Castlevania: Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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"Alright, let's get you back to the Vatican." Soma internally laughed at how hard the Belmonts tried to be nonchalant about leaving. Harden hunters, who had faced monsters and demons that would send armies fleeing... Turning tail and running from the mere thought of their wives seeing them like this. 'I'm sure I can do the spell. But seeing how Simon lashes out verbally, I don't know if its smart to try casting it yet. I'd hate to think I'd turn the man into a grizzly only for him to accidentally kill a child with the gesture of a paw. Unless I just tried to turn him into a Sunbear... But can I afford the energy needed? I'll need someone around for a few days at least to help me...'
Soma had held out his arms for Leon, allowing the Belmont to be lifted up and carried out of the office. While the Belmonts followed Soma through the estate with Richter both taking up the rear and lost in his own thought.
"Leon? If the estate can travel, can you ask Soma to take it back to the Castle grounds?"
"WHAT?!" While none of the Belmonts stopped walking, the question seemed outright insane, 'Soma' go back to the 'Castle grounds'?!
"Preposterous, there's no telling what will happen if Soma went back to the grounds," Christopher responded shaking his head against the very notion.
"But he's already been to the Castle," Richter pointed out, lacking any of the solid confidence he normally spoke with. Instead his voice carried the uncertainty of a thought that hadn't fully taken root.
"Yes, and the Castle started to influence him. Without Alucard there to hold back that power. It might not have gone as well for Soma as it did," Juste pointed out.
"Where in the world would you even 'get' the idea to just have Soma go back to the grounds?" Simon asked striding down the hallway as though ready to punch someone.
"We need to find Alucard right? Granted the Castle is more than Soma can handle, but that's a complete structure designed and infused with demonic and chaotic power. Couldn't the earth still have some of his power held in reserve there? If he could access and use his powers from an outside source, he wouldn't have to draw on himself and activate the ring."
The Belmonts were silent with that explanation, mostly because the only one who had any magical knowledge needed to speak up on the matter.
"Honestly, I don't know... none of us were trained in the Dark Arts. I can't speak with clear authority on that. It sounds possible, but we'd have to assume the earth itself could negate the more detrimental aspects of the Dark powers it has been exposed to. Sending Soma directly to the Castle grounds sans Castle could have other effects. Pulling the Castle back to earth being the most dangerous of them." Juste pointed out as they reached the small hallway that they had walked through when they arrived.
"On the Castle grounds, if the Castle returns and without Alucard to help ground, Soma 'could' revert back to being Dracula. Though, I suppose the argument could be made that we're too late on the 'back to being' part," Simon noted.
"If it wasn't for the ring keeping him from being the Dark Lord, I honestly wouldn't mind it," Christopher noted. " After all, is he behaving because he doesn't have access to his power? He did break down completely in a castle that wasn't his on soil that wasn't as exposed to his dark powers. Honestly, we've no idea how he's going to handle the fact that they are related either. I can imagine what it would be like to have a grown man walk up to you proclaiming to be my child. But would Soma be as willing to obey Alucard knowing they're related? He could just pick and choose when to listen and that can have problems as well."
"True," Richter confessed as he sat trotted along. 'This place is barren, it's a mere half step above a coffin... Alucard I know we're not friends, but is this how you live your life? Solitary aristocracy... I wish we could have more faith in Soma. Maybe you 'do' need your father around. At least a little.' "It just feels that there are too many things to hunt down now. We need Alucard if we're to ferret out what's going on in the Vatican. While there's this cult that wants Soma to go back to his old rage fueled days. We literally have 'Death' trying to help us now by allowing Leon to join us, while Soma could be trying to restitch the seal to his castle on his own and is just unaware of it. We're literally relying on our enemies to face whatever is going on outside..."
It was a sad state of affairs when put like 'that', causing multiple ears to dip down. "He's got a point... and even more darker a thought than that. 'Is that Richter or Dracula talking through him'," Christopher finally voiced. "Remember that night at Kazu's place. Soma outright stated that because all of us, save Leon and Trevor, share Sophia's blood and that she is one of his to command. We're all his to command."
So was Soma trying to get them to take him back to the Castle through Richter or was Richter actually thinking this on his own. After all out of all of them, he was the one broken by Dracula's power once before...
"That's enough foxes in hen houses," Simon finally snapped his ears flipped back and annoyed as they reached the point in the hallway they had first appeared at. "Dracula be damned, all this is causing us to second guess ourselves. We've hunted the bastard for ages and we'll keep on hunting him and anyone who tries to follow in his former footsteps. Leon needs to find out if Julius has an heir. The Whip is dead without Dracula and Julius needs to have been training someone to make up for the whip's silence by now. Once we know that, we can send Soma to the polar ice caps if we must."
"Agreed," was chorused by the rest of the Belmonts sans Leon.
Only to stop talking as they walked through the portal, the sterile silence of the estate was replaced by the soft sounds of people.
"Visit shrine?" Leon finally asked looking up at Mathias as the last of his clan disappeared.
"Sure, I need to take you back anyways," Soma replied turning away from the portal. "So let me finish up that disaster report that Simon mashed out first..."
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ The dream study \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Alexis stumbled on, heavy bags under her eyes as she blearily attempted to put one foot in front of the other. Her clothes were as heavy as sandbags pulling her closer to the ground, but on the bright side, if she face planted into the road it would keep her warm. The exhaustion was so severe she couldn't even process thought. The motivation to vomit was literally peculating at the base of her throat.
Just one step in front of the other, find a nice spot off to the side and take a nap. Or just go to sleep until the next morning, either worked fine at this point. Her body ached all over, the church that was being built was on a break neck schedule that left her gasping. A structure like this should have taken at least two maybe four months, depending on getting permits and such. But these cults were bypassing all of that. She didn't realize when she stopped walking and entered the Dream Study that she and her brother use.
She made her way to the nice plush sofa that her aching body painfully called for and collapsed face down with no effort to catch herself. Her one remaining leg rested hanging off the side for a while before she could motivate the rest of her body into a semi roll to pull it up.
For his part, Alex had been glad to see the door since it meant his sister was already in their dream place. Given what he had learned from the pair of Vampires, what he and the Freelance police needed to be discussed with her. So he opened the door, took in the large plush couch and the fact that she was face down in it.
…
"Rough time?" He asked as he shut the door and walked over to his sister. Alexis was washed out, the deep colors of her clothes now gray and white. A sign of mental exhaustion as she was lying still face down and hadn't even bothered to greet him. Not even a small hand wave or sound.
He leaned down and poked the base of her neck and waited for a response. But as the dream minutes ticked by he resigned himself to manifest another comfortable chair and settled back to wait.
"So there's apparently an old boys hunting lodge in the states. One that does canned hunting, and get this. They hunt Dark Children. That they've been so under the radar that neither Sam or Max has heard of them is disconcerting. But I suppose given that they seem to be old money might be part of the reason."
"I got kidnapped by a pair of teen vampires, turned around 1987 and held prisoner until recently. From what I can tell some of the cult activity in the area gave them a chance to escape. Also Stephen's powers made them risky releases hence why they hadn't been hunted early on like the others..." Alex continued waiting for his sister to finally look up at him... She had to right?
"Granted I haven't had enough time to do research, given school and reporting this to the guys. But they've gone into research mode for us, so that once this case is done and you can extract yourself..." 'Wake up sister, any time now...'
"They expect us to bless all the lumber, and anoint all the pieces used in the construction." It came out muffled and tired, but Alexis finally made an effort to actually speak. "But when that means stacks upon stacks of lumber. All six sides of lumber, and have it done and dried AND ready before work crews could start?" she continued, finally turning her head to the side to face her brother. Letting him see the heavy bags under her eyes. While earning a concerned frown from him that his sister was going through this.
"The pressure is unreal with the other members of this little 'unit' having begun collapsing. Either from strain, exhaustion, stress, or because of the Castle itself." She continued tiredly, "I can't confirm because the oils are blurring my senses. We might have some immunity due to our constant exposure to the Belmonts. But even I'm not immune to the gallons of the stuff. Sure there's no castle but the grounds are reacting to the oils I think."
"So a group of cultists have access to the oils, as well as an old boys club in America, and they don't just 'have' the oils. They know how to use it..." Alex spoke aloud as he began to muse over that information.
"Every side of the lumber has to be marked, every nut, bolt, screw, hinge, and it never seems enough. The leaders are pushing 'hard' for the church to be up as fast as possible. I mean it should take maybe normally about two months going fast. But they want it done in a month, with as small a crew as possible. Whatever they plan on doing to get Dracula back 'has' to be coming to a head. But I'm so tired I can barely think straight when I'm awake now."
"We started as a team of eight, now its just me and maybe Melissa if she's not dropped as well. I wish they just let us use a mop if they're going to make us go this hard into the work load." She grumbled as exhausted tears welled up in her eyes. "I ache everywhere, we were just a team of 'eight' and this was a group of religious fanatics. The girls were from Fortners' part of the cult, but not the part that was aware of her own use of demonic magic. So I doubt the oils were affecting them as much, it has to be something else..."
"Given the location and the actions, do you think its worth it to extract you now from this group?" Alex asked as he leaned over to rest his elbows on his knees. Churches didn't need oils literally lathered onto everything. It gave a startling parallel to the room Stephen had taken him to back in the States. The oils, which were meant for the church exclusively, were now being used outside of the church? His concern was starting to mount more for his sister, Alucard, and amazingly enough, Dracula.
His sister and Alucard were in the grasp of the Cults, while Dracula was 'supposedly' being overseen by the church. 'Is the Church funding the cult's experiments or that American group? It does make for the perfect set up to reignite a Holy War against the Dark Children. A good angle to unite human races against a threat of 'monsters'.' He frowned as his sister continued to do her best impression of a pancake. 'Or is that American group the Churches' answer to the Belmonts? Trying to train a new generation of hunters on the side...'
Alex shook the thoughts from his mind, 'no. Lord Alucard has not spoken ill of either Popes so I will not believe either men would instigate such an act.' But the merit of the thought still held enough weight...
'What if he doesn't have a choice though? What if the use of the oils on Lord Alucard were intended to force the Pope's hand into a certain direction? Clearly the American group has been around prior to Alexander. While this Cult is from his time...' For a moment he thought to ask Alexis for her point of view. But seeing her so conked out, well she had been working with the oils directly long enough. Probably wouldn't be able to sense a werewolf in full transformation nose to nose with her at this point.
"I would love to be extracted to be honest. I haven't see Lord Alucard this whole time and yet, there's not enough reason to justify going after them. They're just 'building a church' no crime in that," Alexis pointed out, turning her head so she could face her brother. "As tired as I feel though, I'm probably going to request a few days off. I'm not getting much done in the state I'm in now, I could barely walk down the path as is."
"Does no one else wonder why they're pushing you to get finished so fast?" Alex asked growing concerned that perhaps his sisters' cover had been blown. Having her work with the Oils was one thing, but it was the concern that she was being set up. Perhaps they planned on making 'her' the next sacrifice?
"The general 'explanation' differs between ranks in Fortner's cult. A good section of that cult was brought in on the pretense of good versus evil. So as part of the balance they've been told that the Castle needs to return to balance out the Vatican. As an Unholy seat for Dracula to balance the Vatican's Holy Seat of God. For a time I wondered how long were these people going to be so blindly stupid, but between slopping on the oil. I had this thought." Alexis explained before sighing, "I don't know exactly how many of these supposed 'idiots' there were to start with. But I started to wonder if they're being killed, since I haven't seen or heard from of my team after they dropped. Which they were 'all' part of that subsection of the group."
"Wait, they see the Castle as a type of 'reverse Vatican'?!" Alex repeated blinking in amazement. 'And Sam describes Soma as wearing a pimp coat... what a 'reverse' of the Vatican...' Alex mentally bemoaned. Torn between laughing at the absurdity of these people and crying for all the lives lost 'because' of the self same absurdity.
"Soo if these young vampires are from the 80s..." Alexis began, 'please take over talking Alex, I need a rest...'
"Ah, yes. Well the pair, Stephen and Ro were turned by a vampire that was shortly killed off by this group. No mentor, and scared they were trapped as prisoners until recently. It would seem that Stephens' shadow manipulation is a type of power that made releasing him and Ro dangerous. This 'hunting club' are a bunch of ducks. The locals view them as calm and a natural part of society, even protectors from darker elements. But underneath it is where all the action is. The pair spent all this time in a semi drugged out state having injections. Something happened with the injections though and for a brief time they finally experienced enough mental self awareness to escape."
Alex began deciding that too much detail and Alexis would fall asleep and disappear. "So over the years they've heard about Lord Alucard from other captured Dark Children. Where those kids come from? I don't know, but they 'are' children from what little the pair can really remember, there's rarely ever an 'adult' Dark Child."
"As in this group isn't strong enough to deal with the adults and are training using children?" Alexis suggested.
Alex sighed heavily. "Given the reputation the Freelance have on the streets the pair worked up the courage to go there. Since they deal with the Dark Children and the vampires figured they would be more likely to be heard. Unlike going to a human police station. But since Sam and Max were in Japan..." Alex shrugged. "They found a picture of the four of us and I'm the easiest to find what with not being on a case. Sides, I think you're considered goth and they didn't want to go 'after family' if you will." He added as his sister answered with a stuck out tongue.