Castlevania: Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: … this must have been my sleep deprivation night when I last attempted to beta it. Sorry...
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While Juste was stuck in the Vault of the Vatican pondering his options, morning continued flowing normal above ground. Everyone left their quarters and moved to their usual duties, everything as normal as any other day. Each of the remaining Belmonts moved about unobstructed by the priests and nuns while the rising sun chased away the shadows of the night.
Though maybe that was for the bears of the set because Richter was clearly fixating on something. Granted he was busy having a staring contest with a statue of Mary holding Christ... Mostly because Mary was staring back and he wasn't going to let a white stone statue beat him...
Her eyes were carved shut, possibly in some form of prayer for her son who she cradled in her arms. Crafted into the statue yet now the eyes were open and the carving of her eyes were moving. He'd bet something if he had anything 'to' bet on that he had seen it.
Better excuse than the itch in the back of his mind whispering that this was wrong. Statues didn't move anywhere except in the castle. Why was Mary moving?
"Oh Richter!"
That was the only warning the Belmont got before a pair of hands grabbed his mid section and picked him up. "Come on, lets go to choir practice!" The boy, one of numerous kids that Richter couldn't recall the name of, announced cheerfully. All that Richter recalled was the child was in the same group as Elmo and Xavier, and cheerfully hugging him as he resumed his walk to practice.
'Send help?' Richter thought as he looked over his shoulder towards the statue only to see Mary had closed her eyes.
His ears drooped as he was carried to the class, though it was not disheartening to see the children unaffected. Elmo had been out of sight from the usual antics of the children. Only the Belmonts had been too busy and shamefully Richter hadn't really thought of the boy. Beyond that everyone that was in the class looked ok, sleepy or wide awake, they chatted among each other. The boy, Nathan, had tucked him behind the boy's back when Elmo got into sight.
No one was lost, yet, which was a positive sign, and there were no signs of worried glances or subdued sob. Everything was normal enough that Richter wanted to leave and continue his check through the Vatican. But that wasn't going to happen with him planted on the childs' lap as the younger choir got into position.
Richter kept himself low, in case Elmo caught sight of something stupid like the tip of Richters' ears. Nathan was fairly petting his back which probably would have felt nicer if Richter was a real dog, not a stuffed one. Also if Richter 'was' a dog and didn't have the intelligence to know better and feel a little demeaned by the action.
Though if Nathan could have just scratched his nose. It was a strange sensation, to have something itch after all this time. Growing irritated, Richter began rubbing his nose as the children sang even as he tried to focus on the singing. But GOD HIS NOSE! The itch spread throughout his nose to his muzzle and having not felt anything for so long. For 'this' to have been his first sensation was absolutely aggravating.
It wasn't even just an 'itch', it was a sneezy itch. That type of itch that told him he wanted to sneeze really badly. But couldn't due to being dead and in a stuffed toy body that had no lungs to inhale with or anything that involved sneezing in general.
"Uh Richter?" Nathan whispered in concern. The poor doggy looked like he was suffering with the way he had been pawing at his nose. If Nathan didn't know any better he would have wondered why he didn't hear whining from the poor thing. 'Does he need to sneeze?' he pondered, as silly a thought that it was to him. Stuffed toys couldn't sneeze, well maybe if they were made to. The way Richter was fixated on his face looked the part.
The dogs' nose sank into his face first, as funny as it looked for Richter to have a dent in his face. But the dogs' muzzle began to sink in like it was being sucked into the rest of the head and Nathan 'really' started to worry. Tony tapped him on his arm, causing Nathan to look up at his fellow kid.
It was actually comforting to see Tony look just as alarmed at the state of Richters' struggles... "Maybe you can lend him a hankie?"
Richters' ears were flipped down and back, he was rubbing his face with his paws and he didn't have a muzzle anymore. Leaving Tony feeling a little scared, "I mean, they're magic stuffies right? How long do they last?"
'I'm not dying...' Richter stubbornly thought to himself. 'Though I wouldn't mind killing Soma for what he's done to me.' His eyes screwed shut in annoyance as he continued to struggle...
Meanwhile; Choir Master, Father Agosti didn't know who fired the toy canon behind him...
"Ahhh..."
"DOOOOOOG!"
But he did know how to sigh from his diaphragm.
Some years, the kids were angels. Some years the kids were behind him...
"Uuuuhhhhh... Father?!"
"PUPPY!"
"DOOOOOOG!"
Father Agosti turned and...
And...
Brightly colored confetti was still drifting aimlessly to the ground, various bright and cheery colors of smoke were drifting happily to the ceiling. While encircled by a growing number of small boys was a dog. A very real dog, the size of a German Shepard, though his ears were down and his fur was roughly the wrong color. The markings were pretty close, however; and there was now a dog in the choir room. Only how?
"Richter, you're heavy!"
Finally. That sneeze did a world of good for Richter.
He felt a little weird with the way he was sitting, while the child in front of him looked at him with awe before getting out of his seat. Everything looked odd, smaller than he was used to and when he put his front paws on the seat, the sharp clack of claw on metal brought his attention down to his front paws. His very real dog front paws.
'Wait... what...' Completely confused Richter made his way off onto the chair and then climbed down to the floor.
"Oh that's a relief!" Nathan sighed and sank in his seat for all of a moment, the feeling in his legs returning now that he didn't have a full grown adult dog sitting on his lap. Who knew Richter would be so heavy?! But also Richter was soft for a short furred dog and Nathan, along with Tony and all the other boys, were now excited. Sure the Father was trying to get their attention, but he wouldn't be trying if he had it!
The kids moved the chairs away in haphazard placements many of them eager to get a chance to pet the now very 'real' dog in their presence. A chance that Richter realized as his now soft dog ears slowly rose up to express his growing alarm. Before he realized a few things...
He could smell. He could smell the scents of old paper and the faintest scents of candle created smoke. There were other smells as well, smells he had no name for or understanding having only ever been with the senses of a human. Dogs had a much keener sense and he could only suspect he was experiencing were things that a dog would recognize. He looked down at himself and saw that his whole body had been affected. Those soft hapless puppy paws where strong, large and with very thick and dangerous looking claws.
'What breed did Yoko assign to me?' he pondered as the first few sets of small children pounced on him. Arms wrapped around his neck and hands patting him on the head, the children having closed in on him so he couldn't escape.
"Child... I... how..." Father Agosti called out, wishing he could get their attention. But he had seen the room before practice began. There was no dog in the room and outside of service animals there 'was' no pets of any sort allowed in the Vatican. The shepherd was far, too, large to be hidden easily and Elmo was a virtual living dog detector.
If this was something Sister Yoko had made possible; it seemed outright bizarre that it would manifest this way right now. But she wasn't here and he was at a loss. "Children! This is not how to behave in the house of our Lord," he tried.
"Oh... oh yeah that's right..."
Agosti wanted so badly to cry as Xavier, the lone child among the children behind him, milling past now to see the doggy, noted.
"But God loves dogs, too! That's why they all go to Heaven! So it will be ok if we pet this doggy right?" Xavier reasoned, though his voice lowered some as he apparently recalled a very 'scared of dogs' boy that he had become friends with.
"Yes, while it is true God loves all his creation, disruptions aren't something He is very keen on," the adult said even as he noticed the dog peeking out at him amid the numerous boys wanting a hug. Helpless Father Agosti turned and found Elmo curled up in the corner trying to make himself as small as possible. Jammed between between several tall stacks of chairs and the wall the boy was whimpering and covering his face.
"Little Elmo, I realize the dog is big, but he is still the same kind dog he was as a toy..." Agosti sat down giving Elmo a human wall. In case, but wouldn't happen, the dog got mean.
"Mommy... Daddy..."
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Time wasn't on Justes' side. Maybe he could find a way to get around the cart and avoid the man's sight. But if he stayed perhaps he could hear what the old man here had to say. 'The fact that he's down here bodes ill for his situation, if I stay now. There is no telling if the man will be here tomorrow if even the sound of the bag was enough to distract the priest...' Juste pondered before laying down under the bed.
Not that Juste needed food or water, so he settled down and watched as the priest walked away. 'There's a cart every night, soon enough there will be someone to tend to this stranger.' He told himself as he waited. His ears pricked and listening to the sound of the carts' slow and steady pace, wondering if Christopher could keep Simon and Richter from misbehaving on his own. Off in the distance he heard the door open and once he got that confirming click he crawled out from under the bed.
'Well now let's see who we have here...' Juste thought to himself as he began eyeing the bed post. Growing up Juste had a four poster bed, but Yoko's modern bed did not have such things, so he couldn't just climb up a pole. Nor could he, in good faith, just leap onto the bed, 'he looked so old if I jumped I could very well kill the man.'
A self propelled plushy from out of sight to the bed.
What elderly person could handle such a surprise well?
With that thought in mind Juste pondered if he could try to climb the bed, but the sheets were kept so smooth. Would the priests notice if there was some ruffling about from a dog shaped visitor? Everyone knew the Belmonts were roaming around the Vatican. Granted not that they were 'the' Belmonts, just Yoko's Stuffy Patrol.
'Well its not always the 'same' priest who mans that cart,' Juste eyed the bed before padding his way to the right side of the bed. No small tables, or anything really to be used for any purpose by the occupant. 'I have all day though,' he finally assured himself before jumping up. If the old man was still awake he wouldn't...
Juste landed and had to shake his head in surprise. His memory was of the man was brief, an ancient man with paper thin skin. His cheeks sagged down from their peeks to their jaw, his eyes sunk in. 'I'm sure if I tried harder I could recall some dead in the Castle that looked like him...' only what he saw at the peak of his jump was younger.
The man was still old, easily a man in his mid to late 90s or older. But he wasn't a skeleton that hadn't lost his skin and that alone was causing Juste a good deal of alarm. 'A Dark Child imprisoned in the Vatican Vaults?' It felt wrong and in concern he took another leap, bringing himself directly onto the bed.
'No, this isn't the ancient corpse I saw from the cart...' he thought as he sat there. The man had some hair on his head, though he 'was' balding. What he saw on his jump hadn't changed, leaving him completely confused. His head cocked to the side as he studied the man before him, before straightening up as the man opened his eyes.
"A... toy dog?" the voice was gravel, ground down from the lack of use and life. "A strange acquisition..."
The old man rubbed his eyes and opened them a bit wider revealing hints of red in his eyes mixed deeply with the brown. For anyone else it might have appeared he had brown eyes, but to a hunter like Juste? He frowned as his ears tilted back a little in growing concern only to watch the old man give a faint smile.
"A vampire in the Vatican? Is that what you are worried about my son?" amusement and fatigue laced his voice as he studied this stuffed toy. When the dog nodded slowly he nodded back in answer, "it has been a long time since I saw one with holy power in my presence. True, the room is filled with such items, but they are unliving items."
'How long I wonder...' Juste pondered as he slowly opted to approach so he could sit down next to the vampires' knees.
"If you have holy power and you came from outside the vault, by any chance has the Belmont been found?"
Juste balked a bit by the question, just asking about 'the' Belmont left a possible pool of potential Belmonts. He patted himself with his front paw even if he was unable to explain 'which' Belmont he was. While the vampire gave an amused smile and seemed to eye him more closely.
"I find it hard to believe Julius would be turned into a stuffed toy. I always thought Dracula to be a little more... cruel?"
'Oh, wait he knows Julius...' Juste suddenly grew eager as his thoughts on the journal the boys found and Simon kept came back to mind. 'So if I can somehow find a way to get Julius down here, or maybe find more of the books...' He shook his head in answer, while trying to think of a way he could communicate with the vampire.
"You're not Julius, however; you 'are' a Belmont?" the vampire asked, not bothering to sit up but he grew a little more heartened by the toys' nod. "Would you know if he's been found? He was lost at the end of the battle, but I have prayed these long years that he would be found safe."
The dog nodded his speed decreasing as he nodded to the first question, but sped back up when the second question had been answered. "Lord be praised, he lives...If he is your kin, you must get out of here and give him a message."
Both of the dogs' ears went forward as it stood up and walked up to the old man... Even if Simon would complain it was naive to do such a thing so easily. Juste could hear Simon even now...
"I placed journals through out the Vatican... I didn't realize until it was too late that there was a vampire that infiltrated us. No, not me," he began as his fingers curled to grasp the blanket covering him. "He came as a human, and worked to find ways to subvert the protections until he was immune to the holy properties of the grounds. I tried to stop him by bringing your ancestors remains here... But it was too late..."
'That's why we're here?!'
"He has risen in the ranks and had me turned against my will then sealed down here... I've been trapped by the very holy items that have been gathered and can not leave. I fear for my flock, Julius must be warned... By now I fear how strong the vampire has gotten as he has made thralls of the good men and women of many members of the church. We need the Belmonts."