Yoko hadn't realized how bad it was from the terminal gate.

She knew something insane must have happened, the stirrings she'd detected had been distressing before the plane landed. She'd expected trouble, but now this… and she'd been helpless to do anything from the air.

Cults were one thing, rouge demonic forces another, but this twisted malaise that she'd been chasing was something else entirely. Where it touched plants shriveled, water congealed, flesh rotted. The only mercy was it moved too quickly to devastate an area by passing through in minutes but the charred scars left by its passage were terrible to witness. In all of her experience through the church she'd never seen anything like it, but she'd read about something similar once.

There was record of a curse that had lingered in the air and spread itself out like a noxious fog, choking the life out of the lands it touched and inviting monsters in its wake. It was malice without physical manifestation, a creeping breath of evil which had required unusual measures to treat. There was no count of the dead, no estimating the long term damage done to the spirit of the regions it ravaged, but it was doubtless terrible. And terrible measures had been taken to end it. Measures that she hoped they could avoid.

Because Dracula wasn't a bad guy once you got to know him, at least not while he was Soma Cruiz.

And fully resurrecting him just to kill him was both heartless and insanely dangerous.

(And it's not Soma's curse, I'm sure of that.) She knew she had to hurry; every trained instinct she'd gained from her field propelled her on as she zagged around a line to the restroom spanning half the terminal. (So taking this out on Soma wouldn't help anyway, we need to find the source. That and Arikado would pitch a fit the likes of which no one is prepared for.) Yoko hurried through the crowded gate, past baggage, rushing towards the connection to the city's public metro. (Julius would be heartbroken too, and who knows if he's even up for this anymore? Belmont or not he's getting older.) She dashed around incoming crowds of passengers and numerous kiosks. (And frankly Soma may have some opinions about it himself...)

Several people shouted at her as she hopped a security line but it couldn't be helped. She'd deal with security and police too if it came to that. It didn't matter now. She'd sensed something was terribly wrong before her plane had landed but in the air she'd been powerless. Now she had to make up for lost time. That presence was on the ground here in Japan, she knew it, she felt it, and this was the last place she had wanted it to go.

And Soma was due to pick her up from the airport.

If they were both here nothing good could come of it. (Poor kid's like a magnet for crazy evil. If we could only find some way to funnel that gift into something useful it would be incredible.) She could almost imagine his face if she suggested it, he had an undeniably endearing flustered glare. "I always knew you were just using me for my evil magnet" he'd say, and she'd laugh. She wanted to imagine them laughing, but the sensation of dread was only getting stronger. (God I hope you've stayed out of this one Soma…)

She'd been looking forward to this visit, looking forward to catching up and sharing what details she was allowed about her current objectives. Soma could never have all the information but he had a sharp mind for strategy. It always surprised her when he whipped it out given how brash he could be, but his advice had been helpful in the past. The only person Soma couldn't make plans for seemed to be himself. She had been looking forward to seeing Mina too and getting some supply shopping done while trading sealing tips with the Mikado. So much for all that. This had always been a work visit first and foremost; now it looked like it would be nothing but work.

Yoko pulled out her phone as she jumped another line rope, its presence slowing down the airport security trying to follow her through the crowd, and dialed Soma's phone. He didn't answer after the first two rings, or the third, the fourth; her mouth set into a grim line as his voicemail began to play "You've reached the voicemail box for Soma Cruiz and you've probably got the wrong number. If you feel you haven't reached me in error please leave a message. If this is about a supernatural activity please hang up and call someone who cares. Have a great day!" Before the beep Yoko heard the muffled sound of Mina scolding him in the background.

"Soma I'm making my way to the baggage claim area, pick up your phone!" Yoko shimmied past some very sweaty and confused businessmen in suits. "That presence I've been tracking is here, I'm pretty sure it's at the airport and it's very, very nasty! If you smell something sour you need to steer clear of it. Call me back so we can meet up and get out of here. I'll try to meet you-"

But Yoko hadn't realized how bad it was from the terminal gate.

The track that the metro connected to was a broken mess of cars and sparks. Metal had warped, plastic melted; glass blasted hot enough to liquefy had run down and formed twisted shaped in the car windows. Some passengers were reduced to little more than shapes in the mold of the ruined interiors. Others had left pieces. One mostly intact form hung bizarrely out of the back of a car, nothing but char from the waist down, almost intact from the waist up. Yoko swallowed back bile.

The front of the train must have jumped the track at the airport and slammed into one of the stations support beams, reducing it to gravel and twisting the cars behind it into the broken mass like a crushed spine. Somehow a second collision had occurred with the back of a train car smashing into the cars in the front, sending more cars careening out of the track base entirely and into another load bearing wall. The air was thick with dust and smoke, the sounds of the frightened and crushed passerby's who had been on the platform when the train arrived, and the smell of those who hadn't made it.

She had likely just missed it. Missed the sound of the crash over the landing of her plane. The airport hadn't even had the time to lock down their terminal yet. "My God…"

Yoko had nothing on her, her potions and gear had been stowed and were likely still on the way to baggage. She sprang into action regardless. Her magical aura helped keep the dust and billowing smoke at bay as she rushed in to assist the wounded and move them away from the slowly spreading fire of the ruin. Her finger hit the group call panic button on her phone, sending identical messages to Arikado, Julius, and her support network of informants and aids. 'Emergency. Come help now. Track my phone signal and send help. Emergency. Come help now.'

She lost track of things for a time after that. Her hands were full.

"There's survivors over here, someone please! We need more hands, the fire, please quickly!"

Soma was forgotten.

… … … …

"I don't understand-oh crap" Soma froze as he felt the railing under his hand end and a line of rope start with a knot. Beneath his feet he heard fragments of rock break off and bounce off hard walls on the way down. He didn't bother looking down himself, it never helped. He was at the end of a long suspended bridge stretching across an inconvenient endless chasm. Somehow there was always one of these underfoot. It was probably a sign they were getting closer to something important, they were definitely going down at least. This area reeked of the catacombs. "Nothing about this castle is the way it's been in the past. This is madness..."

"Could you be more specific?" Flintstick called back to him. In the darkness his new fairy companion gave off a very faint glow and so he was following her completely now that the windows and moonlight were far above them. "It all seems pretty familiar to me; I'm not sure what's got you confused. Something specific?"

Soma sighed, started across the creaky wood and adjusted his gait to jump a missing plank. "This chamber is all wrong; it's like an amalgamation of unrelated spaces. I smell the crypt, but a moment ago there were paintings and carpet. Also, there's this random bottomless pit here." The bridge swayed in a short gust of wind. "I know the castle can be drastically different from one area to the next but there's always been at least a door to separate it."

"You have a point." She had flown upwards and appeared to be taking in a sharp row of spikes mounted against the ceiling. "I mean… what are these here for? Catching bats?"

"I know that the hallway moved, I'm sure of that." He set his teeth, feeling out the planks underfoot step by step. "I could use more light!" he called up.

"Sorry!" She zipped back down to hover just before him, casting her faint glow onto the wood. "I just keep forgetting…" That you can't see in the dark remained unsaid, but they both knew she'd been thinking it. "And I believe you, I do. The castle does that. It's just odd that it won't be willed now. It should be answering your needs, not making things, well, like this."

Soma held out his hand and Flintstick settled on his palm. Like a candle he held her out in the darkness and tried to gauge how much farther the bridge stretched. "Death said there were furnaces and that lighting them should be my first priority, you confirmed that it's a thing at least, but I've never seen one in the castle before and he didn't explain it." Soma's tone turned bitter. "I liked him better when he talked less."

"Well why would you have seen them?" She turned about to look back at him, her weight barely a presence on his hand. "Most massive chaos castles don't showcase day to day devices. When was the last time you took stock of the laundry room? Or the clothing storage and wardrobe section? Massive waste of space most of that. The furnaces are in one of the cellars. Unless you were tending them there'd be no reason to see them." She shot off ahead for a moment, a tiny speck in the dark leaving him behind on the planks. "I think we're almost to the end of this!" She called back, "I see a solid floor up here!"

Soma sighed, "It's about time." He waited until she had zipped back to him to resume his crossing. "But why aren't they working, why aren't they just on?"

Flintstick shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose someone has to be minding them; maybe you'll find someone to delegate that task to when we get there?"

"Delegate?" Soma stopped short and looked at her. "Are you crazy? Delegate someone to man the furnace?" But she didn't stop and he had to hurry for a moment to catch up with her. "I've been here on two other occasions and I'm sure that neither of the two crazies I met spoke with anyone about the heating. Besides that, the only other beings I've encountered since I got here were Death and you."

"Just two occasions huh?" She huffed. "Well I can't do it, and he won't do it, so I hope we find someone to do it! And someone must have spoken to someone, furnaces don't just manage themselves."

Soma tried and failed to imagine Graham talking to a monster, and Celia made just as little sense. (And besides that…) Soma mused as the bridge beneath him groaned in another gust of wind. (The first time I came to this castle I was drawn up through the eclipse, and led to believe others had entered the same way. If the castle requires someone both to summon it and to direct its maintenance who managed those tasks then? This doesn't add up.) "Since when?" He asked aloud. The terrain changed beneath his feet again as he stepped off the bridge and supportive stone replaced uncertain wood. He motioned angrily at the hallway they were now passing through. "This is a magic castle! Furniture moves, food comes out of torches and candles, room's teleport people to other places! Gravity is optional and physics don't matter. It can do all of that but it can't sustain a furnace?"

"What do you think sustained all of that?" She stopped to stare pointedly back at him. "None of that could function without the furnaces lit. That's why you need them." She took the opportunity to perch on his shoulder, resting her wings. "Isn't this the way you designed it? The castle was constructed on alchemical principles and runs with alchemy engines… which are the furnaces." She supplied after his bland look registered. "I don't understand why this is such a surprise to you."

"What?" He picked her up off of his shoulder, disregarding her surprised squeal, and held her at arm's length. "Are we talking about the same thing? Furnaces, the things that give off heat, make the castle move?"

She curled her arms over his fingers, getting a solid grip in case he decided to throw her. "Is that any more farfetched than having them light every torch and candle in the castle? How did you think that worked? And the food doesn't come out of torches! It comes from the kitchens! The lights are just spelled to serve as a distribution network. Not everyone can leave their post to hike over to the oven and grill a turkey!"

Flintstick looked at him and Soma looked back. For a few seconds that was all they did, the reality of the situation sinking in on both sides. He had no idea how the castle worked, never had. And she hadn't realized until that moment how much memory he had lost, or perhaps never possessed. Her mouth dropped slightly. "Did… really? You really thought that the candles made food? That's like something a zombie would say. Well, you know… if they spoke."

"I…" He didn't have a response for that. The entire situation was too surreal. "Ok, I believe you. Furnaces are magic. Just help me find them." He opened his hand and she flew out, and for another uncomfortable moment they looked at each other in the dark.

"Maybe we need more help before we get there…" She pinched her bottom lip between her teeth, "Someone bigger to make sure you don't take a long walk off a short portcullis." Her hands flew up and forward appeasingly at his expression. "I'm sorry my lord I'm just concerned! You've lost things before; it's probably part of the process. All that dying right?" She offered a nervous laugh. "But you've never had trouble with the maintenance of the castle. Perhaps you should ask lord Thanatos for some assistance until you've had time to settle?"

Soma shook his head, knowing who she meant and that no help was coming from that direction. "Death doesn't come when I call. He's kept his distance; well, at least he did until today." He brushed some of his hair from his face with a sigh. "Fly on ahead again, we need to keep moving." Flintstick complied and they turned another corner and approached a door at the end of the hall. "Honestly I think he just wants to watch me run around down here like a rat in a maze."

"My lord?" She drifted closer, hovering just off to his left. "That's a closet."

"He's been pretty unrelenting about how intense he wants to be this time around." Soma muttered more to himself than her, visibly distracted by his thoughts. "He keeps appearing and forcing ominous conversations."

"Still a closet my lord." She cautioned.

"And I still really don't understand why he's here, and is he The Reaper, or a reaper?" Soma turned his head to look at her. "What sense does it make for the personification of death to keep running around with a medieval warlord?"

"I… wait, what?" Flitstick didn't have a chance to answer either way; Soma had turned the door handle and stepped inside. There was silence for a few moments after the door shut, the familiar on one side and Soma on the other. The demonic fairy swallowed back an amused snort, "…My lord, perhaps you would like to leave the closet and try another door?"

"There are a shocking number of odd unmatched chairs in here." Came the muffled reply from behind the wood.

"Well you've employed a shocking number of eccentric people m'lord." Flitstick quipped back.