Castlevania: Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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All they needed was a pirate.
An exchange of information from one to another as the three of them strove to create a complete picture of their current situation. Each person, Alucard the last, had given their pieces of the puzzle, explaining various points. For Julius, it had been the moment the Castle emerged from the seal, the sight and sounds as every last person and beast was suddenly swept up. Taken to the castle without so much as a 'by your leave'. Yoko explained both her struggle to get 'to' town, as well as what Alexis had shared of the cults' presence in town and their 'church'. Leaving Alucard to explain just how the Dhampire had been captured and how he had been unawares and asleep this whole time...
It wasn't a long retelling as they were busy with the now. The rest, the details and side notes were free to be included later. Over coffee in a kitchen perhaps with Alexis there to elaborate on what she had seen. Leaving the trio quiet and somber as they stood in this empty street. Their gazes lifted towards the ever resettling castle, processing the increasingly precarious situation they found themselves in.
"Soma is with Alexis over at the local hotel?" Julius asked, finally breaking their quiet thoughts.
"Yeah, you think he's lying about the Castle?" Yoko asked the aged hunter, while wishing Alucard would say 'something'. Yet he was so quiet, he might as well been part of the background. A statue in a square or a building.
"No. Actually I don't, all of you were in the eye of the storm, so to speak. So I can understand why you didn't sense anyone being drawn into the Castle. As for Soma, honestly no. He's never actively drawn a town full of people 'into' the castle in such a manner. Juste noted that there 'was' a merchant who seemed to have found his way into the Castle during his trip. But that was a lone man, not a town." The older man looked down the empty street of buildings. Before turning to look at the pair, though his gaze was a bit more on Alucards' still silent presence.
"As someone once said, 'the Castle is a Creature of Chaos', even with the Chaos removed. Its clearly feeding and without Dracula to guide it, even as Soma. This is almost expected if we think of it as a living creature and not just a structure," Julius noted as he began to stroke his beard thinking aloud. "And yet we have only three alternatives really."
"Let Soma go back and resume his position as Dark Lord. I go in his place and assume control of the Castle as his proxy. Or we find someone to take Soma's place and resume the eternal cycle of combat." Alucard gave voice to the three options that Julius wordlessly suggested.
Yoko turned on her heel, wanting to refute those options soundly, the first one was just 'no'. The last one was far too time consuming, yet the second option. Even as she wanted to say no to that as well, a voice whispered in the back of her mind. 'If he went back to the Castle he wouldn't have to deal with the mortality of humans any longer. You've always known he was lonely under all that princely stoicism.'
"Or we can try the less pessimistic approach, talk to Soma and see what he has to say on the matter." Julius offered almost reproachful in tone at Alucards' ever hopeless view of possible outcomes.
"Dawn is coming," Yoko finally noted aloud her voice subdued. "For all we know, Soma might go to sleep on instinct if it beats us to him."
"Right, even if he has, we need to find a way to contact the outside world and see what's going on. I shudder to think that we could be the only humans in the world," Julius noted as he fell in step behind Yoko.
"The whole..." Yoko paused as she tried to just grasp that idea. "nah the Castle wouldn't..." Would Mina be in the castle? What about the boys in the choir? Her brother and dad?! "Would it?" Yoko questioned as she turned to look at the castle, the distance made it impossible for her to tell if it was still hovering. But she could still make out the turrets and towers, and ripe full of the locals and probably... "THE CULTS!" Yoko blurted out, so sudden and loud that her voice actually echoed its way back to her.
Nothing but sound echoed back from the abandoned town, as it lacked startled animals to react to her sudden outburst. Just more confirmation as to Julius' experience when the Castle reappeared. Yet for all that she turned to look at the pair of older hunters, "the cults were here, but we haven't seen them at all. Do you think they got taken to the Castle itself as part of the civilians? Or do you think they were a little more Jones about it and had some control about where they landed?"
"You fear they may try, as Jones tried, to take over the Castle?" Julius inquired thoughtfully, weighing the possibility out in his own mind.
"Impossible, the Castle will not be fooled by pretenders," Alucard began. Though his voice did soften in retrospect, "though perhaps, they could be trying to move into the castle as part of the residents. Soma does not seek combat. After all he won't move back to the Castle readily even in his current mental state."
"Yes well, we don't know what they're aware of though, They managed to capture you after all, and that doesn't sit well with me given how easily they pulled that off." Julius noted as Yoko finally began walking towards the hotel.
"Though the castle is no longer a 'Creature of Chaos', I wonder. Since its showing signs of sentience, is this a permanent fixture and it will just live as it is now? Or will it eventually wear out what gives it 'life' and return to being a normal structure?" Yoko theorized into the open air.
"That is a horrifying thought Yoko. If this is how it acts when it tries to sustain itself..." Julius shook his head. He tried to imagine the castle just arbitrarily selecting a town to gobble up. His mind shuddered at the thought, at the game of Russian roulette the world would have to play with the Castle. "But the Castle didn't get destroyed when I killed Dracula. 'Can' the Castle be permanently destroyed? Because clearly Dracula can't."
"Not from lack of trying," Yoko sighed. "Damn it he came back soft and fluffy and now I don't want to kill him. It feels like killing a kitten or a puppy."
"Yoko, were you there when he reverted back?" Alucard coldly asked, earning a shrug from the woman in the front.
"Yeah, I know. Yet without the Chaos, well what type of 'Dark Lord' does Soma become? He didn't care when we faced him. He's treated his servants well in the past, but Soma outright killed Celia without a passing thought. Just because she was annoying to him. He's not the same as what our ancestors dealt with. Is it wrong to stack the odds more in our favor in any way we can? And that also includes knowing more about the changes that have taken place?"
"Point taken," Julius agreed with a quiet nod. "Its not as though I can keep fighting and my boys..."
"They refuse?" Alucard asked, relishing in the peace and quiet that came from not having to face his fathers' current incarnation provided him.
"Won't say I blame them. There's been a great deal of adjustment for my family, what they should have already been told... Now can't because of family tradition. All they really understand is that I'm a Vampire Hunter, though I should be retired." Julius' voice softened with warmth as he thought of them before adding, "they want to know more. But without the training they would be in danger thus I can't tell them further."
"New hunters for a new Dark Lord?" Alucard asked before he quietly shrugged. "Its possible, if I were to know more about the curse that exists between your clans and my father. I would be able to offer more input."
Though a small frown crossed his face before slipping away as he noted a slight wince in Yoko's posture. "Is there something you would like to share with us Yoko?" Alucard asked, but really ordered to be answered. Yokos' brother certainly had abilities that made it possible that he could contact an ancestral spirit. 'Save that their mother wants as few of the clan to know of his existence as possible. So even though he shares the blood and probably could reach at least his own ancestors...' The information would be shared among the clan and that mess would start again.
"Details at eleven," she quipped as the horizon began to warm with a morning light.
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This was a brand new level of 'What the Duck'?
Elmo was used to getting lost in the Vatican. All he had to do was find a spot, settle down and eventually Snuggy would find him. It was the type of thing that one could set a clock to. Yet the ground was covered in dirt, and on either side of him was messy bushes and trees. Not the lovingly crafted garden of the Vatican, and that towering structure before him. WAS NOT THE VATICAN!
It was towering, like the Vatican, but it was a castle if he ever saw one. Imposing in its height and the way it seemed dark even in the bright day light. Or maybe it was because he was in tears, as fear and frustration collided in him. It was clearly lived in, he saw a gardener walk by at one point with a basket hanging off his arm.
But this was a strange place and he had no grown ups that he knew or trusted. Would Simon, not Snuggy, even be able to 'find' him? "Well, I might as well wait..." He muttered to himself before moving off to the side of the road. There was a tree stump that he was tall enough to use for a seat, so there he planted his rump.
'How did I get 'this' lost though? I was sure if I kept following the Cardinal I wouldn't get lost.' he thought as he brought up his knees and rested his chin on them. Above him the trees didn't look bad, they were green and healthy. If he didn't look at the castle he could believe he was standing alone in the forest.
'NO! I don't want to be alone!' he thought in a panic as he desperately tried to push his thoughts to something better. But didn't wolves live in forests? Wasn't that where Little Red Riding Hoods' wolf came from?
Elmo lost track of time as he gave in to crying, until his nose was so stuffy he couldn't breath and using his choir robes as a tissue was a giant 'no'. He patted his pockets under said robes until he found his hankie and began giving his nose a good blow...
When a ball of all things rolled into his line of sight from the right. From where the Castle was in fact. Confused he looked over to see where it might have come from and found another kid standing on the other side of the gate. Once Elmo's head was turned the kid waved and then pointed at, what Elmo could only assume, was the ball. Made the most logical sense to the child. Given that most of his vision was a blurred mess by that point.
"I guess he wants you back," Elmo commented to the ball that was now parked next to a bush near by. He got up and proceeded to retrieve the ball, stuffing his hankie into his pocket before picking up the desired item and walking to the gate. 'So kids live in the castle?' he thought while carrying the ball back. Yet as he approached he found more and more reasons to wonder what type of castle 'was' this.
The kid was a boy wearing what looked to be a vampire cape and now that he was getting closer. The gardener appeared to be wearing a great skeleton costume! It looked completely real, not even the ones with the black fabric between the bones! 'I can almost believe I see through him!' But it didn't 'have' to be Halloween right? Could grown ups just have costume parties whenever?
'Well I guess being a grown up lets you do whatever when ever. I mean, Mr. Arikado doesn't have a bed time, neither does Mr. Cruz... Soooo...'
The boy's costume was even better up close as Elmo finally approached. The cape was clipped by a bat under the boys' chin. He had unruly blond hair that was in curls, but he, and this was the cool part, had 'fangs'. They peeked out from the corners of his mouth, giving his lips this slight overlap, but this was a way cool costume!
"Hi, are your parents having a party?" Elmo asked as he handed over the ball through the thick iron gate bars.
"Hmm?" The boy replied, his head tilting slightly to the side. He accepted the ball readily even as he didn't seem to understand the question.
"Your parents?" Elmo tried again.
"I don't understand. What are you saying?" the boy replied, a pity Elmo didn't speak the same language.
While high above watching from a window, Death wondered how a human child could have found their way to the castle. It warped its way down to the front doors of the castle before pulling on its human suit. The flesh bag inflated about it, the same as the one it wore when it first encountered the Lady of the Castle. Using the same one allowed for the young master to recognize it more readily. So said the Lady when she realized it had been using a large number of such forms.
As it pushed open the great doors it stuck its head out and called to the young master. "Young Master? You know you shouldn't play so close to the gates."
The young soul turned to face it, moving to the side so it could see the boy better. A male child that bore the aura of one who apparently spent time in some church or another. It walked down the path towards the front gate, unable to communicate a great deal of what it already observed until it was in reasonable distance. Something a human could easily have seen clearly in terms of distance.
"Huh? You put that back on old man?" The young master asked, before he turned and opened the gates. All the while the young boy just stared up at it with a tentative hope.
"I hope you speak Italian..."
"'Italian? Well you're certainly far from home in that case," Death answered keeping its hand behind its back, with that hunched over walk monks seemed to carry. The child brightened though as he 'heard' his native language.
"I... I don't know how I got here..." the boy replied in quiet disappointment, his head sinking forward before he began rubbing at his eyes.
"I don't know what you're saying!" the young master complained in a huff before turning his attention towards Death. "And I don't care, I can play with him so I'm going to!"
The young master reached over and grabbed the child before he towed the boy off, the ball he had been tossing alone was still in the new childs' free arm. "Young master!" It called out...
"Master? While I admit, I know nothing of raising a child... I do know that the child lacks something in the realm of... Hmm," Death let its voice drift off before it marshaled its courage to say 'it'. "Manners?"
Its master sat upon his throne, his lady wife currently out playing one last game before she would retire for the evening. The side effect of choosing a human to be ones' spouse while being a vampire. Lounging and casually indifferent, a wine glass filled with blood held, studied, and sipped upon with casual ease was Lord Mathias, or as he had taken to call himself 'Dracul'.
"Come now old friend, the boy is lonely and acts out in response. I admit perhaps I should put a little more effort on his manners but..."
'But you are too excited at the prospect of being a father at all to do anything...' Death thought to itself with a sigh that actually made sound. What with the actual nose and mouth it had now. 'Unfortunately there is no one else here who can cross language barriers,' it thought as it began to follow where the children went. Muttering to itself in confusion at how a child could have found his way all the way here. The vampire never brought a child, servant or otherwise when he arrived.
'I hope the young master remembered how to control the castle. Otherwise that child is going to be in for a horrific shock when he sees what is housed within these walls.'
Granted outside the castle currently looked pretty harmless, the garden in full effect with its flowers and green grass. A place so full of life that the child should not end up screaming and running all over the place.