Castlevania: Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
A/N: Granted this is a little early maybe but I have a hurricane coming so better a little early than reaallyy late.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
The door opened without any fanfare, just a young miko with an adorable lion plushy in her arms. Leon was dressed in a different samurai outfit looking as dapper as any lion possibly could as a stuffed toy. The esteemed founder of the Belmont Clan hung in her arms like any other toy. Expressionless and unmoving until Mina shut the door, where upon he turned to look at the company in the room.
"Good morning..."
It was surprising and rather endearing as Leon attempted Japanese.
"Close!" Trevor cheered realizing that Leon had been learning Japanese. Instead of being a bitter lion like a certain bear of a Belmont. "Uh a little help here Kazu..."
"Oh! But its not morning... Ahh..." Mina began explaining the proper afternoon greeting even as she placed Leon on the table. Trevor moved giving up the head position and settled himself on Leon's right paw side.
"My apologies..." Leon replied as he worked to get himself seated and comfortable. "About the Castle..."
With that he had the whole room's attention with the type of focus that a pin could drop and shatter it. Or a building could fall outside and not be noticed. It almost felt like home back when he stood before his troops when he was a knight. "Castle still sealed. Reported unsealing began. Mathias pushed back. Unaware of it."
The expressions on everyone's faces varied in unsurprising was. Mina looked relieved, Trevor and the others bore the expected alarmed. While Kazu began... Oh yes 'texting', with a strained, focused expression on his face.
"Soma pushed the Castle back into the seal?" Sophia asked as she spoke the clarification that everyone needed. With Leon's nod both relieving them and worrying them further.
Trevor looked over at his wife before turning to look back at Leon with a concerned frown. "He's unaware of it though? He didn't know the Castle was returning and pushed it back as a response? Or was it something he did as a reaction without thought?"
Leon lowered his head as he tried to think of a way to clarify his words, "eyes closed shut." He lifted his hands and made a gesture as though he was shutting a door.
"So he's unaware," Kazu repeated as he continued texting the conversation to his mother and sister. He already had the expectant alarmed text backs from his original message to answer.
"Yes." Leon nodded.
"Unaware of what?" Mina meekly asked as she looked among the others in the room.
"Oh, uh, apparently the Castle was about to be unsealed, Soma pushed it back into the seal himself. Apparently on instinct," Kazu voiced for the rest of the clan.
"So at least its not a situation where Soma was overloaded with his powers..." Sophia offered with a frown. "Or is it 'because' he was getting overloaded that he shoved the Castle back? I find it hard to believe that he 'wouldn't' want the Castle back. At least on the instinctual level you speak of, since that part of him 'would be' Dracula."
"Not overload. Ring blocks powers. Mathias turned back."
Kazu stopped typing as they all thought back on what they had heard and or seen. 'Mathias turned back' not 'started to' he made a full transition back.
"Reject change. Reject return."
"And the seal? Part of it has been ripped almost clean out. Is Soma somehow holding it in place? We know that he was, at least, passively letting the seal mend before.." Sophia floated over to sit by Leon's left, putting herself between the founder of the Belmonts and the poor Miko who didn't deserve all this trouble.
"Seal paper tiger."
"Paper tiger?" Mina repeated confused, not seeing the wince on Kazu's face as it was turned down towards his phone.
"If I'm following this. The seal is useless now, its about as strong as a paper tiger," Kazu explained earning a solemn nod from Leon.
"Trevor," Sophia made a sweeping gesture for her husband to come closer, or more accurately, to Mina. For which he obliged his wife, walking over and gently rubbing the back of her folded hands with his ever soft paw.
"My family and I live here. The Hakuba shrine is sacred ground. If the seal has lost its power what will happen to us? My family sealed the Castle where countless evil spirits have been sealed over time. What if they moved into the Castle? If it emerges here what will become of my family?" Mina asked, her face pale enough to worry others that she might faint. Even under Trevor's paw he could feel her starting to tremble. "I remember what it was like when we went to the Castle the first time. Mr. Arikado put that seal up to shield me and the others, but even 'he' admitted that it would lose power as time went on. I had started to pass out, randomly fell asleep, I..."
Sophia was at a loss on how to help the girl. Everyone was busy trying to find Alucard. Her clan's hands were tied in the matter, both the living in the search and the dead could not aid in sustaining or mending the seal. The futility of her situation caused her to turn to her husband for some form of guidance. Yet he could only just sit there in front of her his gaze on his ancestor. While the clan founder could only shake his head in answer, the slightest of bend in the ears to indicate his own emotions on the matter.
"Threat was Chaos. Darkness not same. Mathias can control. Must control," Leon pointed out, to the best of his ability. 'Mathias knew a threat of this magnitude was inevitably. Though I highly doubt he thought he could be forced back into being a vampire while standing on shrine grounds. But should that have even 'happened'? How could he turn back into a vampire if he is human? He has not performed either rituals to be turned in the first place.'
"Well from our point of view Darkness is not innate evil its true, and Soma was raised in our culture," Kazu began. "But does that hold any weight against the centuries he lived as a European vampire?" When no answer was forthcoming from any of the Hunters he sighed. "I'm not looking forward to this, but I think I need to take a walk outside the range of Trevor's influence."
"Should you though? We already know the situation with Soma, it seems rather superfluous to me," Trevor asked as he adjusted his position so he could see Kazu while still keeping in touch with Mina.
"Why? You said you see spirits of the dead. These won't be 'that' they're going to be demons and uncleaned souls..." Mina pointed out in concern, the memory of the castle playing back behind her eyes.
"There's too much expected of Soma at this point. He has no access to his power, but he's going to be expected to keep a castle in the seal. With no help what so ever on this side until his guardians can return. Yoko and Mom are at a loss about what to do as well. So I need to see how far this damage really 'is'. Not to mention we don't know how long the Castle has been 'here', did it exist here in response to the original seal? Or did it move here in response to Soma moving to Japan?"
"You have a valid point," Trevor confessed with a small sigh. "But I don't like it all the same, her concern is certainly valid. The Castle is not to be trifled with, so if you're set on this course at least call the Shishi to you. At the very least this is actually closer to what they're created for."
"Yes, sir," Kazu answered with a faint smile before he lifted his gaze to Sophia. "Could you please tell them to come here?"
"On my way," Sophia answered floating out of the room and off to Kazu's apartment.
'I wish there was something that didn't amount to just 'cold comfort' to offer Mina. She has a point that its possible that her whole family could be in danger. We need to find a new place for the Castle, and its original location is off the table. But 'where' would be a good place,' Trevor thought to himself. They couldn't just lead it back to its original location, there was enough dark powers to pull the castle out of its seal and plant it right back. Soma or no Soma.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
The sun was setting, making a slow slide down the other side of the hill the shrine rested on, but already there were shadows starting to reach out. At that moment Mina was taking Trevor and Leon back to Soma. Thankfully the shrine was large enough that Kazu could stay on the grounds and not worry about playing in traffic for his investigation. So long as Trevor stayed on the far side of the shrine, Kazu would be free to experience his own uncontrollable power.
Sadly his Shishi were not having the best time of this, they seemingly paddled through the air, their paws digging in as though on the ground. Struggling to propel themselves forward and coming off as though they were nose high in snow. The edge of the barrier that Trevor naturally generated created the warning sparks of electricity that sent Kazu's thinnest and shortest hairs up.
The static of that change passed over him, instinctual causing him to shiver to cast off the dancing spiders on his skin. While below a seeping miasma rose from the ground, a thick, noxious odor and visual soupy, thick fog assailed his senses. While the grass wilted under the strain of trying to absorb it for their 'own' life sustaining process. Looking up from there he could marginally see what was once the wall to the shrine. Now grimy, chipped and worn down the wall rose above him shutting out the outside world.
Shadows moved against the fog. Hulking, intimidating shadows loomed up on the other side of the obscuring fog as they lumbered along. Floating or walking some of the shadows seemed either human or animal, but if they were originally either he couldn't tell. There was a thick feeling of anger in the voices he heard. Some he didn't understand, others he clearly understood and the anger that was felt before had not abated these long months. Echos of clopping hooves or soft hoots were bad enough as they staggered out through the thick air.
There was an apprehension though in how there was also the sound of a bone being chewed. That sharp stab as teeth bit down and fought for purchase on a defiant bone. Sound was carried, bounced, the feeling of overwhelming presence was still there. The goose bumps running up his body were a panicked warning. This was a masterless castle at the moment, and while Yoko never told him about the history of the clans in detail. Or really anything about 'Dracula' save he was extremely dangerous. There was this growing feeling of a zoo with the cage doors open.
No one was here save his Shishi.
'So this is... no wait they said that the Chaos was gone, this is just darkness. Is this something that Soma hasn't finalized? I see spirits normally but I can't see anything here, even Sophia and I 'know' she has to be here.' Memories of the first time he met Soma brought back the presence of the souls and the voices he heard. So this was where they stayed? This strange field of nothing? But if he was facing the outer wall, it would only make sense that the Castle should be behind him.
He took a deep breath to steady himself, only for the folly to fill his own lungs with that horrid vapor. Irritated by this corrupted version of oxygen, his lungs tried to expel it the fastest way it knew how. Giving Kazu a coughing fit as the two Shishi struggled over to him, straining to push a small pocket of the fumes back.
Off to the side, Soleli observed the happenings with naked curiosity. Mediums were an unknown to him growing up, so seeing Kazu 'in his own environment' proved fascinating. The coughing fit was odd, though perhaps that Kazu didn't seem to 'see' Soleli was worrisome. 'He's not trained as a hunter or a spell caster. But there are things that even we can't see?' Soleli thought as he drifted closer.
A frown formed on his face at Kazu's continued obliviousness to the Belmonts' approach. The Shishi were not something Soleli fully understood, but he was used to their movements being fluid. Dolphins in the sea with the way they could slip and move about back at Kazu's apartment.
"Woah!" Kazu had turned around and threw himself backwards, tripping over his own feet as he ended up flat on his back. His eyes gazing upwards above even the roof of the shrine, and sweeping the area in alarm.
"Kazu! Are you ok?" Soleli rushed over, a frown crossing his face as he saw Sophia just hovering in shouting distance. They exchanged glances, Sophia looking slightly perturbed though she stayed silent. "Kazu! Answer me."
"Ahh, Soleli? Are you there?" Kazu turned his head slightly, his eyes sweeping the area in search of the speaker. A speaker who was literally kneeling by his shoulder and yet despite that Kazu's eyes kept passing through Soleli. "Its real foggy, the bad type... I can't see you..." Kazu explained with a tremor to his voice. His eyes kept darting about, never settling on anything for long even the spirit who until now had been clearly visible.
"Yes, I'm right here... what can you see?" Soleli replied, containing his own curiosity over how the Castle would manifest influenced by 'Soma'?
"The shrine is gone, and the only thing I see is a tear in its place, but the darkness is a veil of sorts. Its an eye ok? Its an eye, I don't see any of the normal parts of an eye. But its blinking and its whirling like its looking all around the extremes of its range and I need Trevor.." Kazu answered when eye blinked again "Oh uhhh..."
The darkness whirled in an uniformed direction closing in until it focused on Kazu. That was when it started developing... proper eye attributes... 'The hell type of Castle is this?' Why was it causing this immense, irrational fear?
"Sophia?" Soleli called out in concern while trying to keep his voice low. He quickly made his way to her side before nudging his head towards Kazu. "I'm getting Trevor, Kazu's just went white as a sheet..."
Sophia watched as Soleli took off back into the shrine before rushing to Kazu's side. Concern growing as she saw 'that' look. His eyes were sweeping the ground and himself in alarm as both Shishi bracketed him. The one who ate evil held its mouth open wide until it started to choke on the intake of evil it was trying to process. It was meant to eat 'some' evils, and in alarm Sophia grabbed its mouth and tried to shut it.
"Stop, you can't eat all of this, its more important to get Kazu power subdued!" As Sophia struggled with the Spirit Guardian she turned to check on Kazu. The young man was white as a sheet bordering on passing out as he began pushing back from the shrine more and more.
"What... are... are you ok?"
A voice, as calming and refreshing as a splash of cold water touched Kazu's ears as the eye blinked and closed. Opening again only to reveal the interior of a long stone work hallway. He could see 'people' of sorts moving about, people dressed as maids and butlers seemed to be cleaning the hallway. Perfectly normal if not for the off living flesh tones. The voice of 'Dracula's wife' some distant part of his mind recognized the voice as, even as the most relevant parts of his mind babbled.
"Kazu! Trevor's coming its going to be ok!" Sophia called out, trying to get Kazu to look at something 'other' than the wall to the shrine.
"Mina literally dropped Trevor out the window, he's coming," Soleli announced as he flew through the wall in question. Only to become 'more' concerned with how Kazu looked it was the look of a man who had looked into the heart of the Abyss. "This isn't normal, the Castle shouldn't have this affect on anyone though."
"Well our clans have only ever faced the Castle when it was fully here in the world," Sophia theorized aloud. "We've never known what the Castle looks like in the chaos where it normally existed during times of Dracula's banishment."
"Kazu! I'm here!" Trevors' voice cut off his wife's already brief explanation as he turned the corner and went straight to Kazu. Slamming into Kazu's side with enough comical force as to knock the guy over onto his left as though Trevor was a full sized retriever and not a stuffed dog. While Kazu passed out before he even hit the ground.