Aria of the Ascending Soul

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

The room was well lit from a window on the far wall shielded only by a single thin opaque white curtain, the air was filled with the scents of the mixture of oils and incenses the Fairies concocted. Cedarwood, rosemary, sage and chamomile hung in the air, both stagnant and fresh layered from session after session creating a cloying odor. The combinations were meant to ease and heal the occupant down the hallway outside the office.

For most humans the scent would have been nice, comforting, the scents were being used days after the previous one, but for the lone occupant of the office the odors were cloying. Mostly because his heightened senses was constantly aware of both what was currently at work and what had been at work. The servants normally kept all the windows open when they were doing such. But this was one of those times where they wanted to concentrate the effects of these smells.

The room wasn't anything special; it was almost severe in appearance, sturdy oak wood floors, stonewalls and a thick strong ceiling. On the wall to the left, an ornate sword was displayed right along with a family crested shield. The office was dark and foreboding despite the light, incredibly stern and there was clearly no effort to 'cheer it up'. The lone window behind the desk, with that opaque white curtain illuminating the man in the comfortable looking business chair.

If you ignored the man sitting at the desk then perhaps the room would look completely normal in a severe way. Yet though the man appeared to look normal himself, with his dark brown hair, and his dark business suit, it was what sat on his shoulder that would stop a person. Perched on his shoulder like the Thinking Man, was a long, blonde haired faerie. Dressed in a light blue gown she was sleeping soundly her head bobbing lightly up and down to the inhumane speed of her master's typing.

But for all that speed it didn't drown out the sounds from outside, the dragging of footsteps or the hard uneven breathing. The door clicked open, a steady series of clicks that countered the unsteady heartbeat of the white haired person who stumbled into his office. The hair was a bit longer, brushing fully past his shoulders, blue eyes so shadowed by over grown bangs that the flicker of gold was alarmingly noticeable. The black turtleneck and bell-bottom blue jeans were ripped and stained in raw mix of blood, dirt, and sweat. The person looked so very out of place in the office, like he had stumbled out of a hard fought battlefield and not the master bedroom. He stumbled into the first chair that he could reach, and without a word, slumping into it like he had suddenly lost all his bones.

Behind the desk the typing had come to an end at the sight of the young man, the dark clad gentleman sat there patiently, while across his desk the young man seemed to struggle just to stay awake. For a human there was a silence as deep as the ocean between the pair, for a human there was an unspoken tension. For those with the senses that went beyond human though, there was a whole new depth to the room.

Dueling heartbeats, one that was calm to the one that seemingly would just stop for alarmingly extended periods of time. It had been just over a week since Soma had been brought to Arikado's private residence and even now his heart had not returned to a normal beat.

"Soma," Arikado sat back in his chair, his eyes smoothly going over the young man, not a hair betraying his concern. "Soma," he repeated the name when Soma didn't respond, only to watch as Soma yanked his head up and look at the dhampire. His eyes startled and dazed, making Arikado wonder how Soma managed to figure out how to get out of the room and in the office. He certainly didn't carry himself as the one who had regained the mental faculties to do such. "You should still be in bed."

Yet Soma answered with a question of his own, as though he did not hear the Dhampire's advice. "I… I messed up. I failed everyone, so how am I still alive?"

"That can wait until you have recovered," Arikado replied calmly, his familiars were arousing themselves from their current duties. Sensing the will of their Master they departed from their patrols or cleaning duties. Floating or flying along they followed the pull towards the office where their Master had worked unceasingly for days.

"No, I have to know… You four defeated me and yet you managed to get me back in control of my sanity." Soma insisted as he sat there, breathing more like he ran a race then if he had just been sitting down or sleeping like the dead for over a week. Hard for someone who had a heart that didn't seem to want to beat anymore.

"In time you will remember, until then it is for the best that you rest and allow yourself to heal." Arikado informed Soma, not a hair betraying a thought in his head, or a feeling in his heart, if he had one.

"How can I rest when I don't know how I'm still here. You can't deny I'm a threat now, I may have locked myself up after the Castle. But I'm not sealed like before, its weaker now and I can feel it." Soma retorted, resolutely refusing to leave the room, his gaze far too intensely focused.

Arikado didn't answer in the office that time truly seemed to forget existed, but he felt Soma's power gather like a dragon upon his horde. Soma wished to strike, his first instinct was to grab and force Arikado under his control through his own power. Force the dhampire to explain what had happened that had allowed Soma to survive the battle. Yet at that last moment before any blow could come between them; Soma himself seemed to realize what he was trying to do and stopped himself.

"I'm sorry."

They spoke at the same time, apologizing for different reasons, but apologizing all the same. For Soma, it was his failure to suppress his dark side, for Arikado it was for not revealing the method of Soma's salvation. Arikado finally stood up from behind his desk; tall, lithe and imposing, he walked around it to Soma's side, offering an arm for Soma to use. For a moment the young adult seemed confused by the gesture, but then pushed himself out of the chair and surrendered to Arikado's wish to return to his rest.

Soma willingly walked for a bit, his eyes focused on the approaching door before he turned to look at Arikado. His eyes which had gone in and out of focus sharpened immensely as he looked at the Dhampire. He raised his left hand and reached out to touch Arikado's hair, his gaze seemingly seeing something from the past and trying to compare it with the present.

"You had blond hair. Long blond nearly white hair and clothes long since gone out of fashion..."

Distant memories seemed to hover just behind Soma's eyes, in the small space between his eyes and brain in fact. Yet Arikado merely raised up his own hand and extracted Soma's hand from his hair with a firm grip.

"It is of no importance how you think you saw me," he stated as he took a step forward only for Soma to stall.

"No.. it 'is' important," Soma argued, his eyes dilating rapidly as he seemed to fade in and out of something in his own mind. "Who are you?"

"When you are better, we may have that discussion if you are so insistent," Arikado answered in an attempt to placate Soma. While mentally preparing to roll the Dark Lords' mind so he would hopefully forget that part of the battle.

"Talk about it later... fine. We'll talk about it," Soma finally agreed after a lengthy pause. Pushing himself against the wall next to the door, he leaned against this time displaced, black suited, aristocrat and he walked into the hallway.

"The room bothers me. The smells are so strong and all mixed together..." Soma noted distantly, his footsteps more important at the moment. Never knew when the knees, ankles decided that proper function was for losers.

But his words caused the Faerie and her newly joined fellow to look mortified. The pair of spirits rushed ahead towards the master bedroom calling out in distress for help from the Sword familiar. The bat and ghost were hovering behind the pair, the demon taking front guard while the Nose demon focused on Soma.

Ever an odd independent familiar the Nose Demon hovered himself before Soma with his eyes the only thing visible of his face. The mask bore a single amused expression which reflected the good natured tone of voice this Demon had. "Don't get mad about the Faeries Big Boss, they're just trying to help."

Soma blinked at the plastic face before him that covered the face of the Nose Demon. He could faintly recall the spirits from time to time in the moments he drifted back to the waking world. This one stuck out in his memories the most due to the unique, human like personality it expressed. "I'm not angry... I just feel like I'm drowning in that..."

"Should I have food prepared for you?" Arikado finally asked, though he had found that Soma had been carrying food on him. That had been a week ago and Soma had been dipping between human food and blood during that time. He hadn't been using his powers for the whole week, would he want human food or blood?

"I'm too tired for food, if I hadn't gotten out of bed I would probably been more interested," Soma confessed as they approached the bedroom.

The bedroom door was open, but so was the window in the room with the Sword Familiar rapidly spinning outside the window. Apparently it was attempting to suck the smells of the incense out of the room while one Faerie strove to change the sheets on the bed and replace the blanket while the other used her magics to remove the dust from the incense sticks as she quickly as she could.

Soma stood and watched for a brief time, the sight of these beings fluttering around with blankets and sheets and dusters moved by magic. Fairy dust sparkled to the ground amid all the movement, the bright specks of those lights brighter against the encroaching darkness of his need for sleep. Sparking amid the darkness like newly born stars as Soma dropped to the ground back into deeper darkness.

Arikado caught Soma as the young adult collapsed at his side and lifted him up. The green faerie pulled the blanket back off the newly cleaned bed allowing Alucard to put the Lord of Darkness to rest.

Soma wasn't dying.

Soma wasn't living.

Arikado studied Soma's sleeping form for a moment before taking Soma's right hand and pulling the sleeve of his shirt up half way up his arm. The Dark Lord was sleeping again, blood ties would ensure that Arikado's own spells would not alarm or trigger a violent response out of Soma. Blood and magic that could bind a child to his father regardless of resurrection or reincarnation.

He brought up Soma's right hand to his own face and after a moment of apprehension allowed his fangs to show themselves. Piercing the soft flesh of Soma's wrist and letting the rich blood flow. His own powers were sealed leaving Arikado a limited amount of things he could do on his own. But the amount of power given by feeding off of Soma's blood was immense.

He needed that strength, as he forced himself to pull back from drinking too much of Soma's blood. A quick lick against the twin holes his fangs had created before settling the hand down on Soma's chest. Then he pressed the palm of his hand, focusing his magics to roll Soma's mind.

Let Soma recall Arikado's dark appearance among those who faced him in the battle in the castle. Let Soma rest and recover his strength for how the cards would now fall for him. Human or Dark Child, who knew what Soma would eventually become now that the wedge had been removed.