Castlevania: Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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"So, vampire pope... Am I getting that right?" Nose asked torn between laughing hysterically and growing concern. "Wouldn't work... God doesn't work that way."
"What way? I mean if Dracula is the 'opposite of God'," Yoko asked as she loaded in some new fresh towels under the sink. The hallway was empty, anyone who had stepped out and saw Nose Demon flying along gave such a deaden unsurprised reaction. It outright broke Yoko's heart when she didn't have to justify or lie about him, at least it would have meant someone cared! Anger was one thing apathy was something and that 'something' was dangerous.
Simon had been indifferent, but that was Simon and demon familiars just seemed to have made sense to the man now bear.
"Because once you become 'Pope' you don't lose your holy alignment," Nose explained. "And you're still held accountable if you fail in your duties."
"But Nose... He's a 'vampire' and former 'pope' were talking about an undead being with divinely blessed holy powers." She pointed out as she turned to look up at the demon. She grabbed the sink and pulled herself up but this topic was getting kind of weird.
"Yeah but you gotta realize 'Ko. Mortals don't worship God, they worship a lower ranking God that calls himself that." Nose pointed out, though he looked around then with a shrug lowered his voice. "Ok, bear with me, the 'God' everyone here is praying to? Isn't the omniversal creator, he's just some Middle Eastern Moon God. Like how he says 'you will worship no other gods before me', guy ripped that right off the laws of an Indian Elephant God."
Yoko cut in uselessly just to clarify, "Ganesha and he has the body of a man thank you very much."
"The True God that we demon folk are scared of? Makes what these folks pray to look like a scrub. But ya gotta realize that God made 'everything'. These popes don't get their holy blessing from the Moon god, they get it from the BIG God."
Yoko blinked as conversations she had overheard among the spirits played back in her mind. "Wait, you said the Fae got angry because the Angels spread that rumor. So you mean that the Big God made the Fae and Angels?"
"Yeah, the Big God made all of us, and when the Big God aligns you to 'Holy' you 'stay' Holy. You don't lose the status you just get in more trouble than you will ever imagine if you mess up. Cuz like Moonie just made a hell that he figured would scare you mortals. Big God just gives you a chance to do better. You reincarnate, but you only get so many before they just delete you. Its why we made our laws, because no one wants to deal with those consequences."
"So no one is going to push the big shiny button to get the universe nuked?" Yoko asked and got a nod.
"Which is what makes this vampire you're talking about interesting. A vampire pope couldn't survive in the old days because Moonie just doesn't have that kind of power, the second he inflicted Vampire on the Pope that was going to get a big boom kind of reaction. But if there's an active pope drinking blood, blessed by 'God' and NOT going off like a Japanese firework event? He wasn't just blessed by Moonie, he got the BIG G's consent to his position. You're a 'lot' closer now to the Big G than ever before."
Yoko opened her mouth then shut it, doing it over an over as she tried to think of something to say. Before sighing, "blame capitalism."
"Huh?" Nose watched the red leeching into Yoko's eyes and there was this box of tissues beside the sink so he grabbed it and brought it to her.
"I asked Al about cancer once. I asked if people in the past had it, because I was watching a St. Judes' event on tv. He said 'No. And it will not be cured so long as there is a profit to be made from it. Hence the problems of the world. What one sees as a problem, another sees profit."
"Ko..." Nose began pulling out sheets of tissue with his claws before dabbing at Yoko's eyes. "Ok Al could have been nicer, but you know that. The witch trials stopped here in Europe simply because a rich guy got a hot wife from saving her from fires..."
"And I guess that explains Soma. As Dracula he did terrible things, but the 'True God' had him reincarnate and poof Soma." Yoko thought out as she accepted the tissue and began dabbing at her eyes. At Noses' enthusiastic support she sighed.
"Awww 'Ko, don't cry. Look on the bright side, you know about the portals and the stuff going on here. Just imagine what would have happened if you didn't find out in time!" Nose tried and watched this resolute thin lipped line form on Yoko's face.
"You know, back before I was born it was normal for the Pope to visit places outside the Vatican. Prior popes before Dionysus were allowed to visit other countries, accept more visits then it just came to a stop... No one questioned it because it was the decision of the Pope and the Cardinals. But given that there's a vampire here in the Vatican. That he turned Dionysus, he's done so much damage." She shook her head as the thoughts played through her head.
She gathered up the remaining towels and left the wash room to go to the next station. 'The church has been slowly losing followers for some time now, despite how kind and good Alexander is. But if Soma is being backed...'
"I guess that explains why Soma couldn't just take off the ring since His Holiness put it on him. He might be comparable to a moon god but not a true Big G." Yoko noted and paused as she looked at this large splotch of blood smeared onto the wall. Being a hunter left no room for confusion over the mental image. Some poor person being flung against it with enough force to die by some thrall under orders...
Broken furniture, scratches and burns in the walls, she tried to right all the paintings but the number just felt endless, another painting needing righting. "Some witch I am. The kids were being teleported and I was just..."
"heeeey Ko don't go blaming yourself!" Nose cut in as he flew after her.
"So who do I blame? How could..." She shook her head and sighed, "How long has he been here that he could get away with this? Arikado, the Belmonts, the oils being tainted I get but..."
Nose, who had also been studying the hallway as he flew gave a sympathetic shake of the head. "Can't say, but maybe its because Al's so old. All of you are so used to him being like the most perfect being in the universe. He's old yeah, but you know it Ko, he's lonely, he's sad, and his focus is on his father. You honestly think what was going on here was going to get his notice, unless it 'directly' went against his father?"
'He's old but he's not perfect. He tries to be, but perfection is unattainable,' she told herself. "They used the oil on him, it still hurt him too so I guess I'll be helping hunt down whoever helped with that. I mean he's our Arikado, you don't try to bully him."
"I mean we would love to help you get back at the idiots who tainted the oils, especially since its weird. How was it tainted? Its designed to mess with the Dark Children and it clearly still does so how is it 'tainted'?" Nose asked, 'I can ask the others when I get back to the Sanctuary.'
"Well no one saw the misdirection, I mean sure it could mess with our senses, but it was my clan that made it. I'm supposed to be immune and I'm not, so what else got messed up? How? Why?"
"And how is it strong enough to mess with the Ki..." Nose stopped for a moment and began to sink to the ground as a thought struck him. Yoko turned, and no longer with such a towering stack, watched the demon sink down in curiosity. "Ko, you people don't serve wine to the kids right?"
"No, its wine of course not," Yoko answered confused by the swerve the demon was throwing at her.
"Well I just thought about how the thralls were made..." Nose flexed his wings and shot back up to eye level yet his suggestion has sent off a spark in Yoko's eyes.
The Sacraments, the 'drinking wine as a sign of the blood of Jesus'... the 'Blood'... "Oh you are not suggesting..."
"Annnd how many churches has this vampire visited? Does this vampire have access to that wine?" Nose asked.
The suggestion sent Yoko's mind reeling in horror at just the possibility. Nose Demon was making sense, very realistic sense in fact, the references and the use of wine could reasonable hide the taste of blood. The increments would be small enough that the vampire could do it over a period of time. It could be the very reason Dionysus got turned even!
"The wine isn't exactly restricted, any priest from Deacon up is certainly able to perform the blessing and the communion." She admitted as this thought began to grow in the back of her mind. She could see Snuggy... 'Simon' holding a sign reading something that she shied away from in mounting distress and horror.
She was on autopilot as she turned to walk out of the Vatican by a side door that lead into the gardens. The beautiful meticulously tended garden had wounds as well plants with histories for healing or banishment had been ripped up. A rose bush path had been burned leaving a blacken shriveled path of skeletal fingers reaching from the grave of the ground.
Seeking help that never came.
Petals were scattered along the ground, some half hearted path had been swept to get them off the stone walk way. But she could trace the steps of the person as it was clean for the first large squares of the pathway and then a petal was missed, then another. Yoko could see a tear filled pair of eyes miss the corner, a side, the broom was resting against the charred fingers of a burned bush that rested to the side that once bore oleanders.
The broom wasn't even easily visible, though it was originally white it was now smudged with ash giving it a gray, sullen appearance. Maybe somewhere amid the field there was going to be a lone rake. It would have felt right. "If this had happened outside the Vatican, if it was someone else attacking the church..."
The priests would have rallied, they would be outside the Vatican offering prayers, extra services, anything and everything to make sure the city felt safe. The elderly who couldn't do such treks would be here, tending the gardens with what they could finding ways to help heal the Vatican. "But it was from within. Its..." Yoko tucked the towels she carried under her chin, hoping to hold the tremble in the lips back.
"Its like this garden, all these humans have ugly scars that are going to take time to heal." Nose offered in the most subdued way he possibly could. Because this was 'not' easy, he was Al's familiar but he had watched Yoko grow up. Between himself, the fairies and his fellow Demon they could probably get the garden cleaned up in a night. But doing the work for others wasn't going to be help. "Ya know, I'm not big on human religion no surprise. But I get how normally its these guys who go out and help. But I would think this is one of the times everyone needs to come here to help."
Yoko nodded as she fought the tears that were forming in the corners of her eyes. Made easier by this strange, and highly intimidating, feeling that radiated from the church. "You're... Nose what is that feeling? Its familiar just... wow..."
"Oh that?" Nose shrugged as he tilted his head and jabbed with his spear towards the Vatican. "Al said you were out cold when it happened so I'm not surprised you don't recognize it. That's the Master getting empowered. Feels like they took that ring off him and he's reabsorbing all his servants."
"Soma's waking up?!" Yoko latched on to the moment and mined it for all the hope and joy she could possibly get. Soma recovering from that ring was great in and of itself, she would have her little brother back! Someone half as aloof and distant as Alucard, who understood jokes and could hopefully get Brauner or whoever to reveal themselves so she could shove her pointest high heels up his...
"Yeah feels like it, which means you might want to finish with those towels first. Al said that when Soma gets 'reempowered' he wakes up. Like 'Dracula is here' wakes up and then settles back down to normal. Don't think you want to see him fangy.."
'Huh? What's that?' Nose Demon blinked behind his mask and then squinted. It was black and he could easily convince himself that it was a shadow if it was the right time of day. Movement was irrelevant because of the garden trees, 'Looks like someone jacking off and that isn't going to happen on Vat... who am I kidding. Some ass could have snuck in and...' he glanced over at Yoko and wondered if scaring Christ back into some dumb ass would cheer her up.
"What are you..." Yoko had suddenly noticed the quiet save the wing flaps from the Nose Demon and had turned to look up at him. Just to notice the fixation. "What is that?"
"I'd say someone jacking off, but I'd like to say humans aren't 'that' debased..." Nose Demon theorized though he had to speak over Yoko's scandalized 'hey! Holy ground!' remark. But it got her attention from her anguish of what was going on in the church so SCORE!
"Come on lets go see this 'perfectly normal person' and find out what they're doing..." Yoko griped though there was a part of her worrying that this was a possible thrall or someone trying to damage the church further.
Bomb scare for example.
A few flowers timidly peeked out from their respective bushes to the light of day as the pair traveled. But as they did so Nose began to see his assessment had been pretty off, he saw the door more clearly, and the jerking motion was still going on. But now he started to see the lines of a nun's robes and the door made sense... "I'm starting to think she's stuck out of the room. Door jam? Locked out?"
"Well its possible, that building started out as the guest house for visiting dignitaries way back before electricity or anything. If that makes sense." Yoko explained, her voice evening out into something remotely 'her' as she allowed the need to explain push everything else away. "Over time it became a storage place and a new housing was built. But old habits die hard so when something is stored its more placed like a house would."
"No, it makes sense I get what you're saying. It just sounds absolutely stupid and suspicious to boot." Nose pointed out feeling guilty that it 'did' sound suspicious. "Sounds like a safe place to story Dionysus. Like using the excuse to justify why it looks like someone lives here to hide the fact that someone 'was' living here?" A hint on the breeze stopped Nose as his... well 'nose' caught wind of something familiar drifting towards them from that door. "Ko uh... Ko ummmm."
"What?" She glanced behind her, but given his face was covered with a mask she couldn't see what expression he bore. "Sister? Is something wrong?"
Sister Janice turned to look over at Yoko, her hands gripping the door with dogged determination. "Oh sweet child, I've got to get into this room there's a table that we could use to replace a broken one... But the door is jammed... what's that..." Janice leaned over as the weird flapping behind Yoko caught her attention. Her stomach dropped as she saw a demon there just floating in the air wings beating here on the church.
"Oh we're lost aren't we dear?" She asked as tears began welling back up in her eyes. Her shoulders slumped as she turned her gaze to her spiritual refuge, the Vatican. Sasha had just given up and died out of grief earlier that morning and the Pope had come down to say Last Rites... Brother Patrick had tried to hold the door shut and someone drove a...
"Sister Janice no, come back to now!" Yoko dropped the towels and rushed to the Sister to help with the clear break down. She hugged the nun as tightly as she could, while Nose made a panicked dash to catch the towels.
Nose's grimace caused his eyes shut as Yoko froze the lock on the door to push it open. Instinct making her pull the nun with her coaxing her to a seat that was bound to be inside.
They got to the doorway, he could see them standing there. The nun, Janice, froze as her face lost all its color. Desperate Nose flew it and was prepared to use the towels to pillow the woman's fall. Because humans weren't supposed to get 'that' pale until after they died.
"No... Please not more..." Yoko groaned as she closed her eyes, the stench of blood flooding her senses. Training and experience held her up even when she wanted to collapse. When she wanted a normal human reaction to what was before her. Not the cold analytical evaluation of this...
"Al..."