Castlevania: Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Belmont Estate \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
The Belmont Estate was silent, every bed in the house occupied, some by small grandchildren visiting, others by adults. The sun outside was deciding only now to rise, the sky having already started its shift in colors to welcome the gold of the morning sun. Yet for all the approaching light outside, or the slumbering occupants there was one man who couldn't find peace in either.
Julius sat in the study taking infrequent sips of his morning coffee, a frown on his face as his eyes scanned the morning news. Hunting any headline that might have made its way onto the web about what happened mere hours ago. Snapped away from a sound sleep by the rush of power that came from the Vampire Killer. Awake and responding again to the presence of Dracula. Such a surge of power was enough to illicit the same battle harden responses to a very real threat. Yet no sooner than he had one foot out the bed... the whip went back to sleep.
At his bedside he discovered a text from Yoko stating that the seal on the castle had been savagely damaged. Such a message was enough to make him give up going back to sleep for the scant few hours he had left. So instead he had brewed himself a cup, then got online unsure of what to look for. 'Never saw the news articles when the Castle appeared. What with me being there.'
With Vampire Killer with him, there left only the Castle being pulled out of the seal or Alucard releasing the seal upon his own power left to the seal. So here he sat seeking out any news article regarding the manifestation of an old European castle out of nowhere. Since the alternative was that some idiot tried to crack the seal that Alucard maintained. Though success with that would have a steep cost. What with Alucards' seal literally forcing him as close to human as he could get. Break that and there would be one very, very angry, very reempowered Dhampire Prince on someone's hands.
Hours passed and when he found himself distracted by other news. But still no signs of a European Castle suddenly showing up on someone's lawn as a headline. It caused enough of a lull in his thoughts that he turned his focus to his extended family. The clans were scattered already looking for Alucard, 'I haven't been able to decide what to do regarding an heir for the whip. I could pass the whip back to the Morris clan. But I can't, in good faith, just hand over something that will prematurely kill them. Especially if Soma is going to stay settled down for good.'
Yoko had mentioned that she was scouting around Asia regarding news from the Elementals... Perhaps it would be meaningless, 'but why not? Maybe Yoko could visit the old grounds of the Castle. The LeCardes have reported that the cult is messing around in the area. Perhaps Yoko can find something there?'
Hey Yoko, how long would it take you to get to the old Castle grounds?
Not long since I'm currently in Taiwan... but that's where the agent is...
Well meet me at the usual meeting place. We need to investigate it.
Sure thing.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Hakuba Shrine \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
"Do you think Kazu is ok?" Mina anxiously asked, wringing her hands in mounting concern. Soma was still laid out on the bed, his coat was resting over the back of a chair, and for all concerned he looked sound asleep.
But he wasn't. "He might need a break, if you want you can go check on him. I have no idea how the castle would appear to him. But that doesn't mean what he sees is going to affect you." Soma had his left arm draped over his eyes, his voice not as terribly tired as before. Simply more subdued to the ears of both other occupants in the room. "It won't be good for the shrine if a random person finds him passed out or whatever either."
Mina winced and nodded, "you have a point there. For that matter I haven't told my family yet and don't need the questions if they find him first."
She stood up and with a 'I'll be right back' left Soma with Leon in the spare room. At the soft click of the door shutting, Soma gave a sigh and lowered his arm. A cursory glance showed that he was in the convalescing room. 'Second time I've been in one of these...' he thought grumpily as he pushed himself into a sitting position. He closed his eyes and let his head rest against his hand, while the soft sound of Leon moving about the room gave him a small distraction.
"When was Arikado a blond?" Soma finally asked almost to himself, despite a passing realization of the futility of that question. Leon hadn't even 'met' Arikado, how would he know what the man looked like to start with? He ran his tongue against his teeth in frustration, making sure that each and every tooth retained its proper shape.
"Blond?" Leon repeated as he scrutinized Mathias' features, realizing the man was checking for fangs. Then there was those golden hued eyes that spoke of a vampire not a human. Unsure if it was ok to draw attention to them. 'But of course he knows, why else would he make a show of covering them when Lady Mina was in the room?' It signaled a worrisome situation and Lady Mina was already under stress. So perhaps it would be wiser to wait until he could speak to Lady Elizabetha, 'if' Mathias could get his eyes to change to blue again before Lady Mina's return.
"I... I feel like I saw him with hair blond like that lady who said she's my wife. When you meet Arikado, you'll see he has black hair. It feels right, like its a natural color for him to have. But I keep remembering him as a blond, and 'that' also being his natural hair color." He gave a frustrated sigh as he laid back down. Holding up his hand he looked at the ring that rested there. Giving the hand a shake akin to a cat that suddenly stepped in some unpleasant water. "Wretched thing..."
"Does it hurt?" Leon asked quietly as he moved along so he was closer to Mathias' head.
Soma looked at Leon for a moment before focusing more on the ring, a resigned sigh escaping his lips. "No, it doesn't 'hurt', but I can feel it. My hand tingles slightly, as if I was holding a small orb of lightning in my hand."
'That... can't be right though... can it?' Leon pondered. 'The seal is meant to hold back Mathias' power. While he is clearly regressing back into a Vampire, that isn't 'using a power' is it? He is not doing anything that involves the powers of a vampire. Neither changing his form or manipulating any outside power. Should not the ring continue unabated?' Unlike questions about the Castle that Lady Elizabetha could partly answer or ruminate on though. This was a seal created by the Church.. 'Perhaps that's it, a holy item reacting to a vampires' presence.'
Though, there 'was' one with the blood of vampires who might be able to assist Leon. Once he was found. The obvious solution was to ask Mathias' half blood son. Lady Elizabetha had spoken at great lengths about him. It would be awkward of course.
"Leon, while I am grateful that you would help my Lord Husband despite all that he has done. I have but one favor to ask. Its about my son, neither men have ever seen me since my death. If he were to know I'm here, I don't know how my son would take the news so please. Don't tell him I'm here. Let Death be the one you conferred with, not I."
"Why fear your son's awareness of your presence?" Leon asked as she worked on crafting the lion.
"He aided your kin in killing his own Father. Despite how he behaves or what he says, it upsets him greatly. So please, don't tell him."
'I don't know if this is divine punishment for his sins, or only a world spanning game of chess that he is embroiled in...' Leon thought before another thought occurred to him to ask. "Hungry?"
"Hmm? No... I'm fine," Mathias replied easily enough as he laid back down and stared up at the ceiling for a moment.
"Thirsty?" Leon asked, with just enough conveyed tone to make Mathias turn to look at the stuffed lion. One blink, then two, followed up by a third when Mathias seemed to understand what Leon actually 'meant'.
"Oh! Hmmm," Mathias' gaze went back to the ceiling above him as he took stock of that. They were venturing closer to dinner time and he let his mind drift to the first thing it focused on. "I'm still interested in normal food, which is a plus." In fact his stomach was interested in some noodles, though he hadn't fathomed which ones yet. After all, vampires drank blood, not ingested intestines so score!
"You can have?" Leon followed up rather doggedly, understandably so given the situation.
Still felt borderline nagging to Mathias, "If I want noodles, or a sandwich, or soup, or anything else it means that I'm not that far gone." Suddenly the nagging brought something else to Mathias' mind, causing him to roll over so he could face Leon. "I'm 'married'? Who in their right mind would marry a 'vampire lord'? When I saw her I remembered she's my wife... But... I'm 'married'?!"
Leon lacked eyelids to lower as to express 'this' particular emotion, after all, it wasn't like he could easily explain. "Still human then."
Mathias seemed ready to ask another question only to for his gaze to do a hard shift towards the door. A frown forming slightly on his lips, "Mina sounds worried..."
'And there is that vampires' keen sense of hearing...' Leon realized when it occurred to him that it also meant that Mina might return to the room. Which wouldn't be a good thing given Mathias' current eye color.
"I think I'll continue trying to finish shifting to something completely human. So do you want me to open the door for you?" Mathias offered.
"Family here," Leon answered with a shake of his head against the idea. Instead he turned around and sat down quietly. 'I had hoped that Trevors' arrival would help young Kazu from whatever issue seeing the shrine would cause. So Mathias saying that Lady Mina 'sounds worried' does not bode well. I've been in the castle though, this shell is also created from the castle. Neither has caused him any unnecessary stress so what could have happened?'
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Outside the shrine \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
"Are you sure you don't want a glass of water or maybe a cool wash cloth?" Mina asked anxiously, as she hovered over Kazu. White as a sheet, with Trevor curled up sphinx style at the guy's side, even now awake he seemed mostly dead. When Mina had turned the corner to find the pair she had expected the worst, fully expecting Kazu to 'be' dead. What with how pale he was and the shallowness of his breath it was all she could do to keep from screaming.
"I'll be fine... I just need to stop seeing eyes every time I blink," Kazu answered with a shudder.
"Eyes?" Mina asked, knelt down all the while looking around for these illusive 'eyes'.
"Yeah, as strange as it sounds. The seal was just one eye, and then after I passed out, it was there again. Then it multiplied, spreading out along all the surfaces, and they're on my body..." Kazu started speaking faster. Panic started the seep into his voice and Trevor gave a worried head butt into Kazu's side.
It appeared strange to Mina, a respected vampire hunter butting his head into someone. 'Probably trying to get Kazu out of that frame of mind from what he just experienced.' she thought as she knelt there. She didn't know how Yoko 'built' the system that put Trevor in his state and while he looked like a stuffed toy. At this point it was hard to think of him as anything so simplistic or childish, "its ok Kazu. You're awake and we're here so there's nothing to worry about."
"She's right Kazu," Sophia offered, grateful that she had gotten her tea stash replenished at the apartment. Not to say that a shrine would lack such helpful relaxers, however; Mina had arrived without Leon. Leaving only a terribly shaken Kazu to convey her wishes. "We are most certainly here even if only as vocal support."
"He's never had a case that involved him peering into a seal that was damaged," Trevor noted as he laid there. "West meets East indeed."
"No, and what I saw... I can feel the eyes, its like my skin is opening and closing as eyes would and..." He gave a near convulsive shiver of disgust as he looked at the slowly darkening sky.
"We have a purification pool if you need it," Mina asked as her brain tried to make that into an image. An image she was more than happy to shove away out of instinct.
"That would be great, I think I'll need it... That and a nice soothing cup of tea," Kazu replied with a shaky smile.
"Well I'll go get the ritual robes and towel, so while you soak I'll put a kettle on," Mina offered as she pushed herself to her feet.
"Ok," Kazu answered as he slowly rolled over onto his side so he could push himself to his feet. "Oh my poor Shishi..." He watched as the one who tried to eat the evil hovered close to the ground. It looked sick, with the markings on its body almost glowing with the same color as the miasma that he saw rising from the ground.
"Besides the eyes, you spent time looking about the grounds, you seemed to see something as well.." Solei asked as Kazu stood up.
"I think I saw the Castles' outer wall, there was this vast fog... a miasma that rose from the ground choking the life out of the grass. I could hear what I guess is either monsters or 'Dark Children' and the wall over there was different. Everything seemed in a state of decay, at least what I could see before the miasma overtook my sight," Kazu explained as he tried to comfort the sick shishi.
"So the castle is here, or at least visible if you don't look directly 'at' the castle... Sounds strange that you can see the grounds but not it..." Trevor noted as he looked around. Spirits roaming the ground? "It sounds strange even to me, but what if the spirits that Kazu saw are guarding the shrine too? I recall being told that it seemed that the castle was trying to hold the seal as well. Just seems to make sense that the spirits might also want to protect the shrine."
"I had forgotten that..." Sophia sighed in mild embarrassment. "But its been a while and we've been rather swamped."
"So maybe what Kazu did was see the shrines' unexpectedly new security system?" Trevor theorized out loud.
"That would be a very intense 'system'," Kazu noted as he picked up Trevor.
"Well Dracula never believed in doing anything half way," Trevor pointed out. "If that's what it was, since I have no idea how to confirm or deny that possibility."
After that Trevor grew quiet, Kazu was shuddering and still reeling. With this body custom programmed by Yoko to serve Kazu. No matter what the situation was, he wouldn't really be able to focus on anything besides Kazu's care. At least until they got those nightmare images out of the man's mind. As evening took over Mina guided them back into the shrine.
"Mina! Are your guests staying for dinner?" a womans' voice could be heard calling out.
"I... I guess?" Mina replied glancing behind her at Kazu and Trevor for an answer. Which came from Trevor in the form of a nod. "But I'm going to guide Kazu to the purification spring in the back, so we'll be back soon."
"Oh! And what about Soma?"
"Sure, he enjoys your cooking!" Mina answered with a half smile on her face.
"Ahh a home cooked meal. The only thing I miss about being alive really," Solei noted fondly. "Mother was a great cook and I can only imagine what she would come up with in this modern world. Not to mention how much stuff exists to make things easier."
"I've seen enough cooking shows to be positively fascinated by modern food. But if I had the chance to eat, I'd probably over do it." Sophia added with a hope that a normal, casual conversation would help soothe Kazu more quickly.
"Married to a blueberry," Trevor replied and got ghost swatted by his wife for the remark.
"Married to a stuffed toy dog!" She retorted in a huff...
"I don't think being a Belmont would save you from an angry wife..." Solei pointed out as he started floating beside Mina. He wasn't a witness to a murder if it happened behind him after all right?