Castlevania: Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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"Well look at who decided to show the hell up," Simon drawled out as the still human hunter stepped out under the night sky.
"Richter is going to stay and say prayers for the lost Cherubs," Christopher called out as he rejoined the group.
Juste took no issue with walking up gave a small attempt at a polite bow for Julius. 'Oh he does not look thrilled to see us... and that tells me he knows 'about' us now... Leon please come back soon.'
Julius looked to be struggling before he begrudgingly gave a, "greetings my ancestors..." then a low, "Yoko..."
The way he dragged out her 'o' made Juste recall how Simon would say her name when he was being particularly frisky with his verbal personal outrage.
Julius' voice caused Pope Alexander and the Cardinals to turn and regard him almost at the same time. Julius appeared the way they had figured all the Belmonts appeared once they escaped the Castle in ages past. Ashes rained from the sky, there were smears of blood, signs of battle in the disheveled aspects of his attire. The hunter strode towards them as a man with a mission, his eyes settling on Yoko with a deep frown on his face.
For a sixty plus year old man, to travel the Castle 'again', then have to travel the Vatican in much the same manner. Yet he didn't appear exhausted or worn out by the work, shoulders strong and back, eyes quick and focused. It was enough to make any man envy how he could just seem so 'ready for combat' despite having coming out of two such combat zones.
"Did you find others?" Alexander began as he moved forward, said Belmont turned his gaze to the Pope and gave a small concise nod.
"We need to speak on that quite urgently and in private," Julius acknowledged as he turned his steps away from Yoko towards the pope. "I'm glad I got to you first, as its become clear there was more to the Vatican than I had anticipated... Stuffed toys included."
Yoko heard the low subtle threat and gave a gulp of worry.
"Dionysus was with Julius," Christopher reported calmly enough as the matter stood. "But he looks rough, drained and full of despair."
"Not blaming him for that, this place has all the ear marks of the Castle," Simon pointed out as he walked over to Julius.
"And which of my ancestors..." Julius began when Yoko fairly squeaked out a 'Simon'.
"I hope he's not as angry when he meets Leon and or Trevor," Juste noted as he settled to stay by Yoko's side.
No solid animal senses but it was pretty clear she was getting nervous and a bit upset. 'I would like it if Kazu was here to speak on my behalf. But I recognize why you would be more distraught if that were the case,' Juste mused as he kept himself just enough away from her so he could look up and 'not' upskirt the young witch.
"They've been a wonderful comfort to the children," Alexander began smoothly. "More over a right full helpful to send messages to me when others are more concerned about my reaction than the importance of the situation. Though their remains still remain in their vaults and to my understanding the shields are still in place."
"That they are, I fear there has been someone kept prisoner within the Vatican walls that you need to meet, Your Holiness." Julius replied earning a slow nod from the older man.
"Indeed, I need to speak with Mr. Arikado and see about having Soma brought back to the church. But I wouldn't be surprised if there was 'more' that I must now attend to... Since I'm waiting for Mr. Arikado's arrival shall we speak to this person?" Alexander inquired and watched as Julius slowly nodded.
"You're going to be in for a surprise, I fear." Julius warned as he turned so Alexander could be by his side.
'I LIVE,' Yoko thought to herself as the older men turned towards the Vatican and away from the blond.
"You too Yoko."
'I die...'
"Wait! You can't be serious? After everything his holiness has been through you want to take him 'back' into the Vatican?" the Cardinals began to swarm around Alexander, their faces anxious and pale, their hands weaving spells of anxiety with how they wiggled.
"Brothers, if it were anyone else I could understand, but we are in the presence of Vampire Hunters. What kind of threat do you suspect could still stand against them?" Alexander countered, his voice soothing despite the fatigue.
"Well I mean he's not exactly young anymore..."
Alexander couldn't exactly pinpoint who said that, but it had Bianchi's accent.
"And who among us, sans Sister Yoko is 'young'," he countered.
"A shame we don't get a vote, Richter didn't get a gray muzzle so I suspect he's considered a 'young' man of sorts."Juste ruminated aloud, only to get a friendly shove from Christopher.
"He's right though, Holiness. We have asked too much of him already from the return of the Demon Castle to this whole sordid affair."
"I am not permitted to go among our brothers and sisters who are in clear distress. Until several hours ago they were going about their normal lives. Now their homes could or are on fire, this is the time we should be out there lending them our support. But with those Thralls we can not even do that! They're faith in us must be utterly shaken at the moment and its going to take a great deal of work to figure out who are thralls. Who are still our human brothers and sisters and thus save to give succor to the needed. But standing here and twiddling my thumbs accomplishes nothing, if Julius has discovered something or someone that he feels is important that I meet, I will. Is that clear?" Alexander countered with as stern a voice as he could muster.
"Your Holiness..." Several of the other Cardinals bowed in agreement.
"You have a point there, pray forgive us we'll do what we can for those who still have faith enough to enter the Vatican seeking help." Cardinal Rocco amended as he stood there, bowing in respect before turning to take care and charge of their rattled charges.
'Oh thank you,' Alexander thought while the other Cardinals accepted the mild dressing down and backed down. They turned to follow suit, allowing the Pope to accompany Julius back to the Vatican, where the large ornate doors remained open. A pair of arms outstretched to give comfort only for no one brave enough to enter...
Above them the chandelier did not falter, it retained a steady glow of light, a comfort when all they needed was an earthquake to finish things out. Such light revealed the scuffs in the floor from spilled blood while the rugs were a possible lost cause. There were these deep wide cat paw prints that ran down the fabric, a reminder of Leon's state when he left. While the walls were smeared occasionally with bloody prints or swaths. The paintings appeared the same, as was the statues, still and returned to their original positions.
While the banisters were a macabre candy cane of rich, honey brown and dark moody blood red. Curled lovingly down from the second floor to the ground floor with only one other person in the whole of the space.
"Strange you know? How long have we been here and completely unaware that the Vatican had such strange walls up." Juste noted as he followed behind Alexander, his head tilted back as he studied the walls.
"Beyond strange, this was set up before Yoko was born, and none of us lived here... Its outrageous though," Simon agreed with a low growl. "If those kids can make me a bear."
"Sun bear."
"Holiness?" Julius called out as he lead the small group of two humans because stuffies. STUFFIES.
"Julius?" Alexander was starting to glance at the hunter in confusion when he caught sight of a set of blood stain white robes slotted between the spaces of the handrails. He could see this balding head gripped in a pair of hands. Someone sitting in the depths of pain, how many times had he seen such people when he had been a lowly priest? The weight of the world that brought down someone where hope felt light years away?
"I hear them."
Alexander was confused as Julius looked over at him, a stern mixture of emotions that he couldn't quite figure out. As though Julius hadn't figured out the words just the emotions and was still trying.
"Your Holiness, the monster that turned the priests into thralls didn't stop there," Julius began slowly with his voice filled with regret.
"So they turned the pope that Julius would have been given his marching orders from," Simon recognized, his muzzled mouth twisting upwards. "But Julius lost his memories after the battle, its not as though he could come back and save whoever this Pope is."
"Dionysus. The turning happened before then I suspect. But it was done in a way that he was unaware..."
"We should talk to Leon, or if Soma gets his strength we need to know how he Turned."
Christophers' ears wiggled before he reached up and began poking at Yoko's kneecaps.
"Diony... Your Holi..." Alexander had turned his steps so he would be at the foot of the stairs, and of all things he expected.
This wasn't it.
"Its been some time since the last time we saw each other," the Vampire noted his lips curled in twisted grief. There was the faintest of red streaks down his face where his tears had rewet the blood on him. When last he saw Alexander, the mantle of Pope had not begun its process of weighing the earnest Cardinal down. He had been left half starved, allowing his 'aged bones' to appear weak and frail before he had been locked away in more distant quarters... How many years ago had that been?
"I thought you had died, we were told... the Thralls? All of you?!" Alexander struggled to grasped at this terrible feeling of 'sure what not?' that was settling into the pit of his stomach.
Shock, dismay, rejection of reality, there were a multitude of ways to react to finding out your predecessor had been turned. Yet not a single one of those emotions registered inside of Alexander, perhaps it was merely trauma. That he had been exposed to so much so fast that he could no longer register the facts as they presented themselves to him.
"Sons..." the voice was so broken, so distraught. "Pray forgive me for not protecting you better from this..." Dionysus apologized as the three Belmonts trapped as stuffed toys turned to look at him.
"He realizes that its not his fault right? He was a human surrounded by the church." Simon asked as Yoko finished reading what Christopher asked her.
"So Christopher wants me to point out that it is possible to become a vampire without being bitten. The current Vampire we're investigating actually pull that off," it was at that point that Yoko actually looked up from her phone and her focus on the Stuffy Patrol to realize who was also with them. "Oh dear."
"They don't need to be bitten," Alexander repeated as he began to ascend the stairs towards Dionysus.
"OH HELL NO!" Simon broke into a run while Christopher and Juste followed suit, quickly inserting themselves between the two popes.
Alexander was taken aback at the clear 'you shall not pass' posture the trio put up and turned to look at Yoko. "Child..."
"He's been turned, not the one who did the turning," Yoko pointed out in as gentle voice as she could. "I suspect, they're worried that like the other thralls, he might go feral on you."
"Oh thank GOD she has a brain!" Simon exploded in relief.
"Forgive us," Julius agreed as he walked over and pulled Alexander back. "Only Soma really has the power to ensure such an action doesn't take place. But when I last saw him he was no longer really physically waking up. Rather he was using his abilities to communicate with us."
There was nothing really to be said after that, since the reality was pretty obvious. Even if Dionysus wanted to go out, if whoever turned him made him go feral. Well the sudden appearance of a supposedly dead pope, alive, turned, and killing could very well kill the churchs' standing in the world.
"You don't know who turned you?" Alexander asked as he stood back behind Julius and closer to Yoko.
Dionysus shook his head and slowly with shuddering breath began to recount the same experiences he had to Julius earlier. Everyone stood listening with this morbid awe of what had transpired. The slow transformation, comparable to slow drip feeding poison to an unaware victim, as well as the indoctrination of priests to form a type of Vampire Catholic church.
For Yoko and the other Belmonts the notion that the Thralls were meant to be 'Clergy for the Dark Children' blew their minds. Simon muttering on the madness of man and vampire was the only real interruption.
"Lord save us," Alexander finally shook his head. "Its too much to even take, perhaps because of all the excitement of the evening but... I can barely wrap my head around it."
"He has a point I mean, he's not a warrior and where 'is' he and the others supposed to sleep? Is the Vatican safe enough to house people? Given the fires all around and the thralls, and the fact that..." Juste began when Yoko inadvertently finished.
"Someone twisted the oils... My Lord it may help explain why Soma got so upset about the oils being used on Arikado." Only the possible taste of ash or blood on her knuckles kept her from gnawing on them. "Mother is not going to be thrilled."
"More over the people supplying the oil aren't even from the Clan, and the shift was being forced by several Cardinals..." Julius agreed.
"You think they're going to remember that Alex is an elderly human and they're pushing him pretty hard?" Christopher asked finally as he observed the living Pope as discreetly as someone who didn't have moveable eyes could.
Alexander 'did' look rough, there were bags forming under his eyes, his skin was sagging from exhaustion and the fact that he kept trying to push himself further. It was commendable, if not recommended that he stop.
"We could watch over the suite and let him have a rest," Juste suggested earning a nod from Christopher.
Simon merely turned to look at the spellcaster, glanced up to follow Juste's line of sight and shrugged. "Let the pope take a nap? Yeah, though I don't see how he's going to be able to relax enough to do that. I sure don't trust trying to boil him a cup of chamomile tea after what we've heard."
"That's tr... Richter," Christophers' attempt at an answer was cut off as he saw the dejected member of their bloodline appear at the top of the staircase. Head and tail down, the man made no effort to suggest he was even watching where he was going. He just took the steps down with all the energy of a dead battery.
"Lets lead Alexander back to his suite, we can stand guard and let the living deal with Dionysus," Simon finally suggested.
"What are they doing?" Julius asked as the stuffed toys began pushing at Alexander towards the other set of stairs leading up. Richter looked crushed as he game down the stairs, unaware of the world around him.
"Probably figured that his holiness needs a nap, its been a rough night for everyone," Yoko theorized, earning herself a nod from Simon.
"If that is the case, while I appreciate the sentiment, I did request that Mr. Arikado visit with Soma... I need to stay awake for that." Alexander pointed out.