Aria of the Ascending Soul

Written by: Lady Lunar Phoenix

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Mina sighed as she flomped herself on her bed and looked at her cellphone. She felt like such an idiot thinking that magic would transfer along with a phone number. But what did she know of magic? Outside of the few tricks that Yoko used to perform for her and the Plushy Patrol. The phone was filled with calls from Soma that he had made for the past six months trying to reach her. The feeling of being an idiot consumed her thoughts so much, that she actually yelped as her phone went off in her hand.

Soma's name was blinking on the phone and Mina quickly swiped it to accept the call. She pulled Leon close to her before chirping out a cheerful, "Soma!"

"Salutations Mina! Have you ever had the desire for the type of adventure that can 'only' come from traveling the streets of Japan, at night, in the company of the Lord of Darkness?"

… Ahh those random phone calls where Soma attempted to be funny or break his normally serious demeanor. Rare as they were, they were some of the most uniquely odd comments out of Soma that Mina 'ever' heard. Save for the 'If I stopped being me on the inside' line he tossed her back in the Castle. Worthy of the only one word reply that could sum up her utter bafflement over such a greeting.

"What?"

"Yoko called pleading that I help her because her mother is going to kill her. I could even hear the woman in the background going off about something involving family." Soma sounded so rehearsed as if he had to explain that to many people recently. Which probably meant he had to convince himself that her message was real. "Since I don't know where to start I figured I'd go on a hunt. Wanna come?"

Mina laid there in bed looking up at the ceiling and just moved her mouth for a few moments. Somehow words were going to leave her throat and she 'would' answer Soma. But she wasn't quite sure when or how or what words were even going to come out. "She's at her brother's birthday.. I don't know exactly where but... Soma that could be 'hours' of searching!"

"I got nothing better to do, schools out for break and I haven't left this place for anywhere save school or the Vatican in five and a half months. I'm bored and want out now!" The answer was so much of a teenagers pout that it put a smile on Mina's lips for a moment.

Before it settled into what he had said. "Why haven't you left?"

"Arikado hasn't come back yet. Its stupid I know, but I just don't want to be gone for long periods of time until he's back."

Soma could barely contain his frustration at the situation, as he reclined in the nice business chair in Arikado's office. Dracula had written a great deal on the art of alchemy and added some side notes of things he had learned from the witches over the years. The book was currently flipped to a page that had only one sentence written on it.

It is only right and natural to worry over him. Its been a long time since he has allowed us in his life like this.

That line had left Soma pondering why it should be considered natural to worry over Arikado. Since it answered that the worry Soma felt was 'right' while leaving the question of 'why'? Since Arikado was clearly a long lived Dark Child with experience and power in the Castle, it hinted at a depth of connection between them, if for no other reason than the worry that the media was right.

There was enough movies and stories that implied Dracula had multiple vampire wives and some of those shows implied rebellious sons. One of the things Soma had come to learn and accept was that he had stopped going by Mathias and took on Vlad's name after a point. Partly when he learned how some magic systems used names as a means of power and control over another. Which Soma more currently had learned was rooted in Kemetic magic systems. Vlad was an intentional misdirection, but that didn't stop anything else he saw in media.

"So you in?"

"... Fine, let me get ready..."

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I guess I should explain that I can't remember the Afterlife, since I didn't willingly depart from that side to this one as some choose to do. I guess its meant to keep me from being bitter or longing for that type of peace again, though I know of it as a pleasant thought. So I don't recall how exactly I returned to this world. Just that when I awoke I was on a table staring straight ahead and unable to move.

It felt odd to be certain, all these lack of true joints felt like they were fitted wrong, yet at the time I couldn't put a finger on 'what' felt wrong. I tried to get them to move back into place, but nothing responded to my command. I think the only thing that kept me from feeling threatened was the rows of toys and all the questions I used to ask Sophia about. All the protective symbols and arcane stuff, that's Sophia's department but I could tell it was meant to keep evil out.

"I should have known better than to think that she would have 'just' picked up a new toy."

I hadn't heard from Simon in a while, I knew that much from my time in the Afterlife that he had been missing. But there was his voice, somewhere out of the range of my sight, growling in annoyance. Strangely he had this sort of hollow tone as though he was speaking through something muffled. But I 'knew' it was Simon, I remembered seeing him in the Afterlife and I knew how he sounded like. Then the sound of something being dragged along the floor became the only clear sound of the room.

I couldn't turn my head around, nor could I move my eyes to see around me. So when I saw a pair of teddy bear ears rise up from opposite of me on the table... well that was a thing. It took a bit of time before the eyes rose up to my level of sight. Or when I realized that this bear was staring at me directly. Then, while I was helpless, this bear pulled itself onto the table I was apparently left on.

And let me take a moment to mention how huge this bear looked like to me at the time, I was wondering if Maria had taken up stuffed toys. The bear walked to my left and I saw the feet show up which meant that it had sat down beside me. Then I heard Simon speak again.

"So I don't know who you are until you learn to talk. But welcome to Belmont Hell. Welcome to an existence trapped inside a stuffed toy, serving the most well intentioned, demented Belnades to ever exist in the history of our Clans."

Here's a truth about Simon, he was never what you would call a 'chatty' person. He's the reason we learned that the Vampire Killer could give a type of Dark Child blood lust to our clan if used too much. More 'Grrr kill' and a lot less 'And tonight on Masterpiece Theater' if you will. So I could only assume just by that introduction, that I had discovered what happened to Simon when he disappeared. As well as that, however; he ended up in this form had apparently turned him into a type of chatty Cathy.

Then again in hindsight it would make sense, because the only person who has ever heard anything we've ever had to say was Kazuaki here. Simon had slipped back into his mono-word state during the time when Kazuaki lived with Yoko. Though its been a long time since I've seen Simon, he probably has a list of things he wants to get off his chest. But I digress.

"She doesn't know what she's done, just that she's animated her stuffed toys with no clue that she's shoved us in here."

I heard the frustration in the tone and the sigh, even the tips of the feet in front of me did this type of wiggle. I tried to talk, not to find out what was going on, since clearly he was going to explain. But to just give him another voice to talk to or acknowledge that he wasn't merely a stuffed toy.

"And you're going to be her gift to her baby brother Kazuaki."

I should mention that some people, Simon excluded, like to have a little more meat to their information. Myself included.

"I can tell that kid has the same type of ability I had when I was alive. Only his is too strong and you're going to have to explain that to him. He sees spirits and you're going to have to protect him from the scary ones."

Which to be fair, made sense in a childish way. I was intentionally put in this situation to protect a child, so to me there was no reason to be angry. Though I could easily tell that, if given a choice, Simon would have rather been left alone than be dragged into this. But maybe being stuck like this is what mellowed him out to actually talk. Perhaps if there had been others who could do the talking for him, he wouldn't have bothered opening his mouth.

But also, because he was the first subjected to this life he didn't know anything beyond what he had experienced. Which has its ups and downs as well...

"So I don't know how long it will take for you to learn how to move. I learned because these bodies have a compulsion to do what Yoko, that's the witch, says. If she tells you to stand on one paw, even if you don't want to, you will. But over time you 'will' gain the ability to move on your own, so there is a limited freedom to this state."

That was when I first met Yoko, because the door to the room opened and she walked in. She was in a bright pink overalls and shirt. Her hair was done up in pigtails and she was rather adorable as all small children could be.

"There you are Snuggywuggy!" The girl exclaimed, her eyes focusing on the left of me, thus Simon.

"And there be our Overlord and Master."

Was the retort I heard from Simon, and really? Did I need to hear anything 'else'? I mean, Simon has something of a reputation for loving a good hunt only. And really 'that' name?! How can anyone blame me for cracking up every time I hear it? She bounded over to the table we were on, apparently climbed up a step and she grabbed the bear to the side of me.

By then I had accepted that the bear was a prison for Simon's soul and it was pretty comical to see this bear in a girl's arms peering back at me. I guess the emotionless expression on his face was the one that came with the bear. She was obviously too small to actually stitch a bear together. I did notice things, like how her eyes were slanted in a shape I didn't recognize and that she spoke with an odd accent. But she was a happy little girl, and when she looked at me on the table...

She gave the Bear, or rather Simon, a hug before putting him down and grabbed me by my face... At the time I didn't get how that was possible either. Just her hand closed in on my face and I was pulled forward. I was suddenly only able to see the the rest of the room as she carried me in a way that I could only associate with carrying a dog or a cat.

"She put you in a toy dog, if you're wondering about what you look like."

Simon wasn't far off as he spoke, but he already showed that he could move on his own so I figured he was following her as she traveled. His words were proven true when I caught a glimpse of her with a stuffed dog in her arms past the mirror in the room.

The house was a nice thing to look at for my brief walk, but she was walking along with me in her arms until she reached the next room. Opening the door she walked in and I saw a pink crib.

"This is my baby brother Kazuaki. I want you to protect him from the things scaring him from now on!" Yoko proclaimed and proceeded to jam me through the bars of the crib to the small black haired boy sleeping in the crib.

Being jammed through bars is an experience by the way.

The moment Yoko gave me that order I could 'see' what she was talking about and over time I learned to move. Which in the beginning was an interesting experience, because in the beginning I could never see myself as I saw myself. Mirrors showed me this dog body and it took a lot of time and training from Sophia before I learned how to manifest a ghostly version of myself. Yes, I've developed an ego that needs stroking once in a while by 'not' looking like a harmless plush toy.

I'll have to say I've learned a lot being in this modern world and being forced to go through it with a small boy is rather helpful. I've been able to learn a great deal about this country from the ground up. Got to see Alucard again, which is always a plus. Even if it was for that time when they tried to take me away from Kazuaki in school.

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"There's that name again, who is he?" Kazuaki asked looking about his poor apartment. His parents sat at his table and were eating their slices of cake. Well their father was eating and enjoying his slice of cake, mother looking more like she was eating while plotting murder. Which was the explanation for why Yoko was sitting on the floor in the kitchen with the counter between her and their mother as a safety measure. A plate with her slice of cake on it in hand, her cellphone to her side, and drink on the floor in front of her.

Kazuaki had to pass the slice of cake to his sister since every time she tried to stick her head up, a fireball was hurled at her. She in turn had kept him well hydrated as he had spoken on behalf of Trevor as his mouth piece. The Belmont sat on the counter and was defending the house from potential fire risks. Jumping to intercept the fireballs, Yoko explaining their indestructibility between bites of cake.

Not that the guy minded, this birthday had been the biggest dumping of information in his life. He knew he came from a family of witches, that wasn't hard when one had a plush dog who clearly had a life before this. Though Ralph had never spoken of it 'out of respect for the family wishes'. When he encountered most ghosts, they didn't travel unless they were connected to a family. For the most part Spirits attached themselves to their own families. So living in Japan meant that he had few encounters with spirits from other countries. None of whom had any contact with this 'Belnades' clan.

"He's a highly respected colleague that only interacts with those who are involved in the current crisis when it arrives." Valencia informed Kazuaki stiffly, while shooting another glare at where Yoko was hiding. For which the woman gave the appropriate shudder despite not seeing the look.

"Alucard is a friend of mine from when I was alive. He's a dhampire which is why he's still alive. He's the one who got the school to let you keep me with you during class when you were small. Apparently Yoko made a call because they were talking about the caller id being the Date building... They thought they were getting a warning about a threat and it was just him ordering them to give me back to you."

Trevor's elaborated explanation brought back memories of his time in school when teachers would try to take the dog away from him. Trevor had politely paused in talking about the past on his own, giving Kazuaki a chance to eat his slice of cake in relative peace while guarding the door from his mother going in after Yoko.

"You know, the Belmonts can't be that powerful if little Yoko can steal them so easily." Their father noted causally looking up at the stuffed dog sitting on the counter. Which earned a stunned then outraged expression on Valencia's face. But Trevor's physical body language was one of laughter and Kazuaki could hear Trevors' good natured laugh.

"I mentioned that to Sophia once, she said it was because youthful magic is so innocent it can ensnare anything. Simply because a child's magic lacks the darker undertones of control or abuse that grown magic has." Trevor explained to Kazuaki who then voiced it for his father.

His father nodded, while Kazuaki leaned to the side a bit to get a good look at his companion.

"So... you always said 'call me Ralph' does this mean that you want to be called 'Trevor'? Now that this is all out in the open?"

Trevor turned his own head and got up, trotting to the edge of the counter so he could look down at the guy. "Might as well," he finally answered his ears twitching. His movable mouth slowly dipped into a frown as he sensed Dracula's presence approaching...