Castlevania: Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
A/N: OMG I must have been dead when I wrote this so many typos and spelled right but wrong word...
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"Who knew vampires couldn't sleep with an audience..."
Soma sleepily groused as he laid in bed, both eyes shut as the four hunters stared down at him. Silence greeted his sleepy joke causing the Dark Lord to begrudgingly open his ice blue eyes and look at his 'guests'. Propping himself up with his good arm, he sat up and looked at them expectantly. As the very short list of why they were here ran through his mind.
"I want to see your hand." Alucard brusquely ordered, coolie looking down at Soma from his position at the southeast corner of the bed.
"I'm sorry, did you say something?" Soma retorted disapproval etched into every syllable. His responses were more instinct than premeditated, as he quickly became distracted by the subtle way the light rested against the opposing wall. A standard hotel from a basic look, yet he could feel a slight hum of holy power. 'Wards? Well its nice to see they didn't stop believing in me.'
The room light wasn't on, instead half of the curtain was pulled open. Spilling sunlight on the wall facing him. 'I can't remember when I started to miss the sunlight,' Soma thought to himself as he tried to move his hand. The fingers were tingling in a way that made him think he slept on it funny. Only he knew that wasn't the case and while he would have liked to look 'at' it... Well until Alucard showed some basic bedside manners...
"Soma, we need to know if you have any information regarding the castle now that its returned. Or barring that, if you can let us in from here," Julius asked, while studying Soma's condition discreetly. Pale, but Soma always was pale, there was no sign of his fangs and his ringed hand was partial tucked under the blanket.
Where as Alucard was silently fuming, and Julius didn't really expect the man to speak for a bit. It was probably some type of cultural upbringing that came from Alucards' youth. So Julius quietly let the pair have their 'parent/child' subtext conversation. But the castle wasn't leaving and they needed to find the towns people. If nothing else, Yoko seemed to be better at keeping the peace between Alucard and Soma to start with.
"I can't tell you what's in the castle... My connection is there, but right now the castle is very content. Its fed on what its brought into itself, as for entering it. Be my guest, its not turning down visitors. At least that's what I would 'like' to say, however; you 'are' hunters..." Soma answered with a faint tilt of the head towards the direction of the castle.
"Yeah, but its also day time, any clue what its going to be like when the sun goes down?" Yoko asked before moving to the side of the bed and sitting down. She began by pressing her hand against Soma's face, checking for any extreme changes in temperature. Yet he leaned against her hand, a sign of exhaustion, while her fingers did find a pulse readily. If not a bit rapid given Soma's exhaustion.
"I suppose its sleeping off its meal, so what its like when it wakes up... You could take a nap and check later. I can only imagine that you need rest as well. Traveling to the castle as it is now, won't be the same as your ancestors trips," Soma pointed out.
His eyelids were drooping and Yoko could tell there was little hope in Soma staying awake much longer. She placed her hands on his shoulders and eased him back into bed, before casting her gaze over her shoulder at the other hunters in the room. "So what now? He's not going to stay awake, people 'are' going to start reentering the town and there's going to be questions." Yoko pointed out, 'Thank you for not suggesting getting Simon or the others, Soma.'
Alexis stood there off to the side, as she weighed the options of staying behind or letting the others rest. "You have a point, we could all use at least a short rest before we try to go to the castle. With Death willing to lend a hand to the living, there could be serious power shifts we know nothing about."
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ The gates before the Castle \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
"True," Julius agreed turning slightly towards Alexis, with Alucard between the two of them.
"I will go to the castle and check what is going on at the moment," Alucard answered stiffly. He had yet to move his gaze from Soma. Human attributes were now becoming scrambled with vampiric ones. Glaring in their condemnation, as he was supposed to have kept this from happening.
His mind ran down lists of what he would need, finding Death and getting answers out of the entity would be a start. Before him stood the gates to the castle of his father as they had stood for ages. Despite being physically detached from the planet for over a decade, there was not even a grain of sand to hint that it had. The gates and walls were a little cleaner than he recalled, black iron wrought metal held the wooden bridge in place.
It didn't appear to be in any state of disrepair despite what it housed, even the windows were open allowing the evaporated lake breeze to slip inside. The bridge lurched downward against the chains that held it up, then the gears began to rotate and bring the bridge down completely for Alucard. He waited as the thick wooden beams were lowered by massive chains. An archaic method of opening a door that was long since outdated save for perhaps bridges over large rivers.
Once the heavy bridge made contact with the ground, punctuated by the deep thud, Alucard crossed over to the castle proper. The black iron wrought gates swung open in response to his presence. When Soma first, unbeknownst to himself, returned to the castle he had been oblivious to the seals he was walking through. Now Alucard could actively feel the tattered remains of those seals, hanging more frayed than the bandages on the Mummies.
Past the gates the grass appeared more green that he was used to, the hedges and plants more alive than they had been since his mothers' death. Yet it was the subtle absence of Chaos that got his attention, playing against his nerves. He hadn't been in the castle since Soma had sent it back into the seal. Now it felt almost the same as those halcyon days of his youth before his mother died. Perhaps it was after those days that his father had instilled the Chaos aspect into the Castle.
The thought irritated Alucard as he strode past the path leading up to the castle. Almost ravenous in his study of the castle now that it had returned. Waiting for that moment it slipped up and revealed its own demonic personality. Yet he was more than just waiting for the castle, as he waited for the door to open...
When he arrived on the day of the eclipse, the castle readily acknowledged Alucard. Allowed to fly in unimpeded he had entered the entry hall so his shape shifting would not alarm the young Miko. Now the door stood closed, the castle appeared open with the windows and banners on display yet the doors refused to budge... it wasn't rejection, if he pushed harder he could force the castle to open the doors.
'But that it is not readily giving in to my presence and given my current lack of strength. Tapping into its power to make up for what I sacrifice to seal away my father would be of help. Save the castle seems disinclined to acknowledge even that order.'
"Alucard!" A voice he had not heard in centuries called out from above. So sudden and unexpected that he found himself looking up to seek out the speaker.
"Sophia?"
It... 'was' her, he was certain of her voice, yet being a ghost and given the time of day he could see nothing of her presence. Which was fine, after all the castle was naturally filled with the supernatural. Though she never appeared in the Castle before, her soul having gone to heaven. So what brought her back to this plane of existence? While the only thing he could see was an open window with a curtain drifting in a possible breeze.
"Can you not enter?" She asked as he turned his steps towards the window so he was directly under her.
"No, for whatever reason the castle is staying shut. What are you doing there?" He asked as he pondered if this would be a situation for Yoko's baby brother. While her voice seemed directed into the castle to confer with someone near by...
"No, he's really here Grant!" Alucard could hear Sophia say before, "Its.. been a weird day, but I'm glad to see you're ok," her voice became once more projected down to him.
"Grant is there as well?" Alucard inquired with a raised eyebrow.
While Sophia was nudged to the side by an enthusiastic Grant.
"Aye! You have no idea how the families have been worrying bout you!" Grant noted while realizing that Alucard really couldn't see them...
"Are any of the hunters there?" Alucard called out, as though the notion of people being concerned for him went flying over his head with a mile to spare.
"Uhh... is... does he know.." Annette whispered urgently to Sophia, as the wives looked among each other. Given that Alucard was apparently kept out of the loop about what Yoko had 'done' to the 'Hunters'. At least that was how Simon seemed to see it, and Trevor had gone by 'Ralph' for ages...
"Maybe we need to ferret that bit of information out... Pretend like they're not here at all until we know?" Lydie suggested quietly as she looked between the other women.
"I can only imagine what he's going to do when he finds out, if he didn't already know." Maria commented with a whimsical smile playing on her lips.
"How is it that you left the afterlife to arrive here? I'm aware of the castle's tendency to pull in souls of violent death. Yet you..." Alucard asked causing Sophia to reassert her place at the window.
Everyone spent a moment watching as Sophia entered into a discussion with Alucard, leaving the less magically with Charlotte serving as a type of go between stuck inside. Inside and resuming their own discussions over what they had seen.
"We have civilians, and the cults, the normal menagerie of monsters..." Maxim ticked off as they finished gathering in the hallway.
"In a castle that normally turns people who have been trapped for too long," Annette included.
"So we need to get the civilians out of the castle..." Maria acknowledged with a slight frown, "but how?"
"He's the son of the lord of the castle and said castle won't open the door for him?" Charlotte commented with a frown on her own face, as she balanced her attention between Sophia and the gang.
"Maybe he upset his father?" Stella suggested with a slight shrug, her expression thoughtful.
Everyone turned to look at her, glancing up at her father and his amused, though silent, expression. "While amusing, there's also the chance that it is day time and Dracula is not in the castle. Perhaps this evening will find the castle more receptive to guests..." Eric began when his expression darkened.
The others picked up on his attention and turned to look back towards the door.
John came rushing into the hallway his son hot on his heels with an expression that got everyone out of their gossip circle.
"The cults are on the move again, they're rounding up the civilians. Have any of you found anything?" Jonathan announced, his normally well toned physical build a mere toothpick when placed directly next to his father.
"Alucard is outside, yet the castle won't open the door for him," Loretta explained promptly.
"The son of the castles' lord," John asked, glancing at Eric for confirmation, and the slight nod got him sighing. As much as the dead could.
"The window is open, I don't see why Alucard can't just turn into a bat and fly through it," Stella commented with a slight frown.
"Well, he's part of the sealing rites we used on the castle," Charlotte explained. "He gives up a significant portion of his power. Its why his hair turned so dark, you could say he's the closest to being human right now. Normally he could just tap into the castle to boost his strength, and he should be able to do so. That he can't means something else is going on, and given that the chaos has been split from the castle. I kind of have an idea just what it was."
"So if he can't tap into the powers of the castle he's kind of... stuck?" Maria asked seeking clarification.
Charlotte gave a half shrug, "yes, the most he could do I can imagine is evoke his right as his father's son. I can speculate that he's been using Chaos magic to compensate for his lack of power. Or he and his father are having another 'father, son discussion'..."
"When most kids get in trouble they're sent to their room, Alucard gets sent out of the whole castle?" Soleil suggested, feeling a pang of sympathy for the dhampire. After all out of everyone in the group save Jonathan and the twins, there was at the least a generation between each group. When one lived under the shadow of their grandparent it was one thing. When it was their own father, or mother, that was another thing.
"Though in this case, the pair were on good terms, is this a sign that things are going to be more problematic? I mean, if Dracula, now as Soma, is disciplining Alucard..." Loretta voicing her thoughts out loud.
"I don't know, from what I understand Soma's memories are not all awakened all at once. Which is fine I suppose remembering that many centuries all at once would knock a person out, no matter how prepared." Charlotte commented thoughtfully, "when the cult got him to regress the first time. He probably didn't fully remember Alucard beyond another hunter."
"Well he's clearly remembered something enough to pull the castle here because of Alucard," Stella noted. "But for now we need to put our heads together and figure out what we can do for the civilians."
"Bad time to get on his fathers' bad side though," John noted with a shake of his head. "Alucard might be able to do something right now otherwise."
"Indeed," Eric agreed as everyone sans Sophia and Grant left.
Below the floor, past the large doors leading further into the castle, the sound of screams started filtering into the air. Cult members now turned into monsters were rampaging down the halls and tearing apart the rooms they were able to enter. There was blood trails in various areas, dripping down walls and trailing the floors. While the monsters that had been cleaning the castle were stuck in an awkward state. Some cult members were attacking anyone, even the zombies and skeletons.
For those, the monsters did what they could, not that flung bones or being slapped with a mop was much. They were torn apart and left in pieces on the ground in much the same way that the hunters had left them during their lifetimes. It wasn't all the cultists that pursued the castle monsters, that was also interesting.
While not completely invisible, at least to the local residents of the castle, three of the spirits found themselves checking one of the hallways. As with everything else, there was a more lived in design to the hall. With swept floors, cleaned rugs and curtains, the presence of the sun readily accessible via the windows made the castle feel alive. It felt safe for everyone and not really a monster filled den of nightmares.
Save for the signs of bloodshed, with trails of blood, broken doors slowly mending as the women watched. As well as the wet stains on the carpet that was undoubtedly blood from whatever had just happened. While the maids body parts were slowly reknitting themselves back to their torsos.
"It might have helped more if we knew something that differentiated the two cults before they transformed," Annette lamented. Maria stuck her head into a side room before back peddling her self, her face pale.
"Yeah, actually good point," Maria agreed, her voice mostly steady.
"Why?" Lydie asked politely, eyeing the door Maria had just backed off from with a small frown on her face.
"Well, one wasn't using magic of any sort to our knowledge, the other was," Annette explained. "So its possible, I suppose, that one group doesn't know how to control what they've become..."
"Oh, I see, so the ones who know how to handle magic may be the ones who are more controlled..." Lydie replied, quietly nodding. "Well that would make sense, I wonder if the other cult would be aware of this power shift. Since they've kind of been deregulated down to mere stock beasts for any hunter to target... The others will be the more dangerous ones..."
"Indeed," Maria noted darkly.