Aria of the Ascending Soul

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Beta: Me

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"So, what happens now? I mean, now that Kazuaki knows about his Spanish family history, won't the rest of your clan get upset finding out he is here?" Mina asked Valencia, her voice hushed given the nature of the discussion.

"Who says anything I've done so far is going to change? I am not telling them about him because he does not use my name, they won't realize who he is. I can introduce him to several members of the outer clans and he can be protected by the satellite members. I know of those who don't agree with how my clan handle these situations and have promised to keep him hidden." Valencia explained with cold, detached calm while Mina blinked at the level of cold efficiency and the fact that this was Valencias' 'son' they were talking about.

"But at this age, what could they possibly do if he's still here?" Mina asked, because he 'was' old enough to be legally an adult, what could a clan do to him? What could the clan do, upon realizing there was a member with knowledge of his bloodline? Her eyes caught sight of Trevor dashing out of the kitchen at full speed, distracting her for a moment.

"That is not something you should concern yourself with, young lady." Valencia replied crisply as Trevor took a flying leap at Simon, apparently the esteemed Belmont did 'not' approve of being kicked like a toy. Understandable.

"I haven't seen him for a bit... this must be a terrible shock to him." Mina noted aloud for which Sachiho nodded, finally showing more life than he had since the discussion began.

"His abilities have always made him more withdrawn and nervous around strangers and new places. For us any place is 'new', but for Kazu there is no such place, all have spirits some good, some bad. When I married Valencia I knew what I was getting into, so when she gave me the last second reprieve by choosing to keep Kazuaki. Even if it is undercover, I jumped at the chance, so even if I can't spend a 'lot' of time with my lovely Yoko I knew I could keep Kazu with me." Sachiho commented as he leaned back in his seat, his eyes roamed over the room looking not at the present, but the past.

"Sachiho... would it bother you if we had a son?"

"Uh wait what? Uh... didn't you're clan say..."

"Answer the question Sachiho."

"Yes... yes I would love for Yoko to have a little brother..!"

"Fine."

The situation created a knot in Minas' stomach as she demurely let her eyes wander the expanse of the room. Once upon a time she only knew of Yoko as her big sister figure who had magic, never once really thinking that the woman had come from such a 'clan'. Somehow the notion that the world was even 'bigger' than what the internet was willing to show was both mind blowing and distressing. Vampires and Vampire Hunters, witches, souls that could be ripped out of the afterlife and sealed into normal objects.

Her eyes touched on Sachiho and suddenly she felt the strongest kinship with the man than any other person in the apartment. As far as she knew, there was not a single other person in the room that was completely human. Everyone else, save Sachiho, had some some type of power, an ability that was far out of the ordinary. While Mina herself was powerless and had to rely on the others for her safety, and her connection to Soma put her in deeper danger.

A Vampire Lord reborn sitting on the floor with a Spirit Medium in the kitchen, two witches bracketing two humans on a couch, while a small meeting of stuffed toys existed on the floor before them. Mina probably would have tried to weasel her way out of the apartment and go back home if she didn't feel like Yoko was using her as a human shield. She was pretty sure that giving an unobstructed view of Yoko would result in Valencia throwing something at her daughter. Hence the need for a shield.

Since given these were 'witches', who knew what the object thrown could be.

So she sat there while Soma finally showed signs of stirring in the kitchen, he could be seen peering out of the kitchen. Then he stood up and made his way over to the plush toy hunters meeting, waving bemusedly at Mina as he did so. While each of the toys that could turn did and looked up at the teen. Though given what she had heard, Mina could only assume that it was because each of them had killed Soma at some point or another.

Soma reached down and picked up 'Trevor' and returned to the kitchen while the dog squirmed in his grasp.

"Soma?" Mina called out, curious why he would grab that one toy.

"I think he could use the presence of a trusted friend for a bit," Soma answered Mina with a half shrug while Trevor stopped struggling.

Soma brought the dog back to the kitchen then walked back out of the kitchen leaning himself against the counter. "You know, maybe some of us should leave."

Soma tossed his head towards the door, with his eyes on Mina giving her the blessed escape that she painfully needed. She nodded as she stood up, and he glanced about before grabbing a small note pad and pen that had been laying about. He wrote something down then pulled out his cellphone and after some scrolling he wrote something else on it. "If you need someone to talk to or you feel threatened."

He stood there as composed as he had been most of the night, save for that time when Valencia threw that fire ball for being called a 'pigeon stoop' again. A single button on shirt of white, unbuttoned a few down, with his bell bottom jeans and his fluffy collared coat. He was slender, like a fencing blade or a rapier and given that she knew he could use swords, he was probably well toned under those clothes.

Sitting there looking at him Valencia found her minds eye going back to the last time she had seen him, back in his old body. Her mind comparing how he had appeared back then, and how he had incarnated this time around. How he had been broad of chest and stature, he had been imposing back on that day. Imposing and bitter, that was the thing that had struck and stayed with Valencia that day when they entered the Master Chambers of Count Dracula.

He had fixated on Alucard in an accusatory way, as though the Dhampire had done something reprehensible. But she had written it off as his stance against his father by siding with the Vampire Hunters, again. Powerful, well dressed, imposing, Dracula was a display of raw power in physical form, while the Castle existed as a display of his arcane might.

Soma, on the other hand, was far more dressed down though he carried that regal flare with a bit of eccentricity in that coat. White hair that shouldn't be on a kid, piercing blue eyes, and his lack of build was what got Valencia. Dracula could walk into a crowded room and people would move because of his imposing presence.

Soma looked just a few shades short of freakish; white hair, slender, almost physically androgynous like his gender was decided at the last moment. Yet his presence, his essence was clearly and unshakably male. What he lacked in physical size was made up in his aura, a person just 'had' to notice Soma when he entered a room. He was tall, casually commanding and while Dracula was imposing, Soma felt on the border of threatening and apathetic. And if Valencia was to be honest, he was the exact opposite of what she expected.

She expected a teenage version of the man she saw that day, not this slender, imposing young adult. How was this even 'working'? Teenagers were bundles of raw nerves and boundless energy, they made stupid calls and struggled to find who they were. Yet Soma carried himself as someone who always knew, he had his own style before he found out about his own past. She knew so little thanks to Alucards' deception, yet there was just something about him.

"How are you doing this?" she finally asked, since it was a good question that she wanted an answer to. She watched as Soma realized that he was being addressed and raised an eyebrow in question. "You know what I mean."

Soma looked at Valencia, his eyes going half lidded as he studied her for a moment before shrugging. "You're going to have to elaborate a bit more," his eyes slid to the side towards an empty part of the apartment to his right before a slight grin formed on his lips. "Or should I order you to elaborate?"

"Ma-thi-as."

Everyone, save Soma, started at the voice that mechanically came from the stuffed lion on the floor. There was a chance that 'Leon' could voice words fully as he had a voice box, true they would be broken up, at least for now. So when he tried to speak it came out without emotion, thus it was how he broke the words up that gave them their emotion. So that name, broken up in pieces that conveyed a sense of chastising or scolding.

"Now Leon, can't you let me have my fun?" Soma asked shifting his gaze from Valencia down to the lion. That strange sense of melancholy fondness that he seemed to have when he was focused on the lion, expressed in the softening of his smirk and his eyes lost some of their sharpness.

Valencia watched, realizing that the lion had apparently used a name for Soma that was from his past life. That Soma 'recognized' that name as his and responded so casually sent some alarm bells ringing in her mind. Not just the fact that he was hinting he could control her against her will, but that he had 'that' much of his old memories restored.

Soma sighed, begrudgingly giving into the lions' voice, turning his gaze back onto Valencia he shrugged. "I'll ask you the same thing I asked Arikado. What makes you think that two different names equates two 'separate' entities? Having to start over everything can get a whole new outlook on life after all."

"That's true, 'Soma is Soma' does take on a new meaning when you think on the fact that you're a reincarnation," Yoko agreed thoughtfully. "But I don't like how all this talk makes you sound like the Soma I know is leaving."

"I don't want to leave either," Soma agreed while Simon crossed his fluffy bear arms and one ear fell forward to express his thoughts. "Or as Cuddles the Wonder Bear would apparently like pointed out. You're not getting rid of me. Though I'll make a harder effort on not going off again until a suitable young Belmont can slay me. Somehow the idea of the Baskin Belmont Brigade having to transverse the Castle to slay me... is painfully hilarious and I'm leaving right now before I annihilate any remaining sense of pride in the clan. I'll be outside when you're ready Mina."

Soma's shoulders began shaking and he could be heard stifling snickering as he turned away from everyone and left the apartment. Trust the guy to leave chaos in his wake as Simon began shaking at not just the nickname, but at the horrible mental image that 'he' now had. What type of whip could he possibly use in his tiny teddy body? The room of spikes, the human waist high water he would end up floating in because of no serious weight or mass?

"I don't ever want to show up at the Castle of our Mortal enemy only to be laughed at for how fluffy adorable I look." Christopher finally announced to the softly murmured agreement of the rest of the hunters.

"Yeah... I'd rather be put in a gift wrapped box and mailed to him. I might have a better chance to stab him if there's a type of launching device in said box. And I have a stake," Juste agreed whole heartedly.

"Umm should I?" Mina muttered nervously as she stood up eyeing the lion in the circle of fluffy toys. After all Leon was made for her, but given what she knew now, did she have a right to take the toy? Or maybe Soma should have the toy since it was keeping him on good behavior.

Simon looked at Leon, knowing that the poor hunter wouldn't be able to properly voice his wishes for a while. Though when he 'could' he would become the de facto voice for the clan since he could actually be 'heard'. Instead of dragging the poor medium into this mess. With that thought in mind, Simon called out. "Hey Trevor! How is the kid?"

"The 'kid' can hear you, you fluff head!" Trevor called out in answer, then after a bit came trotting back out of the kitchen with a business type gait to his walk. "I explained everything I could to Leon already, and from what I've gathered while you weren't here. He and a lady made this happen. There 'is' no lion in that stores' collection of shells, so there's no real way he 'could' have been made unless he did it himself." He explained as he planted his rump on the ground and gestured slightly towards the lion among them.

"Wait... how could he do that? He's a knight his only magics come from using relics, so how could he make something exist that didn't previously exist?" Juste asked as one ear flickered in question.

"Well, where did he get the name 'Mathias' from? He's the founder of our clan and clearly had some type of relation to Dracula that wasn't always hostile. Otherwise why would Drac.. Soma act the way he does towards Leon alone?" Richter offered pragmatically, "There may be some force that he tapped into that allowed for this. I've seen too much just in this night alone to discredit any possibility of how things could have happened."

"He probably should go with Mina, I don't know what Yoko put with him. But since its important to keep her safe, Leon would be better off with her." Simon offered as his advice looking up at Mina and seeing her attempting to put on a happy, brave, face. But he had seen her shaken alarm at Soma's causal admission of being Dracula.

"This must be rough for her," Christopher sympathetically noted following Simons' gaze with his eyes. "From what we've heard from Yoko, Minas' a very nice girl. She connected with Dracula despite his physical looks or presence and tonight has done pretty well to shake up whatever confidence she had in judging character."

"That confidence and ability is important though, even if she has no physical power of her own, the ability to judge him is valuable." Juste noted thoughtfully as he sat there. "Her and that man over there have the worst of it really, they're connected to all of this. But they can't really help, in fact if things get seriously bad they 'could' be killed out of hand for just being connected to our clans."

"I miss when all we had to do was slay Dracula and be done with the whole affair. Now we have to deal with the complications that come from relationships." Richter noted dishearteningly as he laid there, admiring his furry feet.

"Well yes, this is all the stuff that the non combatant members of our clan dealt with for us, that's why." Juste pointed out, "Though I suppose this is how Maxim felt when it came to my selection for Vampire Killer. Wanting to help, but being powerless in the face of Dracula to do anything."

Simon picked up Leon and carried their founder towards Mina to carry, "you'll be able to talk to her. Unlike all of us who are silent, and I'm sure you'll be able to get in contact with us easily when necessary."

"Are you sure? He's family after all," Mina inquired with concern in her eyes as Simon nudged Leon closer to the girl. She gathered up the lion in the end, resting him in her arms like a baby, before turning to look at everyone. "I apologize for this odd visit."

The rest of the adults shook their heads at her apologizes thanking her for coming, while Valencia shot dirty looks at her daughter knowing full well why the pair had shown up. Sachiho got up and escorted her out of the apartment with a warm smile.

"You're fine Mina, its always cheers me up when I see Kazuaki make new friends who aren't alarmed about his abilities. Or rather, overly enthusiastic about them, which can happen as well." Sachiho commented. "You three have a good night and I hope I get to see you guys again!"

She smiled and bowed to him before slipping on her shoes and leaving the apartment, Soma off to the side resting against the railing and looking out into the night. Something about his posture brought her thoughts back to the day when she first met Soma at school.