Castlevania: Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
A/N: Installs the IQ points the Belmonts have... I don't know how I got away with some of these lines..
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It wasn't always a good thing, to check the phone during breakfast, yet waking up and finding Trevor rather fixated on a conversation over it... Kazu opted to have breakfast reading it. Dressed for class, he was busy eating breakfast with one hand, while scrolling through the conversation that apparently his waking up had interrupted. Not that it was a bad one by any measure. But it was hard to swallow food when he was laughing and he was pretty sure coffee would hurt if it was projectile spewed across the room.
From his nose.
You just missed her, she won't come back until tonight. Why do you need my wife Simon?
Fuck.
No you may not.
I hate you.
I couldn't tell. After a brief pause he added. Context Simon. Its a magical part of a daily form of communication. Its not that I can make her return any sooner, but it would help explain why you suddenly texted Kazu out of the blue. Because we both know that Yoko and Kazu will be able to read this once they get their hands on their phones.
Jdsfoiwhfo Was the reply and after a pause... trrebvcoirte?
You're not Simon are you?
Nbmio
… I see... ok... you're trying to type with your paws umm. Here, lets see if I can get the video feed to work for us. Well it 'will' work but will we hear each other...
Wow... ok that is the stuff of nightmares... So about typing... Imagine a little pyramid under your paw... Its like manifesting a fireball. That's how Sophia explained it to me, only don't think of it like a fireball. You'll set the phone on fire.
Now trevor we need to find arikado we fear hes been captured and that what sophia saw was him being transported
What? That's been months, why didn't Yoko say anything... she 'would' have... didn't you four tell her?!
No we only went off what sophia told us we had no clue that arikado sleeps differently in a bed and assumed everything was fine
Damn.
"So what exactly is this 'stuff of nightmares' that happened when you tried a video call, Trevor?" Kazu asked as he wiped his mouth and began carrying the dishes into the kitchen to let the dishes soak in the sink while he was out.
"An out of control Spirit Box in short," Trevor explained from his perch on the counter. "You'd think we dialed up Hell's party line. The visual quality was just fine, but the sound was horrible, voices of the damned all over the place. Given that they were in Italy means they were in the Vatican when they placed that call. So its not Soma and its not what you get when you video call Yoko so it has to be because it was us contacting each other. At least that's what I'm taking away from that experience."
"So who took over for Simon?" Kazu asked as he picked up his bag and dropped it on the counter for Trevor.
The Belmont climbed in and settled down, "Juste, while he's Richters' grandfather, he's more magician and therefore has more linguistic interests than the others. I'm not sure if Richter is interested in texting and would have chosen to speak on the phone in any manner. He was probably fighting with Simon to keep Simon 'off'."
"I guess it is awkward, just because you're family doesn't mean you naturally get along like old friends," Kazu noted as he zipped up the bag near close and picked it up.
"Yeah, also you're out of the usual stuff, you're going to need restock on your teas, I honestly doubt Yoko will be well when she gets here. And given the timing she's probably going to be here before you get back from class."
"True, this must be rough on her..." Kazu noted as he slipped on his shoes.
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Simon sat at the end of the hallway, his arms crossed and beyond that there was little to indicate the mood the Belmont currently was in. There was a pair of women's shoes resting near the door when Kazu got back to his apartment and Yoko's slippers were missing. Indicating that the bag full of teas and snacks that Kazu knew Yoko would devour left to her own devices 'was' the right call. Kazu reached up and opened the bag that Trevor rode in, letting the hunter stick his head out and look about while Kazu switched to slippers.
"That bad?" Trevor asked as he saw Simon before he pushed his way out of the bag and dropped to the ground.
"Trevor?" Christopher's voice came from further into the apartment and soon was accompanied by the bear in question appearing. "You need a hand Kazu?"
"Its mostly for Yoko," Kazu answered holding the bag out a bit more so the Belmont could see it, while giving a slight tilt of the head. Wondering if the bear would understand the move.
"Its not been easy on any of us," Christopher answered. "We had no idea the gravity of the situation and dropped the ball."
Trevor looked up at Kazu then back at the two bears in front of him, "Its still going to be a long while before Sophia shows up here. Can you tell us what happened from the start?"
"Yoko should probably come first, what we have to tell can wait until after Sophia returns with the report. Because Yoko really needs some attention from someone who actually respects her as a person.. Something we've honestly failed to convey to her." Christopher confessed his ears tilting forward in an attempt at looking shamefaced. While Kazu walked through the hallway and entered the living space of his apartment bracketed by plushy ancestors.
"Its not like she can hear us, so we should really provide her with the attention we can't completely give her back in the Vatican." Richter added as he sat there on the couch book ending Yoko between himself and his grandfather.
"Hello!" Yoko called out in greeting, getting up from her seat and opening her arms for her baby brother. Her expression bright and cheerful, were it anyone else or people who didn't have the inside scoop of her life she would have appeared perfectly normal. A normality that Soma was well acquainted with and what kept him from being concerned from Alucards' lack of presence.
"Sis!" Kazu replied walking into her arms and giving her a big hug, the bag swinging in an arc causing Richter to flatten himself down on the couch to keep from being knocked away. While Juste gave a deep lean to the side avoiding being punted by the same bag.
"Indeed, they're right, we fear Yoko, and possibly your mother, have been victims of a type of smear campaign. Under utilized and pushed to the side for reasons we have yet to know or understand. We've been trying to learn, but its hindered by our forms, our inability to be heard and the fear that if we push too hard it will fall on your sister." Juste explained while Yoko pulled away from her brother and he was free to pull out a small bag of cookies as a treat to his sister.
"You're probably getting an ear full huh?" She asked with a rueful, almost apologetic smile on her lips.
Answered by Kazu's mild shrug, "they're worried about you, they do care about you and are upset that they've let you down.."
The smile slipped away from her face as she stood there, making Kazu reach up with his unburdened arm and hug her around the neck. The sound of a sniffle was right next to his ear while she pressed her face further into the small little nook. He felt the small shifting weight under the bag he held and figuring it was one of the Belmonts let the bag go. The sound of plastics brushing against each other mixing with the sound of crying.
Each of the Belmonts ears came down as Yoko began to cry leaving the Belmonts to dig through the bag. Under Trevors' instruction snacks were brought out and carried to the nearby table via Christopher with the actual arms, while Richter and Juste had to carry the teas in their mouths to the kitchen. As Trevor made his way to the teapot he heard Christophers' voice from the table.
"Even if we're going to wait, might as well tell you what started this mess. Seems Soma has been thinking of methods to free us from our situation. He and Yoko were discussing what Yoko's original plans for Simon was before she learned who he was. There was some discussion between the two about how they could possible extract us from our prison..."
"Really?" Trevor's ears perked up causing Richter to put down his box of chamomile. "I remember Kazu, Soma and Mina talking about that once."
"Don't get too excited, the theory is that we let Soma absorb our souls, then let Yoko extract us from him and release us like she was doing in the last Castle. Which isn't too bad save..."
Richter picked back up his box while Juste, further in the kitchen finished, "they had been discussing things about Elmo. Before Soma went to check up on the child, he mentioned the idea of absorbing our souls and letting Yoko release them. Which wouldn't be so bad save it would be giving Dracula 'our souls'. After they were done discussing things," his voice hung on the world 'things' since it 'was' Elmo's personal history. But then Richter carried on, "he went to visit Elmo, but before he left Yoko asked about why Soma always seems so anxious. And that's when everything started falling apart."
"Seems that Soma woke up from a sound sleep and has been worrying over Arikado ever since." Christopher explained as he put a small box on the table next to some cookie filled boxes. While Trevor was making a leap up to the counter and heading for the tea pot. "So Yoko started investigating, which is how we now know Arikado is missing."
"I see..." Trevor replied as he pushed the teapot with a paw to see if it was already filled. But there was an insufficient amount of resistance so he took the handle in his mouth and made his way to the sink. This 'was' troubling, and as much as Trevor had been fine with keeping out of the family business due to being rather outdated, he couldn't stay that way it seemed.
Yoko was crying in the living room, though Kazu got her seated on the couch, she had yet to really vocalize what was going on in her head. While most of the Clan was obliging him and assisting in the care of the Belnades siblings. Trevor understood Simon's reason for not leaving the hallway since his and Kazu's arrival.
Angry, frustrated, disappointment, Simon could handle a 'lot' of Yoko's emotions, but a crying Yoko was one step too far on his list. For all bluster and fighting between Trevor and Simon, they did care and being stuck as a toy, unable to help who they saw as their charges in any way 'was' frustrating. True Trevor could help Kazu just by being around to deal with the Spirits, it was more than what Simon could do for Yoko. Undoubtedly Simon's, still human, method of dealing with the situation would have been to find these cults and bash them into a bloody pile with his own two human fists.
Not happening.
Thus Trevor dipped the pot into the sink, pulling back the lid and made his way over to flip on the faucet. Finding these simple tasks calming as he watched the water pour from the tap into the teapot the sound thus muffled her crying. Those kids really didn't have it easy for themselves growing up, and there was a sizable frustration to being a toy with limited avenues to help.
And that Alucard, who had been overwhelmingly supportive of Yoko given his own natural aloof nature, was in danger. Where did Trevor even begin unwrapping his own feelings, because Trevor wanted to be out there as well. Having not been aware of Alucards' situation didn't mean he was absolved of his concern or responsibility to the man. There had to be 'something' that Sophia could find out, but once again, she wasn't going to be back home until later.
The world was no longer the safe place that Trevor remembered. Technology had gone beyond anything that Trevor could understand, and that was what made his concern for Alucard all the greater. Would they torture Alucard? If they knew that he was the Son of Dracula, would they torture him to get at Soma? Would they experiment on him? What if they tried to clone him? Try to extract the very things that made him? After all he 'was' pretty much an ageless Dhampire and the world was obsessed with immortality.
'Stop it Trevor you're making things worse. These cults are after Soma because he's Dracula, there's little next to nothing they would gain from Alucard.' Save torture, banking on Soma to go back into enraged state over the treatment of his child. Though how 'would' he react if he ever learned that Alucard 'was' his child, was still a mystery. Trevor wanted to believe that Simon would mention it if that were the case and that the guy was silent because that wasn't a threat.
But what did Trevor know? Instead he flipped the top back on and lifted up the teapot by the handle. These people, from what he knew, were after Dracula, since his son would never follow his fathers' path. Yet the biggest problem was that Trevor and Sophia were mostly out of the loop, Kazu wasn't part of the clan. The only time Trevor was informed of anything, it was when Soma let something slip because he didn't realize its significance. Or moments like this when everything came crashing all at once because the situation was now dire.
So Trevor did the only thing he 'could' do in a situation like this.
Try to reverse engineer what these cults were actually doing.
If this group had Alucard, they would have to keep him in a place and in a condition where he couldn't escape or get the news out of regarding his predicament. Which might have explained why he was found sleeping by Sophia, he wouldn't consider himself in danger. Also being a Dhampire meant they wouldn't have to deal with food or any real form of upkeep, once asleep he was theirs' for the keeping.
That only left figuring out what these groups knew and were capable of and that would have to wait until Yoko felt more human.
"Trevor watch out!" Christopher called out in concern from the ground below, snapping Trevor out of his thoughts.
Trevor looked about where he stood, on the stove with his paws working to get the stove turned on with Christopher right below him.
"You'll catch on fire if you stay there!" Christopher pointed out earning himself a upturned pup mouth from Trevor.
"Its ok Christopher, we're totally invulnerable, we could literally be dumped in oil, lit and run around in flames and not have a portion of us be damaged." Trevor pointed out cheerfully only to have his face twist into an 'oh crap' one.
"FUCK YOU I'M NOT A FIREBEAR!" Simon roared from the hallway startling Christopher into whipping around in shock before turning back to look at Trevor.
Who 'did' look decidedly embarrassed, as he finally gave the nob a twist on and let himself drop to the floor for the sake of private talks.
"So... when the kids were young, Yoko used to take Simon to school with her until some of the older kids... uh... Ok so they were going to do that to 'me'. But I didn't have the same restrictions on movement and ran off. They got Simon instead..." Trevor explained, his tone hushed before he elaborated. "It doesn't damage our frames or anything since we're immune to it, but that doesn't mean Simon gets a thrill out of being a magically flung flaming projectile. Yoko stopped taking him to school after that because, even if she didn't know it was 'Simon', Snuggywuggy 'was' her favorite toy."
"Name 'one' thing that has gone right for Yoko, just one, I dare you." Christopher countered feeling that this was beyond ridiculous, Yoko seemed to attract nothing 'but' misery. He crossed his arms and waited, internally counting the seconds until Trevor could come up with something.
"She got to take Alucard as her prom date so albeit there's no picture as his stipulation," Trevor answered not letting Christopher have the satisfaction of getting past two.
"What's a 'prom'?" Richter inquired as he walked in with Juste following behind both with curious head tilts.
"A big fancy ball!" Simon called out in answer.
"So she got to go to the ball escorted by a prince, that must have been nice," Richter thought aloud.
"And so long as she's given time anywhere she quickly gets a lot of respect from the civilians, its just been that she was always traveling between Japan and Spain. In time she got the respect she deserves... just took twice as long because of the moving," Trevor added.