Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
A/N: Trying to catch up...
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"Soma? Do you want to keep Leon?" Mina asked, watching as Soma pushed himself from the railing of the walkway and turned to walk alongside her back to her home. "I mean, you've been so attentive towards him and he reacts to you soo.."
He watched her try to pass the lion to him and he gave a small rueful smile before shaking his head. "No, if he showed up for you, then its more important that he stays with you. I don't really remember him anyway, he just makes me feel," with that Soma paused and grew thoughtful as he tried to think of a good analogy for how he felt. "Kinda like how I feel around Julius, that I'm safe around them. Regardless of the whole 'we're going to have to kill you' issue that they represent for my well being. Which is why I've been thinking so much since seeing him. But I've been around Snuggy before and never had the same reaction, and it didn't develop or intensify around the rest of the Baskin Belmont Bunch."
She looked down at the lion in her arms with his big glass eyes and sweet nonthreatening face, with a human soul trapped inside it. He was soft, plush, and apparently the body was made out of some type of magical force that allowed it to appear and be purchased from a shop. Which made her pause and blink before looking up at Soma. "Say, Soma, how could Leon make the shell and have it be purchased in the shop then? After all he had a bar code on him and every... OH NO! Poor Mr. Leon got stuffed!"
Soma started to crack up again, and turning to look at her mortified expression while under a street light did 'not' help him. Hugging the poor toy lion to her chest and smothering said toy as she let her mind continue the play back. The thoughtless sticking of the voice box and manhandling of the poor doll. Ending with her looking up at Soma in an accusatory fashion at his out right laughter.
"I think he's probably more mortified that you've got his face shoved between your breasts Mina. Besides, just because he may have been involved in the shells' creation to begin with, it doesn't mean he was actively trapped in the body until Yoko did her stuff." He kept laughing as she shoved the poor lion at arms length from her body with her face a vivid, flushed, red. "Look Mina, I don't think he minds being carried like a baby since he can't move on his own yet. When he can walk around on his own, 'then' discuss how you should bring him places. Not when he can barely talk," he teased as he walked towards her and, with patience and a firm touch, guided her arms back into a 'hold the baby' position.
She looked down at said lion in embarrassment, giving profuse apologizes while Soma walked along side her. His laughter had died down to a low chuckle as he walked along, and once again it felt normal to be around him. Unlike the raging tension that seemed to go about the apartment, here under the sky, Soma felt normal again. But she wondered if it was something she should bring up or not.
The past few months had been mostly silence from him, so getting the call straight out of the blue to go to this apartment was a surprise. "Hey, Soma? What convinced you to invite me to hang out with you like this? I haven't really heard from you in a while, though I know its the phone in part, couldn't you stop by at the shrine or something?"
The street was pretty empty, there were rows of apartments on either side of them, the white of the paint now gray under the darkness and the stark lights on the road. Shadows seeming to connect many things touched by the light to the darkness beyond. In fact the most brightest thing in sight was Soma's long coat, it stood out like a beacon amid all the night around them, topped off by his pure white hair. It was a comfort, almost like a bright star lighting the way through the darkness about them.
"Do you remember what you said to me when I asked if I changed?" He asked into the darkness, not turning to look at her, but his voice was very matter-of-fact in tone.
Mina shuddered at the thought of the Castle, remembering the cold stone walls that sandwiched her between the outer wall and the castle. The dead grass and statues lining the stone path, despite walking in the city at night, she recalled the dark gray sky above her, the bony finger like limbs of bushes and trees off in the distance.
The one time she saw monsters came in the form of those horrible winged skeletons that had rushed out the front gates. The sight of an actual monster made her faint in shock, and when she came to Soma was gone and Mr. Arikado had been tending to her. While he explained that she needed to stay where she was, eventually she wasn't alone. With Mr. Hammer finally showing up armed to the teeth with all manners of guns and weapons.
By the time Hammer had shown up she had already started feeling the effects of the Castle, giving her occasional headaches or dizziness. Thus she wasn't sure if she could trust her judgment when she saw him come stomping out of the Castle with all those large, dangerous, weapons. Even if the majority were swords and such. Though Soma's assurance that 'Hammer' was an ok, albeit odd, type of guy and not to worry about him set her at ease. She also noticed how Soma or Mr. Arikado's presence had a way of pushing away those ill feelings that she could only ascribe to the Castle.
It wasn't until Mr. Arikado had arrived carrying Yoko in his arms that she began to lose hope that they would get out of the Castle. He had explained that someone had hurt Yoko, but he had used a potion to heal her, which had been the first thing that had bothered her. Potions. The idea that there was a type of liquid that existed that could heal injuries. How was it made? Could it be used to help other injuries? If it was so potent as to heal stab wounds, because he couldn't lie about her 'injury' when her whole stomach area awash with blood.
But he had coldly, because he was never warm, rebuffed her efforts to learn, telling her only that there was only two ways to get them. Which the only one he would tell her was to 'travel through the Castle itself'. So that pretty much ended her inquiry and left her fussing over her big sister. Asking Soma later had proven useless, because he only knew of the Castle itself. Telling her that Hammer had potions for sell because he came across them while he was in the Castle. But he had been worried over Yoko as well, once mentioning a serious injury that a potion healed. Yet he didn't pass out from them, so he didn't understand why she didn't just wake up.
It was later, after that when his visit got, odd. Scary even. He asked her if he ever changed would she be ok with it. When he asked, his appearance had already changed in ways that she found alarming. He didn't walk or strode down the path like he normally did, he stalked like a tiger in the jungle. Upon his approach she could see his eyes had gone from their usual, coolly, apathetic, indifference to a type of hunger. He just looked intense, even as his body posture didn't change when standing still, it was just those nuisances that did that made her wary.
As for speaking? Between his eyes growing paler and almost hypnotic in their gaze, he seemed to be actively avoiding opening his mouth when he talked. Not exactly muttering, but she could a pair of fangs peeking out of the corners of his mouth. He wasn't even 'trying' to scare her either, she had seen enough fake fangs to know when she saw them. His lips lacking the look that most people had when putting on fake fangs. Not to mention the ease to which he was able to talk with them in, given he never wore fangs. Those things would take time to get used to, she would imagine, what with how the tips could easily bump into the bottom row of teeth.
But he spoke as though fangs were natural, not even showing any type of lisp in his words. But it was the first time she saw him honestly engaged in his surroundings. His old gaze was always coolly disinterested, the effort was focused on getting him engaged in what was going on. So seeing him actually fully engaged was alarming, the way his whole focus seemed to take everything and judging it. While true he usually looked to be judging everything, it had always been with a casual disregard that he would throw whatever away. At that moment, the judging being discarded would be a mercy, he looked more willing to actively strike things down instead.
He carried himself like a predator who had discovered would be challengers all through out his territory. His question had made no sense at the time and she hadn't realized what he had been going through in the Castle. In the present tense she understood why he asked and what he had been fearing, but in all honesty? She would have said the same even if she had known, though she would have softened her words. Realizing things better as she would have.
"Yes, that I would rather see you change physically rather than internally," she answered as they turned down another road towards the shrine.
Soma nodded in answer, and continued to wordlessly walk along letting the silence drag out like taffy being worked. Talk and then silence that dragged on and on with no weight, just strangely relaxed. Until, "But you're not Dracula anymore. You're you. The person you were doesn't exist anymore, so why be held responsible for that?" She asked finally into the silence.
"How about an example, it might make explaining this easier," Soma offered, turning his head slightly to glance down at her, when she nodded he continued. "Imagine a fully grown tree that is planted in an area that is counter productive. The cheapest and safest option is to cut the tree down, pull out the trunk and smooth over the ground it was resting at. Or dig up the tree, roots and all, and plant it somewhere else. Sure the change in surroundings could help the tree to thrive, but its not an instant thing."
"But you're not a tree! That would work for each time Dracula was resurrected, but you are a reincarnation, there's a difference!" Mina argued, shifting from holding Leon like a baby and into a plush doll, tucked under one arm. She hugged the lion against her chest and planted her chin on his maned head. "You've lived a brand new life with nothing attaching you to the past-"
"Save my soul." He finished for her with a rueful sigh. "I think that's the thing that connects you to Leon. You both have a line in the sand that you won't ever cross, but its a line that I willingly cross. But living a life fueled by hate means that I had to find new things to hate and I didn't want to anymore. I'm tired of hating, but it just leaves fatigue and at the end of the day; I just don't always have the energy or interest in trying to pretend that I'm as young as I've become."
"You didn't think like that after we escaped the Castle, did you?" Mina asked in alarm, as she looked down at the plush lion head she was holding. Then remembering the soul 'inside' said plush and quickly put Leon back in her arms again like a baby.
"No, I felt fine after we escape the Castle. I never felt more free and liberated than the time after the Castle. But the whole second castle..." Soma shook his head at the memory, trying to think of a time when he 'didn't' feel a type of fatigue in its presence. The looming reminder of the past he was trying to leave, the fact that people clearly knew about him and the danger that it would keep him in.
Or even the clear signs of his powers evolving from more than just collecting, but increasing in strength when he attained more of the same types of souls. Allowing Yoko to take those souls to forge weapons had been another ability he didn't realize he could do until then. Leaving him questioning if there 'was' a way to escape his past. "Fortners' stunt left me tired, yes, but after the stunt with Doppelganger I just... I was always tired after that, from losing myself to my anger and hate. Then further after the guys calmed me down," his voice softened as he kept his thoughts on the past and trying to remember. 'Did' this feeling of unending exhaustion exist because he had been fighting the group, or was that normal fatigue?
He shook his head as he tried to remember and then finally shrugged slowly, "I don't recall. I was so exhausted by the end, I don't recall anything until a week later when I woke up at Arikados' place. Everything else is a blur or a muffled faint sound. After that I was still a little off when we went to the Vatican." He confessed finally his voice lost to the memories. "I was fine talking to the Cardinal, but I smelled blood and I knew it was Arikados'... It was a violation, the smell of 'his' blood smelled like some type of violation. And I know that any type of sense of violation is going to trigger my blood lust now."
Mina didn't know what to say to that, she absently began scratching Leon's stomach as she walked along. Wracking her brain for something to pull him away from just giving into these types of dark thoughts. She realized now why he had asked about that conversation in the Castle, as it gave him an estimation of how far he could trust her. The copy of her being murdered had been enough to trigger him into whatever acts he took in the castle. Which caused a cold lump to grow in her stomach as she reached an understanding of just 'why' Soma hadn't come to visit her often. Not just the seals or protections of the shrine, but because her unwillingness to accept his dark side. What he had essentially been asking back in the Castle was; if he needed someone to pull him back from those violent thoughts, would she be willing to pull him back? Regardless of how terrifying he was.
Only she had no intention of being that person.
He scared her just in the shift of appearance, and the thought of him going even more dangerous? She couldn't handle it and that was probably the most painful part of it. He had always been aloof and detached from the world around him. From the first time she saw him in first grade he just made her feel like he was so bored. Of course the first time she saw him was while in class and he was being introduced to them.
Their teacher refusing to believe that he was naturally born with white hair had dumped water on the top of his head. For which Soma didn't react all that badly, he just sighed, dug out a small wash cloth from his bag and began drying his face.
"Where am I going to sit?" Soma asked as their strict teacher began trying to rub away the white hair color.
At least the white hair coloring he expected to find, but no matter how much force he put into it the color didn't leave. But what he 'did' get was a pair of unamused electric blue eyes shadowed by bangs looking at him.
Though hearing him talk, the first thing that the students picked up on was his Spanish inflections of Japanese words. He was fluent, but also foreign and unimpressed or intimidated by the teachers' stern demeanor. Even as the teacher barked out, "don't you have any manners? This isn't whatever foreign school you went to last year!"
"And I would know how? Since I was soaked for the same exact reason last year," the kid facing him down retorted automatically. "Maybe I'm not a Foreigner student and your a Foreigner teacher? Should I check to see if the other kids can understand me?"
And the room pretty much seemed to explode in the wrath of their teacher. Every student pretty much knew not to cross him, and froze as he continued railing about the new kids' behavior. At least until there was a knock at the door and the teacher from the next class poked her head in.
"Ahh is there something wrong?" Mrs. Ugajin asked blinking at the scene before her, her face framed by a nice bob cut.
Mr. Yagami just tried to get himself calmed down to get a coherent word out while Mrs. Ugajin stepped further into the room. Her neat and clean appearance coupled with the unimpressed expression on her face was comforting to the students. She walked over to new boy and noticing the lack of a name on the board knelt down.
"You're a new student?"
"Yes, ma'am." The new boy replied simply, and she seemed to pick up the subtle signs of something because she nodded.
"Well in Japan when a student is new, its customary for them to write their name on the board so the students can read it and introduce themselves." Mrs. Ugajin explained patiently and watched as the small boy blinked and then turned towards the board. Pleasantly enough he obeyed her direction and found some chalk to write his name. Both in a language they didn't recognize and in Japanese, before turning around and walking to the side of the desk.
"Hi, I'm Cruz, Soma."
Mrs. Ugajins' expression of amusement came in the form of the curl of the corner of her mouth. "That's mostly right, ah you should say 'Hello my name is Cruz, Soma, please be kind to me.' Something like that." She offered for which she got him to turn around.
"But 'my' name is Soma!" His voice carried the sound of childish teasing which warmed her up. She ruffled his hair affectionately and he turned and recited her suggestion.
She got him seated next to Mina, which he emulated the other boys' desks about where he put his bag and climbed into his seat. Looking at Mina with the expectation of guidance with his messy drying white hair clinging to his face.