Castlevania: Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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The faithful stepped to the side quickly in confusion as a series of choir boys came running outside the front of the Vatican. The way they clutched at their bags and ran, the devotees were left to ponder if there was a fire. A few going as far as to lightly sniff the air for any possible hint of smoke from the interior of the holy structure. But no, only the well recalled fragrance of candle smoke and incense could be detected.
Priests were chasing the children, calling for them to return to the church several calling for the attendees to help them. Many of those who merely sought a chance to visit the Vatican looked outright confused. Any effort to extend a hand to do so was half hearted at most, while the children continued to weave and duck their way through the crowd out of the church.
"Is there something going on? Why is the choir running off?" One person called out to the priests as the last child slipped away from the crowd.
They kept running, feet pounding the pavement as they charged forward bags in their arms. All the while the priests and guests were shouting, either at the kids or each other leaving the entrance in disarray. Quickly the sounds of traffic began to take over, allowing the Belmonts to realize they had to be approaching the outer walls of the church and the traffic outside.
"They're not stopping..." Juste noted in surprise as he was pinned to some childs' chest.
"Some of them sound like they're crying, what is going on?" Christopher noted as well in his own bag.
No one answered.
How could they?
Elmo was being sent away and the Belmonts were being sent with him.
"Elmo is under Alucards' guardianship, and someone higher up is sending Elmo away..." Simon reminded them, his ears wiggling.
From there no one said anything, left to their own concern inside their bags while the boys kept running... until panting happened and pleas for them to stop.
"What do we do if the priests come after them? I don't know if the boys will let us out," Richter pondered aloud. "We can't stop anyone from grabbing the children either."
More time passed, the children had dropped to walking speed with cars on one side, and the regular chatter of people around them.
"I'm sorry..." that was Elmo, at his utterly most dejected a voice one could possibly achieve.
"Don't. His Holiness said it was important for you to leave 'and be safe'."
"Yeah Elmo, trust in the Pope," Xavier could be heard a little further in the back. "But why did the priests chase us? His Holiness seemed to think this was important, for Elmo to leave... Is it because we took the Stuffy Patrol with us?"
"Uh why? I mean, Ms. Yoko isn't here, you'd think they'd 'help' us take the Patrol out of the church in that case..."
Water could be heard growing louder as the children walked, a steady flow that brought to mind a small spring or a fountain. Though which fountain? Simon was the only one who knew and he wasn't saying. The gossip was too damn important.
"I'm glad we're out, it was scary. I never heard Father yell like that before."
Various voices sounded their agreement, they began describing the run in detail. Leaving the Belmonts silent and worried. It wasn't exactly clear though, each child talking over each other leaving a jumbled noise at how this began. All the while the sound of a fountain drifted further and further behind them.
"Lets take a break," Tony could be heard announcing before several kids gave overly dramatic groans of relief. Their voices were mildly muted by the sounds of water fountains and childish sipping. The number of adults dismissing the children for their own conversations, drowned the childrens' voice and gave the children some privacy while they were outside. Though not much.
"I wish they would just get someplace safe." Richter grumbled his ears dipping down in annoyance.
"Where is 'safe' though? They're running from priests sent by the 'Vatican', no door is going to stay closed to the priests..." Simon pointed out as worry began to fill his stuffing filled gut.
Not all the children had the same starting point in their tales, it was clear they were in various parts of the Vatican when this began. So only a child holding a respective Belmonts' tale got heard clearly. While Simon was treated to the sensation that he was being put on a lap. The top of the bag began moving about before it fell away, allowing him to see the world again.
Behind Tony was the River Tiber, a distance that the children had traveled that alarmed the man. The boys were in the city, Tony was one of the older boys true, but he and his age group were vastly outnumbered by the younger children. No adults save men out of time and in the forms of stuffed toys, and how long until one of the younger children wandered off?
"Here Snuggy!" Xavier walked over and held this sheet of paper out to the bear. Ever earnest he didn't seem to grasp that Simon lacked the necessary thumbs to hold a sheet of paper.
"It got really scare Mr. Simon," Tony confessed quietly. "Elmo said he didn't recognize the people looking after his holiness..."
Simon struggled with the paper, pushing it until Tony took it and unfolded it for the man. It took two seconds for Simon to give a mental sigh. "Juste where are you?"
"Here?" Juste called out tapping at the boy holding him and unsure of how to signal his actual location.
Simon looked around and seeing the waving from one bag gestured towards it and the paper. "Its in Latin, the old stuff..." he explained in a disgruntled voice.
"Ahh I see..." Juste replied even as Tony got up and carried Simon over with the paper towards Marcel.
They opened the bag and let Juste stick his head out, while Simon could just barely hear the other younger kids starting to apologize to Richter and Christopher for the 'stuffy napping'.
Juste looked down at the letter that had been given. It took only reading who the letter was addressed 'to' and the opening line for him to realize how big a danger the children were in.
Alucard,
I have sent Elmo and many of the Cherub Choir out of the Vatican, their lives are in danger, the devil has found purchase here.
"They need to go home..." Juste began before shaking his head in annoyance. "But what is to stop the priests from going to their homes? Questions will be asked and we have no way to explain the situation."
"We're out of the Vatican though, away from our corpses, so maybe we can reach Kazu? He speaks English..." Christopher pointed out thoughtfully in his bag.
"We need the children and their parents safe from whatever has started to manifest in the Vatican." Richter elaborated as he rubbed at his nose. "If the children would sing we could maybe transform. But with two of you being 'bears' that could cause a whole different form of trouble."
Juste eyed the people walking by and grabbed the sheet with his mouth then sank down to get back into the bag.
"Huh? Where are you going Mr. Juste?" Marcel asked confused.
"Maybe Mr. Juste is shy? We never took him out of the Vatican before," a few of the smallest choir members suggested. "We should show them around!"
"I dun want to! I'm scared! The priests were scary!" another child began his voice wavering with tears and mounting fears.
"And here we go," Simon sighed, his voice amazingly soft for the situation. It lacked the typical resentment or anger associated with him and instead puttered about at almost sympathetic. "This is shitty though. The modern world doesn't teach these kids survival, and what are we supposed to do? Whatever the threat was that had Alexander send Elmo away can track these kids 'or' their parents down!" Simon's paws curled into fists as he sank back down into his bag. "Its the 'church' for Gods' sake! They won't believe we're people, the church can make accusations that we're demon possessed!"
"Oh God what..." Juste muttered as covered his face with his paws.
"We need to get our clan here," Richter announced resolute. "We need them to get here as soon as possible to protect these families."
"How?!" Simon demanded. "Yoko isn't here. 'No one' is here..."
"Kazu! If we can get one of the kids to let us use a phone we can call Kazu and have him call his mother..." Richter began growing angry at Simon's irrational anger.
The kids holding the pair shared glances of growing concern as the plushies got more physically expressive of a clear conversation they were not part of.
"How is Valencia supposed to know about this though? We can't reach Alucard from here, even with a phone the castle has no reception!" Simon pointed out his ears going full wiggle. "If the clans find out about Kazu he, Yoko and Valencia will get cast out of the clan and we can't afford 'any' clan being weakened in a situation like this. Damn it, I feel like we've been played!"
"Just have Valencia say 'you' told her you over stressed children's toy!" Richter shot back in frustration.
"That doesn't work! I never had freedom to express myself until much later in Yoko's life! As far as her clan thinks of me, I'm just an extraordinary spell. Convincing them that she somehow managed to yank my soul out of the afterlife? We simply don't have time! We need to get the clans here 'now'!"
"And the clans have become incredibly bureaucratic about clan politics, given we're talking six different clans." Juste admitted with frustration, "Who knows what venom has been fed to the clans at this point while we've been in the Vatican? The LeCardes are outriders because they're purely loyal to Alucard. That said, the Belnades clan can excommunicate the women without even contacting the other clans because its purely 'clan' business. So we would need to 'not' just get in contact 'with the clan' it is vital that we get in contact with a clan that can override the Belnades. The Belmonts are crippled in that because Julius is in the castle with the others at the moment. His sons are not trained or active heirs. No one who has the voice to speak on behalf of the clan is free except Valencia's mother."
Richter paused, his words dying as he realized his grandfathers logic. Kazu didn't know any of the other clans, he'd call his mom. And it was true, the current 'heads' were: Julius, Yoko, Sam, Max, and the LeCarde twins... "What of the DaNasty clan? Who is their current leader?"
"Michelle, but she's in China. She can't just drop everything and leave there. But that's 'government' politics."
"Is Michelle bilingual? Or would that mean that Kazu would have to be a near omniglot?" Juste asked as he continued trying to think. He didn't know if Kazu spoke more than two languages... It felt impossible to think he would given his mostly normal upbringing.
"We can do this," Christopher spoke up resolute in tone. "Simon's right about the clans, Valencia would be considered a head of the clan unless her mother steps in. Which she probably would regarding Kazu's existence. But that would happen later, Valencia could certainly get the ball rolling without any trouble. Only we have a weapon that would silence any detractors from getting us help or can get Valenica or Yoko out of trouble." It was so calm, so confident that even Simon said nothing and instead waited patiently. Even as his own fury filled brain started to formulate that answer itself.
"We have Leon. Unlike us, Leon 'can' be heard by the living without a medium. He is the patriarch of the whole clans, regardless of what happens in the Belnades clan, he can mobilize the clans easily. More over, given the situation Alexander will probably be willing to undo the seal on Soma. With his full power he 'should' be strong enough to make Sophia visible to the living. Whatever happened, the clan 'has' to listen to Sophia's spirit."
Juste nodded in his bag, his paws holding the sheet of paper out so he could read it properly. "From what His Holiness writes, it appears that key members of the staff have gone missing. He doesn't recognize these people and he was merely told they were 'newly promoted and arrived from other churches.' But it doesn't sit right with him, and that he would explain once he sees Alucard again..."
"That's it?" Richter asked a little frown forming on his face. "It seems too brief."
"It is, and I've not seen enough of his writing to know if its how he normally writes." Juste agreed as he hid there. "It looks like he wrote in a rush, and that is very likely given how the children rushed out of the building."
The letters looked more like slashes, the curves for various letters ended with points in some cases. Whatever the Pope had beheld clearly bothered him.
"Uh what do we do now? I don't know if the Stuffy Patrol wants to be separated. But two of them are dogs..." One kid asked.
"Then there's the fact Elmo lives in the Vatican, so where does he go now?" Tony asked, while several kids having caught their breaths had begun crying.
"Why did they yell at us? The pope said to get Elmo out and we did!"
"He must have started picking up on the thralls," Richter realized as they sat there. "I suppose something must have happened to make it visible to him."
"Hey! I can ask my parents if Elmo can spend a few nights!" Xavier offered as he raised his hand so Tony could see him. "My parents already know Elmo and there's room in my room! Since the Pope asked us to do this mommy and daddy will be fine with it!"
"We need access to a phone, be able to reach Kazu, and keep the boys from separating us," Christopher realized as the kids began to round themselves up and start walking.
"Well I suppose that's possible," Simon looked up and began tapping on Tony's chest.
"Hmm? What is it Simon?" Tony asked as he opened the bag and peered down at the bear. Watching said bear pantomime using a phone was certainly interesting... "But Simon you can't talk? Who are you going to call?"
"Video calling is a thing you know..." Simon growled over the other three warning him not to try and strangle Tony.
"Ms. Yoko!" Several voices cheered out in uplifted enthusiasm. "He probably wants to call her!"
"But she has a phone... oh maybe its in her room?"
"Not that we can go back there, what will happen to us if we go back to the Vatican? They looked really angry that we left..."
With that the kids stopped walking, the crying became more obvious and the Belmonts were left silent and helpless. It was true after all, despite their ages, the kids had seen with clarity their situation. What were any of them to do if these thralls in the robes of priests showed up at their door looking for them? Would their parents believe them? Maybe, but more than likely not.
"We can't really do much can we? Even if the children sang for us and we changed... We'd just cause more trouble..." Richter admitted as he sat in his bag. "Sure it could just be me and grandfather, but run through all of the city?"
"All the more reason why we need to reach Kazu to talk to his mother," Simon replied. "More over he can explain to any of the grown ups who may understand English the situation."
"Do you think they're going to believe us though? I mean we're just toys that move," Juste pointed out.
"Its important to reach people who haven't been contacted by the church before us in that case." Christopher pointed out, "otherwise things could get more difficult and I'd rather not have children be involved."