Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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"I've talked with Sophia since then, and while Simon calls it a 'compulsion' the actual term Sophia uses is 'geas'. For non magic studying folks like he and I." Kazuaki recited for Trevor who was currently eyeing the kitchen wall. Though his happy facial expression never changed, due to being a plushy dog now, his voice 'had' changed and he was intensely focused on something.
Which was the first warning Kazuaki before he heard the knock on his door. Despite that, he still started in surprise when he heard it. Climbing to his feet, he turned from guarding the kitchen door and towards the front door. Trevor took a leap off the counter and was speeding past Kazuaki's feet so that he was waiting at the door.
The two Shishi spirits were struggling against an unseen wind in the hallway while Trevor had planted himself under them.
"Should I open the door?" He asked the trio, while the person on the other side of the door knocked again. Yet Yoko breezed past him and stepping around Trevor to peek outside the door before giving a little fist pump and throwing open the door.
"SOMA! Mina! You came to save me from mother! I knew there was good in you!" Yoko squealed, while Kazuaki stood rather floored at how easily she walked into that tornado of evil energy. The moment she opened the door, both of Kazuaki's Shishi went flying out of the way.
"Kazuaki? What do you see with Yoko? The people with her I should say," Trevor asked, his ears pinned back and for all his adorable stuffed form, he looked like a dog on the hunt.
Which it helped that Yoko stepped to the side so Kazuaki 'could' see his guests, despite her inability to hear Trevor.
They looked about his age, an auburn red tinted girl with big innocent eyes and her hair framing her face in a doll like way. Her clothes were cream colored and warm and tucked in her arms was a large golden lion. With the light of a soul already implanted and still waking up from what he could see. But she was easy to read and see, it was the guy with her that stopped him in his mental tracks and made him understand the alarm that both Trevor and the Shishi had shown.
Chin length white hair, a long, white coat with thick snow white fur for its collar covering a white button on shirt and bell bottom jeans. The guy dressed as some type of aristocrat, he could have fit well in the Shinjuku district among some of the lolis. Despite the heavier use of white over black, yet what they couldn't see was what stunned Kazuaki. Perhaps the piercing blue eyes would have been a warning, or the cold disdain that seemed a staple to his expression. One that was currently warmed by Yoko's enthusiastic presence. But you could always read what a person's normal expressions were if you tried.
Unless you were a medium then this guy suddenly became intensely more intimidating the moment he caught sight of you. Hisses, growls, whispers in any number of languages started seeping out of the shadows of the hallway. Kazuaki felt like he was being choked by some overwhelmingly tight noose around his throat. In fact every joint felt the same way, as though he was bound up like crazy.
"Kazuaki! Wake up!" Trevor's voice snapped up from the ground where the plush dog was.
"Yoko? Who is he and is he ok?" Soma asked from outside the door, gazing at the guy standing in the hallway. Said guy looked mesmerized by something while looking at Soma, and while normally being stared at didn't bother Soma, this guy just looked like he got hit by a mach truck.
"Him? Oh," Yoko glanced behind herself and saw the dazed look on her brother and got concerned. Quick stepping herself over to him and giving her dear younger bro a nudge and a soft, "Kazu you ok?"
"He's not human-" Kazuaki blurted out at his sister, turning to face her though his eyes stayed locked on Soma. So he was fully able to see the guy shrug as though to say 'what can I say?'.
"Of course he's...ok mostly human..." Yoko awkwardly countered.
"He's Dracula!" Trevor countered automatically never taking his doggy eyes off the guy at the door.
Unable to break contact with looking at Soma, the guy seemed to take pity on him. Sighing in annoyance Soma turned bodily away from the lot of them. With his focus redirected away, Kazuaki finally felt himself lifted from that gaze. Mina looked utterly confused between the two guys, and turned her own gaze towards Yoko who looked surprisingly disappointed.
"I think you should pick me up," Trevor finally suggested, walking over to Kazuaki and resting one paw on the guy's leg.
"I-I-I'm sorry, I don't normally have that happen, but you have so much evil energy around you. I mean!" Kazuaki fumbled verbally as he bent down and picked Trevor up in his arms.
"Its fine, its been happening quite a lot lately," Soma replied with a careless wave of his hand to brush aside the offered apology.
"Really? Soma why haven't you said anything?" Yoko asked, her voice filled with concern as she leaned over to get a fuller view of the reborn dark lord.
"Its my problem, not yours," he replied with a shrug, while Mina frowned behind him and pinched the back of his coat.
"Um, you mentioned something about saving you from your mother?" Mina offered, attempting to move the conversation along.
Thus allowing Yoko's eyes to go from their heads and faces down to the stuffed lion that Mina was innocently carrying. "Yeah... I'm sorry Mina I think I did something wrong when I've made the Stuffy Patrol..."
Yoko sounded so contrite by that, Soma turned and leaned further into view of the door to look at the blond which with a pale eyebrow lifted up in interest. "Patrol? You mean the Snugster isn't the only one?"
'You're the first to defeat this lord of evil, you are a proud father of generations of Belmonts who have protected the world from this villain. You will refrain from laughing at his mocking of Simons situation!' Trevor thought to himself, but really... 'Snugster'? 'Snugster!?'
"... Is that a toy dog laughing?" Mina asked, her head tilted cutely to the side as the corners of the dog in question mouth went up. It honestly looked to be guffawing at that point, even a paw had begun slapping down in amusement.
"Uh well maybe?" Yoko asked, turning to look down at Trevor and found the dog frozen mid paw slapping laugh. If not for how her brother reacted to the sight of Soma, she would have been willing to dip out for a moment. But seeing that it was apparently going to be a problem, she worried about leaving. If they had gotten along with each other it would have been fine, but if he was going to alarm the others just on sight.
It would be hurtful to leave Soma and Mina in the apartment with Valencia and Trevor, just by the relation both people had with Soma. "And to answer your question, Soma. No, over the years I've made several. Snuggy was my first, then Ra- Trevor, and most recently little Leon with Mina. But I've made some more over the years generally for church holiday functions." She explained, correcting herself at the last moment to use Trevor's proper name.
"What? Did I just hear you say you made them for 'holiday functions' Yoko!?"
Yoko's eyes got wide, and she literally dashed towards Soma and hid behind him as the sound of someone quickly getting up was heard. Followed by a mad dash towards the door and Valencia stood there almost vibrating in rage.
"Pigeon stoop!" Soma automatically chirped out at the sight of the irate blond before him. Blinked and looked mildly confused as to why he would just think 'that'.
"Soma! That's mean! Why would you call a complete stranger that?" Mina admonished looking up at the embarrassed teen.
"That was my wife to be, Dracula!" Trevor barked out in irritation, as Soma looked increasingly embarrassed. Despite no one being able to hear the poor Belmont.
"Sorry! Sorry!" Soma shrank himself into his coat at Mina's disapproving expression and Yoko's amused one.
Yet despite Trevor's outrage on his wife's behalf, Kazuaki turned and saw his mother standing there with an oddly observant expression. He would have assumed being referred to as a 'pigeon stoop' would bother her, yet she looked more like she was analyzing the stranger. The little hallway was becoming increasingly crowded, thus Kazuaki took a step back letting the three women and one guy have more space.
"How did you find my brothers' place you two? I never got the chance to tell you the address," Yoko asked, cheerfully curious, while Valencia stayed quiet and observant.
"I asked Arikado's servants. He, apparently, keeps a series of addresses listed in a book for emergencies and this was one of them." Soma explained with a casual shrug before noticing the pair of Shishi statues.
"So this is the supposedly purified soul of our mortal enemy," Valencia noted aloud as she stood there, wanting his focus back on her. "I heard the reports that you cut the hand off one of the Cardinals in the Vatican."
The idea that a religious person was attacked by 'this' guy was alarming to Kazuaki, even more so by the causal indifferent shrug that came as an answer. "ne, Trevor what do you think?"
The former hunter was quietly observing more than just Soma by that point, his eyes scanning the dark corners of the room. His ears were pricked to the sounds of voices speaking in that darkness, the spirits were angry, their Lord was wearing something that kept them from being close. His powers were being contained in some fashion that displeased the forces of darkness. Which Trevor would normally have been reassured to hear that, only the idea that something was blocking Dracula from his powers was worrying.
Yoko had gotten him able to see spirits, yet there were no spirits around them, instead they were all hiding in the shadows. Trevor found it strange that Dracula's powers were manifesting as self thinking spirits hovering around him, not 'in' him. As for Soma 'himself'? Trevor resettled his focus on the young adult, observing how this guy moved and how he pretty much felt.
"He's still dangerous, but not like how he was before. He doesn't carry himself exactly as he did back when I was alive. He's not on a hunt for prey or looking to hurt someone, so unless I have more facts on 'why' he cut off a guys' hand? I'd say that he's safe to be around, at least for now." Trevor finally reported before turning his face towards the stuffed lion. "Kazu, I think I need to pull a SnuggySimon moment, think you can get the girl to let you have the lion?"
Kazuaki saw the lion and wondered briefly how to approach the subject when Yoko helped him out without even realizing it.
"Hey Mina, can my brother hold Leon for a bit? We've discovered something..." Yoko's voice drifted off into an embarrassed tone earning a concerned look from Mina. The girl clutched her plush lion even more tightly in reaction. "Ahh its nothing bad, but I think I have family in that lion...?"
Mina looked confused, Soma looked surprised and utterly amused before reaching over and pinching the lions' ear. "There's a Belmont in this guy?"
"Welp, there goes our reputation that used to strike fear in the heart of this guy," Trevor bemoaned, planting a paw over his face.
"Here," Mina passively handed over her Stuffy to Yoko, who proceeded to turn and hand the lion to Kazuaki.
"Maybe I should make a quick trip to the Vatican and grab the rest of the Patrol," Yoko pondered aloud. Before going to grab her shoes while Kazuaki blinked in surprise.
"The 'Vatican'? How is going to Italy a 'quick trip'?" he asked as he held the lion like a baby in his arms while Trevor hoped down to the ground and moved towards the door leading to the rest of the apartment.
"Hey! I'm a witch! I have witchy ways to make these things go fast!" Yoko countered with a mischievous smile.
"What about us?" Soma asked, gesturing between Mina and himself.
Which was true, she 'did' invite them and running off would be the height of rudeness for everyone involved.
"I have cake?" Kazuaki tentatively voiced, deciding that regardless of the evil that radiated off of Soma, he wasn't inherently evil. Despite being the reincarnation of someone who 'was' decidedly evil over time. But new life meant new chance right?
Thus Soma waved Yoko off, "bye Yoko, don't be a stranger!"
"Soma! What is wrong with you?! We can't just take another persons' cake! Didn't I tell you this is a 'birthday party'?!" Mina asked, her tone the height of embarrassment.
"But he offered 'cake' how can you turn that down?"
"I'm being kicked out for 'cake'..." Yoko shook her head but she left, "I should be back in half an hour so long as Snuggy isn't out rescuing a child."
With that she closed the door leaving Mina staring rather stunned at it parroting Yoko's last statement.
"Arikados' place isn't fully grounded here though it 'is' in Japan. So technically all she has to do is drive until no one is behind her and switch over to his place. How do you think I got to your place so fast?" Soma explained, before he began pulling off his boots.
Mina quickly switched her shoes out with slippers and made a quick step towards her newly made host.
"So who here wears the bunny slippers?" Soma asked, looking for a pair of slippers to wear and only being greeted with a pair of white bunny slippers.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I normally do not have so many guests, those are Yoko's..." Kazuaki began bowing in apologies while Soma seemed to observe them from his height.
"Welp, time to fall back on the uncultured Spanish side of me, socked feet it is." Soma blithely decided and walked further into the apartment, to keep up with the hosts. Unfazed by Valencia's study of him, as he walked in, he followed Mina into the main area and saw a guy sitting patiently at the table . Mina and he both bowed to the man in the room, considering it 'was' a birthday it was probably Yoko and Kazuaki's father.
The stuffed dog had relocated himself onto the couch and was pointing his paw to a spot next to himself while Kazuaki awkwardly introduced the two new comers to his parents. Before he put the lion on the couch next to the dog and went off to get more cups for the unexpected guests. Mina looked nervous and shy, which was understandable because this was 'not' what they had expected. Yoko going poof after asking for help 'was' hard to deal with.
"Its been an interesting night," Kazuaki confessed as he brought an extra pair of cups and plates to the small table. Yet Soma wasn't attempting to seat himself at the table, instead he had moved towards Trevor and Leon and was more observant of them than anything else. "So how do you know my sister?"
"I've known her all my life, she always visited my home at the Hakuba shrine," Mina bubbled as she gratefully accepted the tea.
"She looks after me, along with Julius and Arikado," Soma enigmatically explained while Kazuaki walked over and gave him his cup.
Kazuaki decided not to press on that, having dealt with spirits for as long as he had, he had learned when to bring subjects up. Instead he nodded then went for a more easier direction, "what of your parents?"
"Oh they're both living in Spain, they're fine from the last time I checked." Soma answered. "Though I haven't gone home since last year."
"I see," Kazuaki commented.
"Hello, well I'm going to guess that with your name, you may be Leon. So welcome to your new life as a plush toy." Trevor spoke to the stuffed lion before him, before plopping down on his stomach.
"Tre-vor?" The lion answered the Belmont.
"He 'spoke'?!" Everyone in the room froze as the lion's voice box went off.