into a curtsy all the while sinking into the ground.
Isaac wordlessly walked over and dropped himself into a careless sprawl over a chair to wait out the zombie. While Maria opted to finally give the books her attention and seek out something to read in case the maid took a bit of time.