Chapter Text
Hibiki awoke in the catacombs, her everything aching. She didn’t know how she realized they were catacombs (and she had only ever heard the word when playing Shadow Spirits with Chris), but it just felt like she was in some catacombs. The sound of dripping water echoed through the chamber, the dim light of the candles on the wall flickering as the droplets passed them by. The feeling of smooth stone greeted her return to consciousness, as well as a stiff, cold breeze.
What happened?
How did I get here?
What even is here—
Flashes of memory darted through her brain.
Miku, kidnapped by Noble Red.
A desperate attempt to rescue her.
The vampire plunging her claws into—
“Miku!”
Hibiki leapt to her feet, pushing through the wave of stinging, dull pain that followed. She quickly took stock of her surroundings, looking for some kind of exit. Okay, remember what Genjuro told you: situational awareness! There’s a dark stone wall, candles lined up down the hallway, a creepy coffin in the back, a guy bleeding out against the wall, a—
Wait, what?!
Hibiki held back a retching noise as she looked to the opposite side of the wall.
An older gentleman slumped against the wall, his breath coming out in short, ragged bursts (punctuated by harsh coughing). His long, brown hair and neckerchief was dripping with red—though in the low-light, it was hard to tell if that was part of his natural hair color. The stains on his brown duster certainly implied the former, though; specks of crimson dotted the inner, leopard-print lining of the coat. A drop had trailed down his button-up shirt and down his left jean leg, ending in a growing stain on his boots.
Is he some sort of… cowboy or something?
“Mr. Cowboy,” Hibiki called, in lieu of a name. She stumbled over to him, kneeling by his side. “Are you okay?”
“Cowboy…?” The man grinned, despite the immediate wince that followed. “That’s a first.” He tilted his head, and Hibiki followed his eyeline. A whip sat by his right side, sprawled onto the floor. “I suppose that could be used for cattle rustling… maybe I’ll consider it someday.” He coughed again, his grin replaced with a dire frown. “Or, perhaps I should be realistic,” he rasped.
“No—no, no, no,” Hibiki hissed, grabbing a portion of the man’s coat. With a growl, she ripped the coat open, and began manually tearing strips out of it.
“I must be hallucinating from the blood loss,” the man muttered, “Because I swear there’s a teenager ruining my perfectly good jacket.”
“Where’s the bleeding?” Hibiki asked.
“I’m too far gone, kid—”
“Where’s. The. Bleeding? ” This time, it was a demand.
“...got a nasty bruise on the side of my head,” the man offered, reluctantly. “Bleeding on the left side—ribs. Maybe my gut. Sure feels like my gut... I think that there’s some internal bleeding, and a torn lung, given the—” He coughed, as if to make his point. “—but that’s to be expected. After all,” he mused hoarsely, “That’s what happens when you get thrown into a wall at Mach five.”
“What?!” Hibiki shifted the man, laying him down as she went to work dressing his wounds. “How did—what were you doing that—”
The man flinched as Hibiki wrapped and tightened the coat straps, sweat dripping down his brow. “You weren’t with Arikado or Yoko… you must have been in this damned place when the Convergence began. I’m sorry about that, kid.” On Hibiki’s blank stare, the man sighed. “Right. Proper nouns mean nothing to someone who doesn’t know them. Tell me,” he asked, staring up at the ceiling. “Where were you before you found yourself here?”
Hibiki paused, not quite wanting to reveal UN secrets to a random person —even if he was in mortal danger. “I… was trying to look for a friend, in this… big castle-y place. A lot more… pale than this place. Did Carol have a dungeon…?”
“Carol?”
“Uh.” Hibiki shook her head. Not the time. “Anyway, my friend. There’s been… a lot going on, and then—then she was kidnapped. I… I had to try to save her.”
“...huh. Funny. I’ve heard that one before. I suppose there’s something to be said for serendipity…” The man chuckled weakly. “‘Castle-y place,’ eh? That must be why they were drawn together. They’re of a like, I suppose…”
Hibiki finished her work, frowning at how the brown straps began to darken with the man’s blood. We need to figure something else out… “What do you mean by that?” she asked, trying to keep his attention on her—and his consciousness intact.
The man frowned. “What do you call this place—what it was before, I mean?”
“...Uh.” Hibiki really, really didn’t remember the full, proper name for it—so she simplified. “It’s called the Chateau. It kinda erased the world for a second.” She winced at that admission, not intending for it to slip out of her mouth.
“Erased the—” The man sat up, his eyes wide. “The whole world? For a whole second? ”
He believes me? That’s a first. “Maybe? It might have been longer…”
The man slammed his hands on Hibiki’s shoulder. “How?! Why wouldn’t anyone have noticed it?!”
“I—”
“Girl,” the man began.
“Hibiki,” she corrected. “Hibiki Tachibana.”
“Miss Tachibana,” the man implored, deathly serious. “I need you to be honest with me, because this could be extremely important. How did this happen?”
Hibiki felt her heart ache, and promised herself that she would apologize to Genjuro later. With a box set of Bruce Lee movies on Blu-Ray.
…no, that wouldn’t be enough. Were they in 4K?
“...this, uh… alchemist wanted to do something to break down the world. So… she did.”
“...alchemy,” the man repeated. “Are you sure?”
“Very. But—but don’t worry! We fixed it!” Hibiki’s nervous laugh echoed through the halls.
“We…?” The man caught sight of Hibiki’s stricken expression, and let go of her shoulders, allowing her to shuffle back. “We’ll get back to that. Alchemy, eh? Well, that would explain a lot. Some sort of alchemic resonance with the castle, perhaps…”
Hibiki sighed as the man gently patted his bindings, glad he was able to at least maneuver that much with his wounds. “You know about alchemy?”
“Let’s just say that my family has a bit of a… rough history with alchemists.” He stretched his arm over, picking up the whip that had laid dormant throughout the conversation. “Then again, without them, we wouldn’t be able to hunt the night if they weren’t around, so… mixed feelings, really. Can't say it's especially helpful here, since it's likely...” The man blinked and offered a wan smile. “Ah, I should apologize—you introduced yourself, so it’s only fair play.” He offered a weak bow, clearly straining from the motion. “Julius Belmont, at your service. Some call me J.”
“Why? Julius is a neat name,” Hibiki replied, tilting her head. “Don’t think I’ve ever met an American before. Well, one who wasn’t trying to kill me. Though, Maria’s Ukranian…”
“It’s French, actually. Why does
everyone
assume—” Julius halted mid sentence, raising his eyebrows. “Hold a tick. Why are people trying to kill
you,
little lady?”
“Urk.” Hibiki blanched. “I said that out loud?”
Julius laughed, clutching his chest briefly as coughs burst from his chest. “Miss Tachibana, you could whisper and it would hit my eardrums like a cannonball in this place,” he managed. “I’d love to play catch-up, but I really must be going. Places to be, vampires to kill. You know how it is.”
Hibiki grimaced. “So you’re fighting Noble Red, too…”
“Noble what now?” Julius leveled her with a wary stare. “I’m hunting Dracula. Who are you hunting?”
Hibiki blinked. “...Dracula? Like… the counting guy from Sesame Street?”
Julius barked out an even harsher laugh. “I think you’ve got some wires crossed there, Miss Tachibana—the only thing Dracula counts is the number of innocent souls he’s taken from this Earth. He’s got far more important matters to deal with than the letters of the alphabet, or the amount of cookies eaten by blue, furry monsters. You’ve really never so much as read the Stoker novel?”
“I can barely find time to read my school textbooks…” She didn’t like the grin on the man’s face, so Hibiki pushed forward. “What do I need to know?”
“A girl of action, eh? Can’t hate that.” Julius paused, mumbling under his breath. Then, after the mumbling ceased, he cleared his throat. “The man’s essentially king of the vampires, and darkness incarnate besides—the embodiment of all that is evil. He cannot be killed, only sealed; so long as evil exists in the world, Castlevania will rise again.”
Hibiki blinked as the world around them got… hazy. The dark, brick-laden walls faded briefly to reveal the beige and tan of the Chateau, before reverting back. After everything I've seen so far today, and in general? Real vampires not surprising me kind of surprises me. “Castle…vania? What’s that? Is that what’s causing this?”
Julius shrugged. “To make a long story extremely short, yes and no. Castlevania is Dracula’s lair, at its core, but it is also connected in many ways to his power—his continued survival. We can kill the dastard a thousand times over, watch his stronghold crumble with the dawning of the sun… and it will return, all the same, so long as his strength still lingers. So long as there are those who covet his power.” He winced, the whip dropping from his hand with a clatter onto the stone below. “Like her .”
“...you mean the vampire? As in, the girl with blue hair?” Hibiki asked, realizing that she never actually caught the name of any of Noble Red’s members besides Vanessa.
Rocket boobs were pretty distracting, so sue her.
“Mm. Not so dark, from what I recall—but…” Julius nodded. “I can only presume so. I… well, I and my team, so to speak, were dealing with…” His face fell, briefly. “...another vampiric threat in Castlevania before we all found ourselves here. Our quarry went missing, and…” He rasped out his last few words. “I fear that our foe and yours are now one and the same.”
“They’re teaming up?” Hibiki asked.
“...in a sense.” He seemed to want to say more, but a pained groan was all that followed. Julius dropped once more to his knees, clenching his knuckles tight enough to whiten them. “Do forgive me; I think I’m losing consciousness.” He stuttered out a garbled swear. “What did she imbue that strike with? Ugh. So much for ’places to be...’”
“Forgi—we need to get you out of here, or to a hospital!” Hibiki tried to lift him up again, but he had gone leaden.
All except for his right hand, once more clasping his whip.
That had moved in front of her.
“Hibiki, I’m only holding on but by the grace of God and your help.” Julius’ tone was serious, and the light in his eyes was beginning to fade. “The soul is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
“W-wait, you’re—you can’t—”
I can’t let someone die in front of me again…
“I have allies here—they can help you, if you find them,” Julius continued, his voice growing weaker. “One is in this very room—but he needs time to recover. His last act was to make this a sort of… point of return. I’ve stowed a few crystals in the hilt; crush them, and you’ll return here.” He rattled the whip, and Hibiki indeed heard a clattering noise within the hollow grip. “Whatever you do,” he implored, looking toward— the coffin…? “Do not open that until you hear it knock. Any earlier, and he will die. ” Who is he talking about?!
“Mr. Julius,” Hibiki tried, “You can’t—”
Her words fell short as with his one free hand, Julius snapped up Hibiki’s own. More gently, he placed the grip of the whip into her palm. “This will protect you for a time. I can’t speak to whether its properties work for non-Belmonts, but a whip is a whip.”
“I don’t want this,” Hibiki whispered, desperately. “It’s your whip. I could help—if we can get back to—”
“I’ve lived too long, Hibiki.” Julius smiled, blood beginning to drip from his lips. He wrapped her fingers around the weapon, Hibiki allowing the gesture silently. “I’ve seen what happens to those who allow that. Plus, I got a good feeling that—if I had to kick the bucket here—fate wanted me to stick around just long enough to pass the torch.” Loosening his grip on her, he offered the girl a pat on her clenched fingers. “Let’s hope it burns yet, eh?” He shot one last look at the coffin. “Sorry. I’ll see you when I… see…”
His hand slipped from her own, as the light slipped from his eyes. He began to slump forward, but Hibiki caught him before his face could meet the stone. Carefully, she propped him against the wall.
She closed his eyes.
Then, whip firmly clenched in hand—holding back the nausea and bile she felt—she offered one last look toward the coffin.
Then, to the body of a man she barely knew.
She began to move forward.
Toward Miku, she hoped.