Castlevania: Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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'I suddenly remember what it felt like to have a Belmont barreling down after me for all those centuries of being an evil vampire...' Soma thought as he watched Julius stalk his way towards the table. "So you must be the aforementioned 'Freelance Police' that Julius spoke of," Soma turned his attention directly onto the pair switching to speak in English.
"Soma!" Julius stalked his way to the table and didn't even bother greeting the pair standing there before stabbing his hand outward to direct them to sit down. "Do you even try to pay attention to how you're behaving in public?"
"Its dark outside, I'm the Dark Lord, I'm doing my job," Soma recited in this 'remember this is why you killed me', tone of voice as the pair wiggled their way into the booth. "Also thank you for putting yourselves between me and Julius. I might actually live to see the morning sun now."
Julius inwardly groaned, 'we're going to find Alucard and then get royally reamed out for letting Soma fall so far while he was away.'
"You're certainly not what we were expecting..." the guy noted while Soma shrugged.
"Let me guess, you're Sam, she's Max..." Soma started looking between the two strangers. 'I know I expected this, but I didn't expect the hunters to have a sense of humor.'
"Maxine, or Maxi," the girl replied nodding. "You got it, his grandfather and my grandmother decided to try out being evil."
"Its not so much that they 'tried out' as much as they nailed it. She's as violent as her name sake," Sam noted and got punched in the side. But he just turned his attention onto Julius and his head tilted a bit to the side.
'Do I point out the hat and trench coat combo, the bunny pins, or sit in silence because I have no room to talk.' Soma wondered, "Which I guess means' you're the brains she's the brawn. If I remember Sam and Max right..."
"How do you even know that game? Its niche to begin with and you weren't even around at that point," Julius argued, though a part of him merely shrugged at the thought. 'Well I mean he does pick rather retro clothes to wear, so he might have an interest in retro games.'
"Well maybe if a certain clan of hunters would stop showing up in my living room and killing me every century or so. I 'would' play video games, you ever think of that Julius? That maybe if my routine wasn't reduced to sticking my hand out of my coffin. Turning off the alarm clock, and then getting stabbed to death, I 'might' pick up a nice little hobby!" Soma snipped, crossing his arms and shooting the older Belmont a look.
"You tried to restart your war," Julius retorted, his tone less like a old man babysitting an unruly teenager. More like a teenager about to go into some type of gaming debate.
'First time in a Japanese Goth Club, and we're about to have another Belmont vs. Dracula throw down...' Max thought as she and Sam got really quiet and really invested.
"Well that's not my fault. Its like OCD, I had something that needed to be in place whenever I showed up. It moved, I panicked. 'Sorry'." Soma retorted, his tone grumpy as he settled back and seemed to go strangely introspective.
"What moved? The area was pretty much devoid of anything," Sam pointed out. 'There was only the mausoleum...'
A thought that was at that moment being carried by Julius. 'He has a compulsion towards an 'item'? Could it be Alucards' coffin?'
Soma's introspective air didn't fade, he sat there with his eyes scanning over his memories with a frown on his face. Since it was his last resurrection in his original body, Soma should have had the easiest access to those memories. But it wasn't as though the other three at the table were masters of reincarnation.
'Then that would explain what triggered Dracula... Alucard never took the coffin with him when he moved to Japan. Dionysus mentioned a Cardinal having it relocated to the Vatican for 'safety reasons'. And it would explain all the broken coffins in the Castle when it tried to pull Soma back.' The Castle was trying to bring Dracula's son home as well. It probably settled down once Alucard returned on his own, after all the Castle allowed itself to be swayed by the Dhampires' magics.
Soma the helicopter Lord of Darkness.
"So ever wonder what its like to go on an investigation in America, Soma?" Sam asked, a pleasant reminder that there were two other people sitting at the table. "Since that's where me and Max generally work."
"And by 'work' we keep the peace among all the Dark Children when they fight." Max elaborated, "like when there's a new scuffle over leadership positions. Or when someone decides they can go after humans because they're stronger."
"Yeah, since some cases can't be solved by humans and if we don't solve the case, it just..." Sam nodded leaning back as he pushed the well worn hat forward so it rested over his face.
"Cascades into a nightmare, what with the current cult killings, it gets messy untangling what was done by a Dark Child verses what was done by your fan club," Max picked up.
Watching as Soma's head sank into his hands, "they're 'not' my fan club. They're a bunch of elitist humans who want to be free to kill whoever and need a fall guy."
Sam and Max glanced at each other a bit surprised, Sam peeking out from under the brim of his hat. They turned their gaze from Soma on the left to Julius who was sitting on their right and found the man thoughtfully stroking his beard. "So, school is almost over and that means we'll get Lex for about two weeks," Sam finally added.
"Which means that you get to meet a LeCarde, specifically Alex, or as Sam calls him 'Lex'." Max elaborated as she began to eye the bar and wonder if her Japanese was good enough to get a drink.
"So there's a 'Pope Alexander' and an 'Alexander LeCarde'.." Soma slowly recited. 'As big as this world is, and there are two men who have the same first name. Though I suppose the argument is that one picked his name when he got the promotion, the other got his when he got evicted out of his mother.'
"Yes," Julius answered instead of the pair. "He's a college professor who specializes in mythological and supernatural beings. Partly because he oversees the Dark Children in a section of Europe.
"You do one stupid thing and a whole race of beings has to be policed..." Soma grumbled. 'Oversee? Ok crimes I get, these two make sense. But they 'oversee' the Dark Children? Just because I started a couple of wars?'
"You realize that all this started because you went off and acted like an overgrown emo kid right?" Max asked, making Soma snap to focusing on her sharply. "Seriously, as old as you are, you can literally count all your wars as being during your emo vamp no one understands you because you're a special snowflake of unique awe and wonder phase."
Soma blinked, and then blinked a few more times as she stared back at him not letting up at all. Leading Soma to glance up over her head at Sam who just shrugged, and said, "physical violence isn't the only type of violence in this world."
"I started out as a human?" Soma offered as he sat there dealing with probably the sickest burn ever. 'She's right too... Those 'could' have been viewed as teenage angst centuries of my life and that I could be considered an adult at any point.'
"You ok?" Julius asked as he tried to hold in the burst of laughter that wanted to come out. Given that Max was Charlottes' granddaughter, she clearly had equal spunk to her grandmother.
"I need you to live up to that 'guardian' duty and protect me from this hyperkinetic-rabbit thingy." Soma retorted as he returned his gaze to the shit eating grin on Max's face even at the sound of laughter that burst out from Sam.
"Sorry..."
"No, you're not," Soma retorted, unaided by Julius who had joined in and and the pair cracking up. Now sulking, Soma settled back against his seat and stared daggers at the rest of the party he found himself in. 'Its so true it hurts. Its literally finding the old year book and discovering you didn't have half as much sense as you thought you did...'
Yet despite the disheartening realization, it did bring up the corner of Soma's mouth a slight bit in a smile. 'At least these two, possibly three, hunters aren't as dry and boring as Julius...' he thought while he waited for the other two men at the table to finally settle down. 'But I swear if Alex tries to assign me a paper during this thing, he and I are going to fight. I already have to deal with exam hell, I don't need the European equivalent. Though I suppose he could start grilling me based on the notion that I may know more about the particulars than he does.'
"So, how long have you been coming to this night club?" Max asked glancing about towards the unique artwork that the black lights revealed. 'And here I thought all of the DaNasty safe houses were straight up dive bars.'
"First time," Soma answered with a shrug, nodding towards Julius. "He recommended it."
"Yoko suggested it actually. This is only my second time here, the first time was when I still had amnesia," Julius explained. 'And yet somehow Soma's first time got him to this seat.'
"Oh, well that's interesting," Sam noted looking about the booth from his spot. "Cuz when we got here this booth was closed off, no one would sit here. Yet here we are and no one is trying to shoo us out..."
Everyone looked at Julius, who was staring at Soma in return with a no nonsense expression. "Because someone likes evoking his Dark Lord status at the flip of a switch."
"That doesn't explain why the booth is kept purposely empty or why I'm allowed to jump this velvet rope," Soma pointed out... 'Hmmm these people feel as though they're aligned to darkness, but not like the hunters here are to holy power.'
"Soma," Julius called out to get Soma's attention. "Anything you want to share with the rest of us...?"
"Well if someone had bothered to train me, yes... I would be able to confidently tell you what I was thinking. All I can say is that I feel this place feels like a regular stomping ground. Not like going somewhere new and different where the energy is straight out unique," Soma replied earning a brief nod from Sam.
"Yeah it happens in America, when the Dark Children congregate long enough the humans tend to absorb some of it themselves. There's a few spots that the long term staff now have a small trace of darkness and react accordingly."
"You in America is going to be something, Japan and Europe are used to you. But I can see all the big hitters in America losing their collective 'minds' when the king shows up." Max added smartly, 'I can already see all the established groups either try cozy up or out right hide.'
"I don't want to be king," Soma argued stubbornly as he sat there.
"You don't get to abdicate just because you're bored, that crown is staying right where it is." Max retorted with a shake of her long haired head. "Losing you is like an empire losing its core, everything goes crashing to the ground. Which is 'not' how the rest of the world needs to discover the Dark Kids."
"Do you know how many times I've been killed? Humanity is doing just fine, like breeding rabbits in fact," Soma retorted with an irritable frown. "Sides there's enough people who want me back on the throne causing trouble."
"Yeah, but no one else can be the 'Dark Lord' save you. They can be 'Vampire' Lords, or 'Werewolf' Lords or 'Zombie' Lords or whatever Lords. But your ability, that unreplicatable ability allows you to control all of them? What do you think is going to happen when you touch down in America? Where all these Lords go strutting around like they're big stuff daily suddenly have 'you' land." Max explained, 'I guess he might not be aware of it, he's still a teenager in this life time after all..'
'They don't really need me for anything do they?' Julius found himself thinking patiently as he watched the conversation continue.
"You're saying I should what? Treat America like a battle royal? Those cults that have been doing the killings are concentrating their efforts in Europe. If I have to go anywhere, I'm going 'there'..." Soma argued, his arms crossing his chest as he looked between the startled trio.
"You're not getting involved dealing with the cults Soma," Julius began, smothering his alarm that Soma was expressing interest in getting involved.
"I thought you wanted nothing to do with this..." Sam asked with a raised eyebrow as he took his hat off.
"I guess to follow up on Max, I want these damn kids off my lawn." Soma grumbled and somehow it was still heard over the vibrations of the music pulsing through the floor and wall.
It did a great on killing the mood for a casual conversation, and allowing each person to have their own thoughts.
"I wonder if I can get a drink," Max finally voiced eyeing the elaborate drinks being made and getting jealous.
"Are you legally old enough to drink?" Soma asked and got piston fist punched in the side by her. "Ow! Violent American woman punched me!"
"At least she didn't go for your face," Sam noted. And got punched.
"Oh is that what happened to you?" Soma asked... And got punched again.
"Some people are born naturally, some are through C-Section, Max Falcon Punched her way out like a xenomorph out of a chest..." Sam finished as Max started going ham on his side.
The table exploded in laughter as strangely as it might have appeared to an outsider, three people clearly not dressed for a Goth Club laughing with someone who looked decidedly as though he did. But unlike the seeming sea of near stoic, aloof black that drifted about about. His hair and coat stood out amid the blackness. As bright and pale as the light of the full moon, with his white hair and the fluff of his white coat. It felt 'right' for him to be sitting where their Dark Prince would sit when he would step down to be among the masses.
But 'who was this person'? After so long without their prince, it felt like he had returned, only to have this elegant pale stranger instead. Were they related? It seemed impossible with the pure European lines in the Dark Princes' appearance. This one was clearly mixed, between Japan and some foreign country it was in his not fully Japanese shaped eyes. The vivid, electric blue of his eyes that commanded obedience shared the same intense shade. Held the same type of command and it would have been almost believable to think they were related.
"You know, going to America would be fun with Soma around, it would be like traveling with a celebrity. Even the people who don't know are looking at Soma like they want him," Sam noted nudging Julius lightly while tilting his head slightly to indicate the crowd.
"Its like being awakened as the Dark Lord gets you fans," Max added with a smirk, for which Soma shook his head.
"Its always been like this, long before I woke up in fact. Here and in Madrid, I look strange either way and people just naturally were submissive. Or they tried to over compensate. I've had teachers douse me with water, insisting that I was coloring my hair since grade school. Would be bullies who backed off after maybe one attempt..." Soma explained with a faint shrug, "I got used to it over the years."
The Freelance pair exchanged worried glances before looking at Soma.
"Isn't that lonely?" Sam asked and got a look for the question.
"Of course its lonely. Just because I didn't take to things like other kids doesn't mean I lacked interest. I wanted to play too, but I scared everyone off and just learned to enjoy my own company. If I had my powers back then, I'd probably have just played with them instead. Then I would probably have never left the Castle during the eclipse."