Castlevania: Aria of the Ascending Soul

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

A/N: welp there were typos...

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"I can't believe this to be the work of humans only. It would take time to install anyone or anything into the Vatican. But if it was Soma, and why wouldn't it be Soma is my first thought yet, why 'now'? What would influence him to wait until he's in a process of reincarnation to take over? If its his doing its alarming that he could install people into the Vatican. If its not and remember that he's only been active with his power for a very few short years. It seems too short to allow any would be rebellious factions to infiltrate the Vatican.." Juste thought aloud while Christopher held Simon up over his head like a strong man in a circus.

"True, and he's not exactly enforcing his rule either, so its possible that they're slipping their leashes." Christopher noted while Simon thrashed uselessly over his head. "So the Exorcist has access to actual holy water, which who knows how much of the church may be only armed with typical water."

"Yes, and those journals now concern me. Hiding journals through out the Vatican? Why not just put a book in a shelf since who would ever have the time to read through all of them? The excessive tape makes it pretty clear that it was intentional. Someone has something to hide, but seemed to realize that whoever it was 'did' have the time to read through every book." Juste noted as he pushed the trash can back into the upright position.

"Clearly from an adult rather than a child so, a cry for help perhaps?" Christopher theorized while Simon finally stopped thrashing.

"Its.. It would make sense, if someone couldn't leave the Vatican, but at the same time needed help..." Simon pondered with a frown as a thought wormed its way through the stuffing used for his head. 'More over they couldn't trust the other priests... that is the most concerning. Whoever it is can not trust the very priesthood. Which only leaves one person...'

"But who is held against their will in the Vatican? I suppose it would have helped if we were more up to date about the goings on here but..." Richter noted as he helped his grandfather push the chair back into roughly the right spot.

Having finally ceased his struggles Christopher finally allowed Simon to get down so they could leave the room, "The Pope."

"What?" Everyone sans Leon exclaimed as they turned, or flattened themselves so they could, visually fixate on the Bear.

"Originally Popes left the Vatican to travel, usually for special visits clearly. But Alexander is the second Pope who's been kept on Vatican house arrest." Simon explained as he and Christopher set to opening the door.

"Annnd? Don't leave us in suspense Simon," Juste encouraged as he and Richter finished pushing the chair back into a close approximation.

"Well, Dionysus was his predecessor," Simon continued as they pushed the door open.

They quick stepped their way out of the room, while Christopher went back to shut off the small light in the office. As the room was left in darkness, he once more missed his human body. If they were human, they could get facts and find out what was going on. A fog in the Vatican? For how long? Was this why the kids kept getting lost?

"He is actually the pope who oversaw Julius when he came to the church before the Demon Castle Wars." Simon explained as he watched his family pass through the door. "Valencia always felt he didn't like 'being' the Pope. She used to talk about how he resented being locked up in the Vatican, that a leader of the Church should be able to be among the people. Not locked up like a bird in a cage. Or at least that's what she told Yoko over coffee. Its why he chose the name 'Dionysus'. Popes don't take the names of Pagan Gods, haven't for ages yet he did."

"Like he was rebelling against something he couldn't openly speak of?" Richter hazard as he bracketed Leon between himself and his grandfather. If something came for the holy water... well there wasn't much of anything the group could do. But it wasn't like they would go down without a fight!

"So what happened to him once he retired?" Christopher asked as they moved down the hall, wishing he had Vampire Killer at his hip..

"Ha well..." Simon began rubbing his chin as he searched his memories for those long ago days. "He was pretty old, somewhere in his late 80's when Julius showed up and he ultimately retired. Normally that's not what happens, they hold the Papacy for life. But there were signs that his mind was starting to give out. There was talk of dementia settling in with his age and so he was quietly removed from position. He lived out the rest of his days here in one of the distant small estates so he could rest more easily."

Richter and Christopher exchanged confused glances before asking in unison, "dementia?"

"Its a err... easier to say the brain starts breaking down, people get confused about where or when they are..."

'Like the children? Confused about where they are, and lost in all this fog without realizing it. I suppose they can't see the fog or they would have mentioned it themselves. At least to each other and Simon would have heard about it at the very least.' Leon wondered, around him the fog was pushed back, in what light there was, he could see the fog move and flow around him. As though he was withing a moving protective shield.

'Yet Mathias never mentioned this, so is he withholding the information or does he not see it himself? He's got that seal on him.. if the seal was the source of his blindness, he would have still seen it upon his arrival. But does his son not see it? Is this something full blood Dark Children 'can' see, or is it something made? I mean, for all I know, I can see this because this shell is made by the Castle and I'm being treated as a full blood Dark Child.'

'Actually this is rather a shame really. We don't have the fine tuned hands of humans to pour this out. So we can't give the children small vials of this to protect them... Or maybe...'

"So we have an actual bottle of holy water," Richter noted as he looked over at the bottle that Leon was determinedly holding. "In, now that I can see it better, a plastic valentines day heart, so probably a gift from some kid that got re purposed."

"Yes, and that's disconcerting, was it hidden or was it the only thing he had on hand to use?" Juste suggested thoughtfully. "I mean, the water could have been just to weigh it down so as to keep it on the desk. When the man was attacked he may have tried to turn it into holy water as a defense mechanism. I mean he was an 'exorcist', fighting evil spirits is their duty."

"That would explain its weird placement, if he tried to use it only for it to get knocked off his desk and roll away." Christopher noted as he began trying to set up the scene in his mind. Made all the harder since they hadn't been there. The room had been put back together by the time they arrived, which didn't sound right to him. Unless they knew who killed the man that seemed awfully like tampering with a crime scene.

"Dark Children aren't able to get into the Church, since our bodies are being used as barriers. Though admittedly Alucard and Soma get a pass because of how powerful they are, even when Soma is restrained. So either it was a human or a human controlled by a Dark Child. More over we now know that the priests, or at least some priests, still have the ability to bless water." Simon started, setting the ball rolling for the rest of his kinsmen.

"So this exorcist for whatever reason gets attacked and tries to defend himself only to die... Well I suppose its possible that the situation was that he recognized what was in front of him. Or was targeted because he could still perform blessings..." Juste added thoughtfully.

"Its a shame we can't just get all the priests to perform the blessings so we can weed out the true from the wicked..." Simon pointed out earning a quiet series of nods.

The bottle in Leon's hands weren't big enough to do them much good, and they couldn't pour it on the tops of the heads of all the priests. But it was a start...

"Perhaps the holy water that 'is' created is getting shipped off somewhere? Boxes of bottles of supposed holy water? Perhaps it was to be blessed then sent away. If they're using the oils on the Dark Children here, perhaps they opted to use the water outside of the Vatican? Since blessing water is the easier option. Some devote prayers and your done, no, whatever the witches do to make the oils. And it doesn't burn when it touches stuff unless its the Castle..." Richter stopped and his mouth opened and shut itself a few times before... "Christopher please take the bottle."

"Of course," Christopher replied causing Leon to grip the bottle more firmly.

After all Leon's shell was made by the Castle while everyone elses' came from some factory on earth. It wouldn't do to find out that Leon's shell 'could' go up like a bonfire. Of course when it became apparent that Leon wasn't just going to hand over the bottle, they resigned to explain it to the man.

Leon's ear flickered but he did hand over the bottle once he understood their concern.

"Do you think the book we found has any useful information?" Juste asked as they continued walking down the hallway.

"If it did, wouldn't Julius be bugging Yoko about where she found it? Thereby Yoko bugging us?" Christopher asked, while glancing up at the doors they passed. True they had many a night traveling the Vatican. But the man had never really put any thought into the different branches of the church. "Maybe Leon has the right of it?"

"Hmm?" The others stopped and turned to face Christopher with barely adjusted expressions of their adorable plush faces.

"Well, we've all been assuming that all the priests are just bookish readers, I haven't given any real thought to this. Even though we probably should have when we met..." Christopher frowned looking down at the plastic heart shaped bottle in his paws. "Exorcists deal with demons and such right? So would it be possible that some of them are able to hear us? We've just ignored people assuming the whole time no one can hear us. But what if some of them have been doing the same to us? What if they've been hearing what's been said by us?"

All but Leon slowly turned to look over at Simon, who had been free to roam around for the absolute longest. Granted the man could say stuff to make a sailor blush at his angriest, but had he ever vocalized his thoughts in the presence of others? More over, any of them save Leon?

"Well they would have all ended up as Exorcists," Simon answered in a surprisingly pragmatic tone. "The Vatican is a bureaucracy once you join they find a place where you would be of most use to them. If they have such a talent they would be more likely to be allowed into that branch... Though I suppose you're right, if the person lacked the mettle to handle such tasks. They would be likely lower end clergy with someone to supervise them for some things."

"Wait, I assumed they would all join..." Christopher noted in surprise as Simon resumed walking.

"It would make sense, but the Vatican doesn't like skittish or weak people in those positions. Yoko once told me that one of the first things you're taught is that spirits 'don't' exist. Not because they don't. But because the amount of times that the priests have to calm easily skittish people who rush in convinced that its a demon making the door slam shut on windy days. Exorcisms are taken very seriously, and the priests are few and far between. They can't afford to make idle trips because people are terrified of 'everything'." Simon continued before slumping his shoulders some. "But I see your point, we need to shut up in public... And by the way, fuck if that isn't going to be annoying as hell."

'We're in the Church... Simon mind your language!' Leon thought to himself wishing his plush lion face had expressions he could use.

Juste all but opened his own metaphorical mouth when he realized the danger in doing so. Not knowing this particular priest he couldn't know if they had spoken of the book in his presence. Had the priest gone looking for other books? 'If Leon can take us to Alucards' estate it will be safe to speak there. Since the Castle had created the body Leon uses, perhaps Leon can contact Death. Its such a long shot, and insane to boot, but its not like we're not on the same side as Dracula for once.'

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Mount Unzen, Japan \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Yoko frowned as she looked about the area. Fire demons, lava ladies, and so many spirits that would make a spicy aficionado happy. Until their faces actually melted off. The Ring of Fire was starting to live up to its name. It was subtle to be sure, and there was a certain amount of care one must use when approaching them. But Yoko needed help and the spirits needed pacifying so two birds, Yoko stone.

Yoko stood at the base of the volcano, watching for a moment at the eternal dance of heat lines as they rose up. It was certainly subtle, with only the most astute of human observation able to pick up on the heat lines. But while that normally wouldn't be considered a 'good' sign, Yoko found some comfort to it. Unzen was active and the lines were justified, unlike the inactive volcanoes that were starting to act up. So while normal folks couldn't see the spirits, they could see the potential danger and prepare accordingly.

"Oh wow, its like she's looking right at us!" a bubbly little spirits' voice could be heard fairly skipping on the heated air. The speaker, a young fire spirit borne of the heated gas that could rise up bounded about with all the energy as expected of her birth. The spirit was at least hip tall to Yoko, barely gendered in anything beyond her voice. Her hair floated upwards as the dancing flame with the force of the gases that were ignited to give her life. For others her body was nothing but a wavy expulsion of heated gaseous air. But Yoko could see the gentle lines that were being softly molded into a form for this spirit.

"Well cuz I can," Yoko cheerfully answered, eternally grateful that nature spirits languages always translated into what she could understand. Even if the speed of what they said could be slow, here's looking at you plants and earth. "Hey sweetie, has everything been ok over here?"

"Really?! Sooo neat!" The spirit chirped up, her flames became more visible as she floated up to see Yoko more on eye level. "You're the first person who's seen 'and' heard me! This is great! Uh oh... is everything ok? Everything is great! Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well, I'm checking on a few things and I'm looking for a friend of mine, I don't suppose you've seen him? The Dark Vampire Prince," Yoko asked.

The spirit giggled as she danced on the wind, "Ooh a prince sounds interesting! But I don't know him, what's he like?"

"He is like our home, awake and powerful but churns with power under the surface for the sake of the flesh about us. Unlike his father whom until recently raged awake or slept," a new voice rumbled forth as a fire demon crawled out of the rocky face of the ground. "What brings you here Witch?"

The demon's flesh was jagged stone, thick, gray, with the glow of living lava that traced along its veins. Horns of stones curled up and back like the horns of a ram while wings of stone began breaking out. The fact that it was made of stone yet had wings was almost laughable, impossible to think it could attain flight. Its voice was also older, not an adult but certainly older than the gaseous flame Yoko had found.

"I'm looking for him, and trying to see if everything is ok with the Dark Children," Yoko answered as the little flame danced about the new comer.

"The Prince is in the land of his birth. We do not like these flesh things though, they have cut off our contact with the ground. We can no longer communicate with our kin in the area because of them." The rumbling voice of the Demon churned out of as its blocky jaw worked the words out.

"I see... I suppose that's why the Dark Children are acting out, if the Prince can't see them they can play about more." Yoko suggested, fishing for the Spirits to correct her with the truth. 'If you're as young as you sound, this should work.'

"I wish, but the older ones are upset about the King. Light and Darkness goes hand in hand, but he is keeping Light from Darkness. Its getting angry too!" The young spirit pipped up. "Light is getting tired, it needs its rest and Darkness is grounded so its not on duty."

"True, Light can protect Darkness, weaving illusions to keep the Dark Children safe. The king 'must' return. There can be no other option..." The Fire Demon grumbled his voice slow as the earth.