Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
A/N: Meh not so bad in terms of editing on this one...
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"BOO!"
Trevors' hind legs suddenly propelled him forward off the desk into the air on instinct. As the darken floor approached his furry face, Trevor stuck his front paws out and tucked into a roll. All the while hearing giggling above him and knowing 'that' mischief maker. "Sophia!"
Sophia glanced at Kazu's lightly sleeping form and soared off into the living area so that the boy would have his rest. She glanced at the two ShiShi that took note of her before resuming their vigilance watching over the apartment. While behind her the soft sound of the door sliding open enough to allow a plush body through whispered into the air. Turning around she saw her husband walk through before pushing the door closed with a paw. His furry face was scrunched up just enough to show he wasn't pleased with her 'Boo'.
"Aww what's wrong Trevor? Did I miss something important?" She asked as she hovered over to the couch posing herself as though she was sitting down.
"Well Valencia broke the news you told me about yesterday. Also Dracula was here and apparently Leon is stuck in a lion body." Trevor answered in the most matter of fact tone of voice he could muster, while Sophias' expression softened into a sympathetic one.
She watched as Trevors' vision caught sight of something, and he went to the couch before pulling out a book sized wrapped gift. His ears had a tendency to bend to express his confusion, and they were bent as he moved the box to the cushion.
"Well she had explained about their line and covered that normally he would have been put up for adoption. But over the night," Trevor waved a paw as though to express his sense of 'whoops'. "So now the cat is out of the bag about me, Simon and all the hunters Yoko got her hands on. Including Leon which is something that I think we need to discuss more on. But first, yes, now everyone knows about us, and Kazu is still reeling from the information."
Trevor walked along and joined Sophia on the couch allowing the plush dog to look comfortably seated while he was freed up enough to manifest his human soul better for her. He watched his wifes' thoughtful, sympathetic expression before glancing around the room recalling the events of that night. "So, Soma. What can I possibly say about our ancient enemy? He reeks of evil, so I was wondering if you can sniff out where Alucard is? I think we're going to need him soon."
"Was it that bad?" Sophia inquired, since she had never actively gone to see the rebirth of Dracula personally.
"He's... Stressed? I think that's what it is, he's stressed and the more stressed he gets the more he attracts evil to his side. I believe he's aware of how bad things are going on some level, and he's trying to starve it off, but he's not going to last forever. I want to believe that its because Alucard has been gone for awhile from what I could gather. Maybe if you can talk to Simon and the others they can tell you how long Alucard has been off on this case." Trevor suggested as he folded his arms across his strong chest, the leather of his gloves silent since there was no physical mass to produce sound.
"Alucard? You think that Dracula, now Soma, recalls that Alucard is his son already?" She asked surprised as she folded her hands before her.
"I want to say that he doesn't and that's the problem because he is clearly aware that he's fixating but unable to understand why. I've never met the guy until now so I don't know what his 'normal' is really. But he would repeatedly check his cellphone at the start after he arrived, and I caught a glimpse of the part he was checking. His message box only has seven people on his list, and only Alucard is unaccounted for. He's at ease around Yoko and Mina, in fact he's at ease around Valencia despite calling her a... calling her a..."
Sophia watched as Trevor struggled to finish the sentence while his plush forms' mouth kept twisting as though it was trying to produce a word not palatable.
"Pigeon Stoop."
Sophia snerked at the sound which earned her an askance look from hubby, but it was a funny term. Though she was pretty sure it was a reference to her time as a statue that brought the comment out. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh I know. But it 'is' funny, and I've had centuries to make peace with those days. Besides its not like I'm stuck that way, you 'did' rescue me." She explained while he visibly tried to move on from the fact that his wife was LAUGHING.
"Eventually he gave up on the phone and paid the rest of the room his full attention." Trevor began when a comment Soma made at one point caused him to grow apprehensive. He pondered for a bit if he should ask his wife about the comment made. Since there was a chance she wouldn't have any clue either, though perhaps she had access to the souls of the rest of her clan? Now in the quiet of the night he found that the comment stung him a bit, like some annoying mosquito.
'Had' he endangered his clan by marrying Sophia?
True, Juste was a talented spellcaster, and the spell like abilities that Richter had were signs of Sophias' blood line active in both men. But as Soma pointed out, witches served Dracula at his whim, including Sophia and her own line 'if he so choose'. While Sophia, of her own free Will, could have unknowingly refused the call, did others fall? Was this one coupling the very reason that Richter was broken by Shafts' dark magic?
The Clans didn't cross over much in terms of bloodline outside of the adoption of kin, and the hunters blood still proved powerful. Yet despite all the various bloodlines that had, over time, been joined with the Belmont line...
Sophia began to wonder if maybe, now that Kazu apparently knew of her clan, it would be ok if she spent more time around the place. Her absence the whole day was proving to be interesting in all the wrong ways. Kazu was a nice kid and given that he could see her, she didn't mind interacting with him and getting to know more about him. It was just explaining to the ShiShi that ghosts not tethered to any corporal form was ok when it came from certain clans. But Trevor was clearly troubled by something and that left Sophia curious.
They were among the dead after all, no matter what Trevors' current condition and how it allowed him to interact with the living. They were dead, and really had no influence among the living, sure they could advise, but really that was it. It would be a poor sign of the clans health if they suddenly threw away independent thought to fall back on long dead hunters. Yet Trevor's plush form had flattened the ears down in a disheartened manner, and the whole form seemed to suggest disappointment.
"Trevor? Did something serious happen while the gathering was taking place?" Sophia asked, lightly 'prodding' her husband to start talking.
"Hmm?" He glanced at her, still chewing through all the thoughts in his head and wondering if it was ok to tell her about what Soma had said in the kitchen. But his non worded reply earned him the 'look' the one with the unimpressed expression and body posture from his wife.
"Trevor, seriously, you can't just act stoic anymore, your plushy form is telling me there's something going on so spill it."
"Do you think that maybe Dracula orchestrated all of this?" Trevor finally asked, as Sophia looked at him in surprise. "I mean, do you think that after we died, that he's been playing with the whole of our Clans?"
Sophia grew still and once she was certain he wasn't just playing with her, grew alarmed at the suggestion he gave. What 'had' happened that night to give her husband such a terrible thought?! "Where is that idea coming from?"
"He made the comment that Witches serve him like the other Dark Children and monsters, and it brought to mind the situation with Richter. What if... What if the only reason Julius was able to defeat Dracula wasn't because of the united effort of the Shrine and our Clans. Rather because Dracula 'himself' wished to be free of the Castle and his title of Dark Lord?" He looked ahead at Kazu's bedroom door as the thought finally got spoken. "What if, since we wed, we've not been 'stopping' Dracula from what he wanted, rather we've been playing as his puppets?"
Sophia was positively floored by the suggestion, never having bothered to even entertain the thought that maybe. Just maybe. It was her blood that caused Richters' suffering at Shafts' hands. That somehow, Dracula had manipulated the Clans like a reality tv show. Yet even as dark as that thought was... "Are you suggesting that Dracula used us to escape his immortal boredom?"
He blinked and turned to look at her with a faint twist of the corner of his lips as he sat there. "Actually I never thought of there being a positive side to it, but that to, yes." He turned to look at her and saw her head lowered as she grew thoughtful at his suggestion. Her silence allowed him time to think about what they would have to do about Soma. Since the young Lord was seemingly focused on Alucard, it would probably be for the best to check on the Dhampire. Which made Sophia's ability to actually travel around take center stage. Now that Kazu knew about the rest of the 'family business' she could report what was going on with Alucard and tell Yoko through Kazu! "Sophia, I need you to do something."
She looked over at him, seemingly only paying half attention to him given what he had suggested before. "I need you to check up with the family and find Alucard. We need to know if Alucard is safe." Trevor explained, noting her surprised expression as he gestured towards the window. "Kazu knows about the family, there's no reason we can't use that accessibility. Alucard can't communicate because he's undercover, but that's just if we were talking about living means. Even though you can't talk to the living, you can still see what they are up to. If something bad is going down and the family needs to extract him." Trevor explained, for which he watched Sophia nod thoughtfully.
"Looks like I miss tonights' drama feature huh?" She asked as she floated herself into a standing appearance. Giving the television a longing look.
"Its a rerun, you're fine," he informed her with a side glance. Since he had yet to fathom out why she liked the television dramas so much. Personally he was more interested in the shows that were about carving. Wood or ice or stone, those shows were much more his style, which made the fact that he could only see them on the internet more disappointing.
It was enjoyable to see people ease a form out of a block of ice with a chainsaw or chisel, wood with a knife. It was something that helped him zone out and the level of skill and technique was impressive. He was sure he could do it if he had hands, with fingers and not the fluffy stubbed 'paws' of a plush body instead. The wood brought him back to his time living the simple life as a wood cutter, the smell of freshly cut logs or the clear air of the morning before he went out.
"Fine, I'll go see the 'kids' and check on Alucard, be back soon enough," Sophia spoke as she floated towards the wall. "And if I find out I missed a show because of you. There's going to be hell to pay, Trevor."
Trevor watched as she floated off when he remember Leon had a voice box. Because of that, it didn't matter that, as spirits, they could understand all languages. The ability to communicate with the living meant that the device would use the language that Leon actually 'knew'. So while both Simon and Trevor had been exposed to so much Spanish and Japanese that they would be fine...
Leon... Ooohhh Boy.
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"I wish we could watch the television," Christopher commented looking at the television in mild regret. At least then there would be something to distract the rest of the family, because Richter seemed bound and determined to master his new body right 'now'. Juste probably would have been happier with a light and a book. While Simon sat with a broody aura on the edge of the bed staring at the other twin bed. He had one foot on the other knee and his face was resting on his paw, just the embodiment of unimpressed annoyance.
The reason? She was trying to sleep on the other bed with a pillow clenched in her arms and her face pressed in it. Convincing Yoko to come out of the bathroom had taken a rather stubborn amount of work, sense it involved slamming themselves against the door. An action that produced an uninspiring lack of sound they discovered. When she finally peeked out of the bathroom and looked down at them, they turned around and planted themselves into a sitting position. It was the closest they could convey that they were letting her get out and dressed. Which she did with a remarkable amount of speed given the situation.
But she didn't grab Simon like she normally did when going to bed, and instead was clutching a pillow. Apparently as a type of replacement for Simon, apparently finding it difficult to use him as her comfort plush any longer. Despite the fact that it was clearly ineffectual as Yoko wasn't one to move around much in bed once she fell asleep. Yet now without Simon she was fitful and restless, flipping from side to side while smacking the pillow in frustration.
Christopher could only assume that all these years, Simon was well aware of what was needed to help Yoko sleep. Which was why he was sitting at the side of the bed staring at her waiting for her to give in.
"Maybe we should take initiative and drag that pillow away from her?" Christopher suggested, leaning over a bit towards Juste.
The husky bodied Belmont cast his own glance over at the bed and gave a small nod of agreement, "perhaps that would help the situation."
"And do 'what' exactly? She's not sleeping without something in her arms," Simon snarked out without moving from his spot.
"Well you 'could' climb on over and insert yourself once we have the pillow out of the way," Juste suggested as he got up from his seat on the bed.
"I'll help!" Richter called out from the ground and they could see him working his way up onto Yoko's bed. Christopher watched as Richter made his way over to the target pillow and latched his mouth on it to pull. In the darkness they could still see the tugging and pulling that Richter was involved in. While Yoko lifted up her head out of curiosity while beyond the plushy patrol floated in Sophia.
"You boys are so adorable, look at little Richter pull..." Sophia crooned out in amusement as she watched the growing tug of war. Only her words seemed to startle Richter who let go of the pillow in surprise and went flying backwards. "Annd there he goes."
She floated into the room proper and watched as this small group of bears and dogs turned to look at her. All of them were adorably cute and she couldn't stop the smile on her face as she thought about the stunts her husband pulled in his pup form. This group was going to be a regular circus she decided, though she wasn't going to say 'that' in front of Simon.
"Greetings Sophia, what brings you here?" Juste asked politely as Richter finally righted himself from where he fell onto the ground.
"Don't mind me boys, I just came in to say 'hi' and I'm going to go find Alucard. You know, to help keep the peace as it were." She cheerfully explained as she watched the hunters approaching her, which confused Yoko apparently as she turned on the light by her bed.
The blond looked over the room, confused as three of the hunters were focused on a single spot in the room. While Snugg-Simon was staring at her from the next bed looking that patiently miffed way he did sometimes when a couple of buttons were being pressed. Though the fact that he was looking at 'her' made her more apprehensive. For a moment she wanted to resume her attempt at sleeping, only to have this nagging part of her mind remind her of her brother. But the Belmonts didn't look aggressive and she finally spoke up, "Is someone else in the room with us?"
Simon and the gang nodded, though lacking her brothers' talent meant she had no way to figure out who it was without playing 20 questions. Still...
"Is it male or female?" She asked, and watched as Simon pointed at her. "Family?" He nodded while still pointing at her. "My family?" More nodding and she decided there was only one person who could make this worse. "Sophia?"
Simon nodded and watched as Yoko grabbed the blanket and yanked it over her head in mortification. "I'm the disgrace of the whole family!"
"Ooooh no she's not! Though, to be honest and fair, when I was alive she would have been viewed as such." Sophia noted with an apologetic expression twisting her lovely features. It was a point of shame that it took centuries of being in the afterlife and now this for her. Her disdain for non humans, her outright racism that had extended even Alucard. It made situations like this particularly upsetting as she was forced to confront her very actions that caused such pain.