Castlevania: Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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"This was never in the clans history books." Yoko announced as she looked at the interior of The Nasty. The local safe house location of the DaNasty clan had a front of being a bar in town, while being the epicenter of any help that the Dark Children might need. What with the Castle's original grounds being 'right there'. Washing over them first was the smell of old cigarettes and liquor. A testament to the age of the establishment since smoking had long since fallen out of favor. It still haunted the air of this sturdy little bar.
The bar itself where the patrons would sit at was long and comfortably worn. With a matching length mirror at the back and array of bottles of various sizes, labels and colored liquids. Various lights, faint though they were still danced along the bottles just as the smallest of stars in the night sky. Tables dotted the floor only visible by the faintest of glows from the lights around the bar and the exit sign. Bar stools were pulled out from the tables and the bar itself, drinks were left sitting on the tables waiting for their owners to return.
But the light glistened on small pools of liquid, undoubtedly spilled by a few of the patrons when they were suddenly taken away. While Yoko and Julius made their way through the smoky haze of cigarette smoke, across the cluttered floor to said bar. Looking for the much needed main lights so they could find their way to the office itself. Without falling face first onto something or into something. Meanwhile Alucard stayed behind, waiting outside as the interior scents were too overpowering for his regal sensibilities. Which Yoko couldn't argue, given that smoking wasn't done at the Duality, the only night club Alucard 'willingly' visited.
'And he probably wants some time to himself...' she thought quietly as she bumped into a bar stool. "The castle couldn't have absorbed everyone, it didn't grab you or us. More over its clearly not an issue of monsters rolling out, kidnapping and destroying the village as they used to. This place, even as dark as it is, is too neat, like everyone got up and left naturally.. But what happens next? We obviously are past the age where we could just hide the presence of Dracula..." She asked as she felt along until she finally got to the bar.
"Well we don't know that it couldn't. Just doesn't seem rational for it to happen, but we need to see what is 'inside' the Castle first." Julius pointed out as he stalked his own way to the back office area of the night club.
"Which is why we're here looking for the clubs' landline instead of making straight for the castle," Yoko finished in a pragmatic tone. Imitating Julius as she found the edge of the bar and got behind it.
"Yes, beyond that I think we're going to be in for a time... I hazard to suggest it, but the Castle's return, at the most extremely positive chance. 'Could' be a good thing..." Julius confessed as Yoko finally found the switch.
Light flickered into full existence in the night club, causing the pair to wince as the smoky black walls became visible. With its presence they could see the abandoned drinks and purses strewn about the place. With a few exceptions of thick drinking glasses resting on their sides, their contents spilled onto the tables and down to the floor. A few baskets of greasy wings rested about as well, the place was neat enough. Just like that that it appeared that everyone left orderly from the club. Instead of being rushed out due to a fire or such.
"If the castle has the room for it, the Dark Children who are clearly not human could end up living there. Not permanently of course, but for if and when its hard to hide that they're not human..." Julius pointed out as he disappeared into the back office.
'But there 'are' people who know what Kazu and I do... Hell even the Hunters could be viewed as 'monsters'. Since we all have abilities that transcend the average person,' Yoko dishearteningly thought as she walked after Julius. "Whatever happened to 'Do unto others'?" She asked instead, her tone growing sour.
"People are not mind readers Yoko. We see the world the way we see ourselves and expect the same treatment from it. Thing is that there are a 'lot' of people who think they're perfectly good people but are really not. So if you had the power to exploit or kill another human being, and 'would' do so. It stands to reason you would fear anyone else who has that type of power. Since 'you' would kill someone weaker than you, the expectation is that someone else stronger than you will kill 'you'."
Then quietly, and Yoko was pretty sure Julius didn't think she could hear him she heard him, added. "Just look at your grandmother."
'Note to self: Ask mom,' Yoko thought as she reached the door and found Julius already making a phone call. "I know someone that I can call that might be able to give us some insight on what's going on. Once you're done," she offered as she hung back at the door, since for all she knew he was calling his family to check on them.
"You do?" He asked as he leaned against the cluttered desk before him, his gaze switching instantly from Yoko to the wall as the phone picked up.
From just his greeting, Yoko could tell he was conversing with his wife. Proving that the disappearances were extremely local and that Julius' family was safe off in the distance. Which left her with the duty of checking with her brother to see if Japan was safe. What with the Hakuba shrine being the focus of the seal that they used on the Castle. As well as all the ancestors who had joined in to help try and find Alucard.
'After that do I try to contact the church? Probably not, there's nothing they can really do at the moment that would help huh? Or at least discuss that with Julius first, because we need to get into the Castle and get the people out.' After all the castle had a... well it 'had' the tendency to turn normal humans into monsters due to prolong exposure. But, like with everything else, that might have actually changed with the extraction of the Chaos.
"Yoko! The phone is yours," Julius called out finally as the dial tone buzzed softly from the line. When the blond stuck her head into the room he held up the receiver as an invitation for her. "We're lucky that they opted to also maintain a landline," he noted as she walked over to take her turn.
"I'll say, I guess the cults got lazy and assumed everyone swapped over to cellphones. Lucky us... Though I can imagine we're going to hear it for these long distance calls," she added as she grabbed the phone and started dialing for her brother.
"Eh, put it on our tab," Julius replied as he let his gaze drift around the office. 'They're ok, that's a relief. It means the other hunters should be ok as well.. But we don't have time to really wait for them at this point so we might need to bring Alexis as well. As much as I hate to admit it, we might need Soma as well.'
Yoko turned so her back was to Julius, just in case, while her brothers' number rang in her ear. Granted Julius probably didn't know about Kazu to start with, but she didn't want to screw up anything her mom had in place either. 'Good thing Al insisted on code words when we're in public... man comes prepared for the apocalypse...' she thought when the phone finally clicked up.
"Moshi Moshi," Kazu began for which she cut of quickly.
"Hi Kaz, just calling to check in on you and Ralph... Anything serious happening lately?"
She could hear the confusion in his voice as he paused briefly. "Ralph? He's fine... his wife and the rest of the family disappeared... Literally. Did something serious happen?" he reported dutifully.
'Wait, Sophia and the others disappeared!? Where?! Where did they go? Though why is Trevor still there...' She wondered as her grip on the phone tightened. "What does the news say? Or have they noticed anything strange?"
"Ahh...remote please... thank you..."
She could hear a television turn on in the distance on the phone while Julius walked out of the office and back into the main floor of the bar.
"Well, there's reports of a giant castle appearing in Europe. I'll assume that's yours, oh and possible cases of disappearances. Which normally wouldn't get anyone's attention, save that they disappeared off cameras in some cases... That's yours too?"
Yoko gave a soft defeated sigh that mutated into a 'yes' as her head sank down. "The cults took out the cell towers here, I'm using a landline to reach you. But could you check on Mina and the shrine for me? Given the importance of the shrine I would really appreciate knowing that she and everyone was in one piece," she asked.
"Of course... you need to know anything else? Though I'm afraid I can't help you beyond relaying stuff. Granted given what you've said, I'm curious now if the spirits are still out and about. I was chalking it up to just the clans but..."
"Well, given I lack that type of sight you have, besides reaching the shrine, you watch out for yourself. Until we know what's going on it could get a bit rough for the rest of the day or maybe longer." She instructed even as her mind whirled along with questions.
"Yes, of course, but you should watch out for yourself more. I'm not going into a dangerous area after all," Kazu pointed out.
Yoko nodded at first before remembering he couldn't see it and added a "yep, always!" Even if Julius was out of the room, it was still quiet enough that he could catch anything else she would have loved to add. Like direct requests to try and reach Simon and make sure they were ok as well. But even as they said their goodbyes that lingering question played on her thoughts.
'Why did Trevor not disappear like the others?' Sure his soul was connected to a stuffed dog now, but was it all that it took? Sophia and the others had nothing physical tethering them to the physical and they disappeared. But a stuffed shell from a mall didn't feel like it should have had the strength to resist what the Castle just pulled. 'It can't be that the Castle is just confused... can it? Can it actually just not accept a soul bound to...'
But then another thought followed up on it so fast that she walked after Julius. Finding the man relaxing against the bar as though he was a regular, even if his facial expression was one of deep thought. "Julius? Is Vampire Killer still... well Vampire Killer?"
Confused, Julius shrugged even as he nodded, "nothing has changed? Why?" He pushed back from the bar as she continued towards the door. Noting all the while that she seemed preoccupied with something she heard from the phone call.
"Well... might as well tell Alucard at the same time because its kind of interesting," she answered.
Julius went behind the bar, shutting off the light again before joining the blond out of the bar. Alucard stood on the other side of the road, a shadow against the growing distant light of the approaching dawn.
"Welp, there 'are' reports of people going missing, but not apparently massive amounts of people like here. Some of these people were live on camera from various things when they vanished. Also apparently the spirits seem to have been taken away as well," she reported before waving her hand about the place slightly. "I can't see spirits, so I don't know if they're here or not. But the person I talked to? The spirits hanging out with him seem to have all disappeared," Yoko reported as Alucard approached them.
"Is that why you asked about Vampire Killer?" Julius asked as he thought about it, the back of his mind running down all the various types of Dark Children that were considered 'Spirits'.
"Yeah, since Soma confirmed that there's a soul residing 'in' Vampire Killer. I was concerned if the Castle is taking both random souls and those tethered to objects," she explained. 'Well, concerned for the whip and the whole of the clans because if they're all in the Castle. How do we get them out?!'
Alucard stared at the pair of hunters, taking in the information that they provided while reading the subtext of Yokos' words. She wouldn't admit to her brothers' existence in Julius' presence, but she had provided some information for Alucard. Her brother was powerful medium, one could even say 'excessively' so. Undoubtedly she would have contacted him for the information regarding the missing individuals.
Not that either of them would be able to progress forward with such information easily. Indeed if they wanted details they would have to enter the Castle itself. Once again providing Alucard with a new situation that he had not foreseen in his attempt to stop his fathers' resurrections. "Defeating the Castle normally means defeating Father or him sending the castle back on his own." Alucard shook his head quietly as morning continued creeping over the horizon and still nature had yet to resume its natural sounds. Forced asleep in his own mausoleum for months, once Alucard found the people who managed to capture him...
"So we need Soma... but do we risk him deciding he doesn't want to leave the castle?" Julius finally asked looking between the pair with him. "Or is he close enough that he can compel the castle to obey you?"
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The false dawn was smoothing out into proper dawn, a dawn that the land had not seen since 1999. Lacking the presence of those spirits, the area felt dead. Even with a good amount of trees and brush outside the village, there was a feeling of absence. No birds greeted the morning sky, or squirrels waking up and beginning their foraging. The wind stirred slightly, gently ruffling the trees out in the forest, and nudging what little paper they could find in the village. Light began to warm the rooftops of the building and reflect off the windows.
All the while Alexis sat at the window and watched dawn paint colors onto the landscape. Finally free of her duty as an undercover agent by proxy of yesterday. She should have been exhausted, and indeed her body felt the weight that came from needing rest. But Draculas' dressing down had been...
"I swear I had no idea that he was there! I've spent days coating the building in the Holy Oils! I was so muddled and exhausted I couldn't function beyond doing what I was told!" Twin bee stings were pressing down on the jugular of her throat as she spoke. Each word digging them in deeper into her skin.
"Hmmm... oils..." Soma began pulling back, his tone sleepy and distracted. "Then I'll be nice, and say that if you fail him again as you did this time." He left the sentence hang for a bit before continuing. "Well zombies 'are' a thing. But maybe you'll learn how to do your duty properly. I'm sure Alex will appreciate that not happening."
Leisurely, absentmindedly, the reincarnation of Dracula had ambled his way down the road up to the hotel after that. Alexis had followed with intense trepidation after the Dark Lord while the light of the lobby gave his ringed hand a strangely darken appearance. He had walked his way to a room and bed, doors opening without his physical touch. Before he face planted into a bed, sleepily kicking off his shoes as his last real action.
Now he was slowly climbing into bed, mostly as actions in his sleep that caused him to fuss his way to a more comfortable position. While leaving Alexis sitting at the window and waiting for the Prince and the hunters to join her. She knew the stories about the zombie trio that Dracula had created to torment Alucard.
Zombie versions of her grandmother and great aunt, or beyond?
'Well I guess I could take heart that he's not so upset that I failed the Prince that he killed me out of hand. If nothing else it shows he still cares and will humor the prince. But how does he see the cults as our fault? Sure they came into being looking for 'him', but we tasked ourselves on dealing with them.' She wondered as she curled her legs up to her chest by pulling the other chair closer to her. 'I can't believe the only reason I'm still me is because the oils turned me into metaphorical garlic to him..' She thought as she idly brushed her hand across her throat where he had nearly bit into her.
Outside this half of the world was starting to glow warmly from the light of the sun, another horrible night was over. Yet despite the warmth of the sun and brightening of the sky, she felt positively numb.