Castlevania: Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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"Would you believe that I forgot?" Julius asked, a weak counter for a terribly long absence.
"You 'forgot'," Valencia parroted, as she stalked over, her make up was ruined even as she struggled to retain control. She flung her arms around his neck as she cried into his sturdy brown, leather trench coat making it harder for Julius to hold back his own tears. "I can only imagine what your dad would say if he were here."
It hit him as she said that, as the words soaked into his ears amid the sound of soft sobs and the crinkle of well aged leather. Yoko had made no mention of his parents, but of course she had been nursing a gut wound. At the time he had still been processing that this young 'woman' was Valencia's 'daughter'.
He had arrived at the front gates of the Castle, where an American military officer was standing with racks of weapons he clearly pilfered out of the Castle on display. There was a slender auburn haired Japanese girl in Shinto robes who had been kneeling next to a blond woman furthest from all of them and closest to the gate. Yet it was the man that stood in the middle of this all that Julius recognized automatically. Though the man's once blond near white hair was now the opposite spectrum, with its black, light absorbing sheen, going hand in hand with the black, business suit he wore.
Ever eternally young, Alucard stood there coolly detached and with collected confidence apart from the peasants around him. The Dhampire stood there with only a slightly raised eyebrow at Julius' appearance before gracing the aged hunter with the barest of nods. Julius had walked down the front steps of the Castle, joining these strange group of people.
Once upon a time this courtyard held an eclectic group of people, himself, Valencia, Charlotte, several priests from the Hakuba shrine, and eternally belonging while ever detached Alucard. Now there was a temple priestess, and two strangers that he didn't know. Only Alucard was the constant as he approached,
"Took your time finding your way back here," was the greeting that Alucard gave him once he was in earshot. Calmly spoken with no attempt at raising his voice, it was Julius' duty to attend to Alucards' words after all.
"You could have helped," Julius reproached, as old as the Dhampire was, it was hard to believe that he could 'not' find Julius if he so chose.
"I could," Alucard agreed without a hint of apology. "However; your first instinct upon my fathers' return was to attempt to strike him down. I could not afford to risk such a reaction before this day, slay him abroad and you would be condemned a child killer." Alucard answered, unmoved by Julius' reproach or the fact that he blatantly just admitted that he allowed for Julius to be amnesiac for years. "Besides, the whole point of that day was to keep Dracula 'from' returning, so you would have retired regardless."
"Like I can retire now, I didn't exactly train my kids you know," Julius grumbled into his beard, annoyed at how Alucards' natural pessimism made him seemingly plan for this possibility and plan accordingly. Why couldn't the Dhampire be an eternal optimist?
"Your partner, Valencia, has bequeathed me her daughter as a 'partner', since your sons are not available. Feel free to..." Alucard began when Juilus felt the need to question the comment.
"'Daughter'? Valencia had a kid?" Julius sputtered out in amazement, looking about the grounds for the current Belnades. For which Alucard answered by taking a step to the side so Julius could see the two women behind him. The priestess was obviously not it, meaning the blond woman on the ground...
"Her name is 'Yoko', and once she's accomplished drinking all of the healing potion I gave her, you may actually get her to articulate more than pain filled moans."
'He's still as abrasive as course sandpaper, and here I am actually glad to hear it. Just like the days leading up to my 'destiny'.' Julius had thought to himself, which helped him shore up his nerves as he walked over to meet 'moaning Yoko'.
"Wake up Julius, you can't lose yourself to the past. There are things that have to be done in the present," Julius grumbled into his beard as he ran his fingers against the tape scarred spine of this journal. There 'was' something about this book, he could feel it in the back of his mind as he read each page. 'Were I still a young man I would just demand to know the meaning of this, but I can't do that anymore...'
This was only a single book in a clear series, it didn't cover the times prior or the actual ascension of Pope Dionysus. It only covered a segment of that noble mans' life, including the first meeting Julius had with the man and all the other meetings until the fated day. Perhaps because of his youth, Julius had been blind to things that he should not have. With age came greater caution, a caution that was ignited by the request to get Soma out of the Vatican.
He put the book down on the side table and pushed himself out of the recliner, maybe a cold glass of water would help wake him up. Leather rubbing against leather hissed by his ears as he pushed himself up and walked out of the study. The walls were loaded with shelves and books, both actual books and deceptive hiding places for hunting tools.
The task of teaching the next generation what books were real and which were false was another duty that weighed on Julius. All around him where books, journals written by hunters who had fought against the Dark Children. Weaknesses were recorded along with habitats, these books including journals from all the Belmonts who had ever faced Dracula. A task that was placed upon a Hunter once they finally fulfilled their duties.
The metaphorical 'last hurrah' of a Belmont before he put up his whip for possible good. Now Julius would have to write 'his' Journal, transcribing the Demon Castle Wars as he experienced them. But unlike his forefathers his story no longer ended with 'And then Dracula was destroyed', for now he had met Soma. Now, and the reason why he had not begun despite the years, he had a duty to transcribe Soma himself. Julius would now have to write the story of Soma.
Explaining to future hunters who Soma was, explain how Dracula became Soma and what to do if he fell again. "Books, books, books, you'd think I was Charlotte," he griped aloud in an effort to bring sound into the surroundings. An effort to push the past and the duties of the present away when he heard a muffled sound...
And once he found out who changed his cells' ring tone to 'come on feel the noise' he was going to have firm words with them.
He walked out of the study and pulled out the cellphone to check the name, raising an eyebrow at the sight of Valencia's name scrawled across the screen. He swiped the screen in acceptance of the call before placing the cell to his ear.
"How well do you know the reincarnation?" Valencia had asked with the eternal no nonsense tone she had developed over the years while Julius had been gone. A tone that actually made Julius wince as it clashed with the memories he had of how she 'should' have sounded.
"Hello to you, too, Val," Julius retorted as he walked down the hallway of the Belmont Estate.
"... I'm sorry... I've been busy as of late, work and all..." Valencia's trite voice responded, properly chastised in her manners. "How have you been?"
"Well, Richard got caught a cold from his kids, Gabriel is at a conference out of the country, and my wife's family reunion is coming up... They want to meet 'my' side of the family and I'm debating if I should bring in the whole army." Julius recited letting the fatigue of dealing with that ooze out of his voice.
"Don't call it a 'reunion', they've been nosy for years..." Valencias' sing song tone was far more what he was comfortable with.
"Yes, they're good people, but some of them are very much the spy over the fence and gossip types sooo..." He confessed with a sigh as he thought about the other family reunion he had attended when he still lacked his memories... Oh they were going to have a field day with him now.
"So let them meet the DaNasty clan," Valencia suggested with the faintest sound of fabric moving to hint that she might have shrugged.
"I can see them mishearing that name," Julius noted with a faint twist of his lips, because who did 'not' mishear that name at least 'once' in their lives? "Ok, I'll invite them instead. You're going to let me move in with you once Francine divorces me for that stunt right?"
"I have a couch, yes," Valencia agreed with a faint grin warming her words.
"So now that pleasantries are out of the way... What did Soma do now?" Julius inquired, bringing them back onto the topic that lead to Valencia calling him. He passed multiple doors leading to the variety of rooms expected of such a home. Before he finally made his way to the kitchen and found a clean, thick glassed mug for his water. His parents may have refused to do a lot of remodeling in their effort to wait for his return. But at least they upgraded the fridge so Julius just had to stick the mug in the proper spot for some fresh water. Taking a sip of the cool liquid, his eyes drifted about the warm honey colored wooden walls of the ancestral Belmont Kitchen. The floor had been stone work once upon a time, and still was, though now under a layer of polished wood and varnish.
"Its about his son," Valencia finally admitted with her voice quiet and thoughtful. "We can't find him, and there's a concern between Yoko, myself and Alexander that he may have been caught."
"What?!" Julius put the mug down before he accidentally smashed it against something in his out right shock. "Are we talking about the same man here?"
"The plant hasn't heard anything about a new member, and while she isn't as high position as she would like... Between her lack of awareness of him and the reincarnations' restlessness, it would probably serve us better if we got him out of the house, so to speak. Get him engaged and active with others so that he doesn't end up doing something we'll all regret." Valencia explained calmly, giving Julius another reason to wonder how he got this old without a head full of white hair.
"And I am too old, when he regained his memories, I was still young enough to face him. But with every passing year more of my strength wanes and his steadily grows. I can still deal with him, but I need help now and its only a matter of time before that won't be enough." Julius confessed as he stood there, leaning against the counter in the kitchen of his home. "I suppose you've been in contact with the other clans?"
"Not yet, no, however the LeCardes have the easiest time to reach the Morris branch and through them the Aulin branch. Given that Alexander is here with me in China..." Valencia reported, her voice softening as she mentioned the Morris branch.
"Uncle Johnny's grandkid huh... His and Charlotte's grandkids running around being hunters..." Julius ruminated thoughtfully as his memories spun back around to restore the memories of the man. He could still see Jonathan Morris, the last Morris to carry Vampire Killer and the one to restore it to the Belmonts when Julius' time came. A confident, charismatic hunter with an easy charm about him, it was Jonathan who taught Julius the martial arts.
While his mother taught him how to wield the whip, his father helped build his endurance and stamina. Between the three of them Julius had become the warrior that was able to fulfill the prophecy and destroy Dracula. He could literally see them standing around the kitchen discussing adjustments to training regimes to accommodate school. His mothers' thick, raven black hair was corded into a long braid that was bound up in a bun behind her head. The weights she wore around her wrists and ankles were decorated in bright, stylish colors because why should she forget the 60's happened? While his father was a red head that would do the old pictures of Thor proud. Thick beard, thick curly mass of hair that defied all brushes.
"Julius?" Valencia's voice shattered the memories of the past, blowing away the image of the past and dumped him right here in the present. Alone in the kitchen with the phone still in his hand as he pulled himself back to the present. Far too many slip ups for his liking, too many chances to fall into the memories of the past. The doctors had listed a series of side effects from his long term amnesia, yet what issues he had did not match.
"I'm sorry, I'm..." Julius balked to admit this, but Valencia 'was' his partner back in the day. If there was someone he should be able to trust, it was her. "I... I've been having trouble keeping focused on the present. Far too easy to just back slide into the past and..."
"Have you spoken to your doctor?" Valencia asked, earning a small bark of laughter out of the man.
"You mean Gabriel? He kind of took over as my primary over the years. Going from 'live in test subject' to out right doctor..." Julius pointed out, his fingers clenching the phone even tighter as he felt those aged memories coming back up to haunt him.
"Yes, but he's your son, and while discussing your physical health is one thing, I doubt he would have an easy time discussing your mental health." Valencia pointed out pragmatically, "remember that he has to now deal with you being a Vampire Hunter with all your memories restored. How would he know the condition of your mind by what you say? You would have sounded crazy even before you had returned to the Castle."
"Perhaps..." Julius groused, she had a point though it left the problem of 'finding' someone to talk to. After all he was in a unique profession, though... "Although I guess its a bit realistic, Soma reincarnated with no memories and I lost my memories after the battle. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if my memory loss is due to a last attempt to get back at me for his defeat."
"Would the reincarnation do such a thing?" Valencia asked, "you have more experience interacting with him than I."
"...Soma himself? No, he's a cheeky brat when he wants to be, but he's not malicious even to those who are clearly evil. That said it does sound like something Dracula would do as a type of revenge. Or an final act of self defense," Julius answered with Alucards' comments still in the back of his mind. "Alucard implied that he was concerned that I would hunt Soma down regardless of his age, and I... can kind of see the point there."
"A point? The reincarnation..."
"Would have been a child," Julius pointed out, "he's lived a normal life up until this point, but what would have happened if I showed up attempting to murder him? A small child unable to defend himself, he may well have called upon those powers in a last ditch effort to save himself."
There was a brief silence on the phone before Valencia could be heard sighing, "true, and not to mention Alucard. Its clear he knew about this from the start, that he stayed silent and watched over Soma in much the same manner he watched after Yoko. Its a testament to what he feels despite never showing such feelings openly." She confessed her own voice momentarily lost to her memories. Only to revert back to business at hand in her next sentence, "Julius we're discussing your mental health here! I think there's an practicing Aulin who treats mental health issues. What with dealing with civilians who have never encountered a Dark Child in their lives. Sometimes they need a shrink, I'll call around and see if she's still active."
"I'm not crazy!" Julius fairly barked in self defense, his muscles tightened and despite the lightheartedness of the conversation, he was still disgruntled.
"No, but you're not the hero in a novel and the rules of amnesia, the 'real' ones that is. Still apply," Valencia countered smartly.
"... So when I take Soma out for his walkies, do I have to feed and water him too? Or just walk him until he does his business?"