Aria of Sorrow: The second wave of tears

Written by: Lady Lunar Phoenix

“Soma was always a bit subdued when he was a child, almost like he wasn’t happy being anywhere…” Mrs. Cruz said softly as she joined Alucard. “He was a bit different when he came back from Japan though… A bit more alive, he almost seemed happier than I had ever seen him before.”

“There is a cult that exists within Great Britain, which I believe is part of the one that has kidnapped your son.” Alucard said as he gazed into deep pools of icy blue. “However, until I can gather enough proof that this is the same organization as the other one, I will not be able to garner much help from the police. I have no jurisdiction here.” He accepted the offered cup with his free hand, putting down the picture and returning his attention to the woman.

“How did you meet my son? If you don’t mind my asking…” She inquired as she tried to focus on something other then the fact that her son was gone.

“He didn’t tell you?” Alucard asked, buying time for a possible excuse. Meeting up in a castle during an eclipse didn’t seem like something she would buy.

“No, the only time he brought you up was when he said that if he were in trouble to call for you.” She answered.

“By chance. As I said I work for the police on occasion, I ran across him during one assignment. As it happens the cult had a very faint passing interest in Japan and I found him during my time there.” He answered quietly, which was about as close to the truth as he could come at that point. “Would it be too much trouble if I saw his room?” He asked, finally wanting to check out the location where the abduction began.

“Of course, mind you the police has already been through it,” she replied, gesturing towards the stairs. He nodded and followed her as she guided him up the steps. He felt his laptop begin to download everything that Soma had kept in laptop as they passed more hung pictures. They passed several closed doors before she opened the one to the room she had been sleeping in the night before.

Soma was, with no longer an ounce of doubt, different then any other teenager. Alucard had some distant thoughts that Soma probably had some posters of half naked women in his room. He had figured Soma the same way he had figured Yoko, only of the male variety, that wasn’t the case though. There was nothing on the walls; it looked sparse with only a stereo and a shelf with some books and photos on it. But for the most part it didn’t look like anyone really lived in the room. The walls were white and bare of anything, the floor was wooden, and the bed looked like it had been made with cream color sheets and a blanket. But there was one item that snatched Alucard’s attempt in studying the room. The Claimh Solais laid over Soma’s laptop.

Walking over to it, Alucard studied the blade, concerned at how it was still here when it should have disappeared the moment it left Somas’ hands. ‘The sword would stay in this realm if Soma was unconscious before losing it. So was he knocked out? In which case he must still be heavily sedated for the sword to still be here.’

“Do you know where he got that sword from? I never saw him carry it off the plane or in his luggage. I still can’t fathom how he brought it through customs.” She asked, looking at its shimmering design.

“I gave it to him as an apology for what he was dragged into.” He answered, reaching out to take a hold of the hilt. How long would it be before Soma would regain consciousness and the sword would fade from sight?

“Spar huh?” Soma asked as they walked into a wooded area, far from civilization.

“I need to see how far you progressed in your knowledge of fighting.” Alucard had said. From all around silence began to grow as the animals seemed to realize what was about to happen.

“I’ve never seen you fight before…” Soma looked a bit skittish about attacking someone.

Alucard flickered a glance behind him at the youth, a single eyebrow rose in surprise that Soma had spoken with a subtle tone of concern.

“Well… I mean what’s the worse you can do besides that…” Alucard charged him in one move he had summoned one of his smaller daggers, had Soma by the back of the neck and the dagger at his throat. “Spell…”

Soma’s powers radiated alarm and disbelief as he stood there stiff as a board to avoid the blade. “Never underestimate someone when you know what they are.” Alucard backed, away sending the dagger back to the neither realm with a thought.

“But… I don’t know what you are… You never told me anything…” Soma said, putting hand to his throat.

“Can’t you sense what I am?” Alucard asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I… I don’t know what you are… I can sense power but…” Soma shook his head. Soma had tried to sound cocky, after all he and the boy had been doing nothing but baiting each other.

“Very well then. Ground rules. Weapons allowed, no souls or spells. I don’t use my magic on you, you don’t use your attack souls on me. Further more only enhancement powers allowed. If you can increase your speed or strength go ahead but don’t suddenly start throwing scythes at me.”

Soma nodded slowly, looking over the landscape. “Time limit?”

“We fight till one of us can no longer stand.” He answered, earning a look from Soma.

“Are you nuts?”

Alucard manifested his sword and waited for Soma. He didn’t summon forth his shield since Soma lacked one himself while the youth manifested his own sword. “I said stand after all. I have no intention of killing you. You also have the Alura Une soul to restore your health if not your clothes.”

“Gee thanks.” Soma replied with a roll of the eyes at the statement. “So how will we be explaining to people why it looks like we ripped the clothes off each other?”

“Why explain?” Alucard asked, getting into stance.

“Gee there goes the last shred of my heterosexual life style.”

“You mean you’re not gay?” Alucard asked with a raised eyebrow.

That did start up Soma though as the youth came at him directly. They exchanged the first round with just the simple basics, testing groundwork in Soma’s skill with a sword. The blades hissing as they met and slid against one another while Soma activated one of his souls to increase his strength to try and match Alucard’s. There were moments when Soma faltered and paid for his mistakes with slight cuts on the wrist. Their eyes were locked on each other, powers flaring in attempt to force the other down. Whether or not Soma knew this or not, his power was not staying quietly asleep, though Dracula’s soul was.

Bringing out Soma’s own development at this stage though was going to require more. Soma generally was proving to be unable to fight someone who was human and not out to kill him. It was a handicap in a practice situation like this though, a blessing in cases where he may have to resist the urge to use his own dark powers against another. They broke apart for a moment, Soma’s hand going to his hurt wrist while they circled each other. Alucard took the lead slashing low on Soma, watching as the youth leapt over the blade, bringing his down for Alucard’s shoulder. The dhampire slid backwards avoiding the attack as Soma landed and dashed towards him. He leaned into an attack only to have Soma dash away again, lashing out with another sword. The bladed chain wrapped itself around his wrist. And with a strong yank, Alucard found himself tumbling to his knees at Soma’s feet.

“Well if you want to play this like that.” He replied summoning his Crissaegrim into his free hand. With one move the blade’s magic slashed at Soma repeatedly. The boy was forced back as blood dripped from newly opened injuries. Yet the boy had to learn how to deal with an opponent no matter the situation. Alucard didn’t stop his momentum though he didn’t use Crissaegrim again when he attacked, forcing Soma to slide backwards to avoid the attack. But even as Soma fought back blocking the attack, the rose of Alura Une appeared growing out of his shadow to heal him of his wounds. Alucard gave a quick nod of approval before intensifying his attack.

Soma’s temper flared as he was constantly pushed back- seemed the boy didn’t like his Crissaegrim. Suddenly the boy dropped down using another soul which allowed him to kick Alucard’s own feet right out from under him. At that moment the duel stopped being a sword fight and became a basic brawl though they almost seemed to acknowledge a silent rule not to go for the head. Alucard summoned one of his smaller daggers only to find that, to his surprise, Soma answered by summoning his old pocketknife and cut a deep gash into Alucard’s hand.

“You finally draw blood. Think you can keep the lead?” Alucard asked as he slammed his good hand into Soma’s side full force causing the youth to back away as ribs broke. Soma rolled away in pain, his teeth clenched as he resummoned Alura Une to deal with the injuries. Alucard didn’t bother healing his hand instead he tried to bring his sword to Soma’s throat to end the session. Only Soma slid away again and was soon gone running among the trees to avoid Alucard. Buying breathing space probably. Alucard kept the youth in his sight during the whole run, watching as the pale hair disappeared and reappeared as the boy dodged among trees. When he couldn’t see the boy again he knew that Soma had either ran straight ahead or had stopped at a tree. He stopped, but for the life of him, couldn’t see where the boy had gotten himself off to. Checking the tree showed no white bat hiding among the foliage, nor was there a white bat anywhere in the sky. Suddenly Alucard was grabbed roughly by the collar of his shirt, then thrust hard against a tree as the invisibility soul faded away.

Soma’s breaths were coming out rapidly, the boy pushed too far and fast for his body to handle. True his magic was probably limitless with the Chaos ring on, however he still had to exert endurance and strength. His powers began to reflect his tired state of mind as he resumed trying to force Alucard into submission. But a part of magic’s strength was in the truth, and so long as Soma didn’t know Alucard’s true name, or even his more common alias. He didn’t stand a chance.

When eye contact had been regained they challenged each other in power sense alone. Showing Soma’s savage lack of training as he took to the battle like a human. On another plane of existence it was much akin to two elemental beings fighting, or two wizards, as they attacked water against fire, earth against air. Yet all the while Alucard studied and searched Soma out. Occasionally they would fight like they had been in the real world, but Soma realized quickly that in this plane, Alucard was master. Challenging him was pointless in armed combat. So instead it was with spells of darkness, twisted elements and a myriad of attacks meant to keep Alucard at bay.

Alucard smirked when he found Soma. The boy wasn’t moving like he was involved in an arcane ritual that involved all his concentration. He slipped behind the youth before wrapping his arms around the youngster. On contact Soma’s breath was caught, surprised and *captured* so unawares of the approaching threat.

“You must be so tired.” Alucard murmured into Soma’s ear exerting his power over the youth. “Why not rest for a moment?” Soma also seemed to treat these types of planes like the real world. Though Soma couldn’t sense it, Alucard knew that Soma’s real body was reacting to this battle. The soul in his embrace began to sway back and relax into his arms.

Victory was Alucard’s as he continued soothing Soma into slumber with his power. He moved around bringing them face to face, his eyes locked on Soma’s. Watching as the youth’s gaze became more and more glazed by the moment. But just before he began to bring them back to their own bodies, Soma, too out of it to do it himself, snapped awake. The boy seemed to sense danger and reacted violently, probably not realizing what he was doing at the moment. Alucard snapped back awake with his body slamming into a tree Soma had driven him into, while Soma was flung several feet, his body slamming into another tree. Alucard watched as the youth fell to the ground without even trying to catch himself.

Soma rested on his back and seemed to be watching the stars overhead, when they had started this little ‘sparring’ session it had been around noon. His breath was coming out short and quick as his heart ran faster than he did at his peak speed with the Black Panther soul. Soma seemed to have caught the soft sound of Alucards footsteps as he walked towards the boy. Causing Soma to wearily turn to look at him.

“I can feel your powers searching me.” In all his dark clothes it was hard to see Arikado in the darkness, yet his voice carried itself out like velvet. “Is it that hard for you to figure out what I am?”

“Your… powers are… like mine… yet different…” He gasped out like the sparks from a fire. Alucard called forth his own dark powers creating a nimbus of fire above his hand. He could see Soma just fine without it, but he wanted Soma to see him clearly. The boy was exhausted completely; he had yet to sit up and still lay in that heap that he had fallen into from the last attack. Kneeling down, the fire staying by his side, Alucard began quietly aiding the boy into a sitting position.

“I’ll show you what I am, as you seem unwilling accept the truth.” He said as he took Soma’s left hand and carefully pulled back the sleeve to show the pale wrist that lay under black cloth. The flames showed the points of Alucard’s fangs just before he bore them into Soma’s soft flesh. He heard Soma’s soft gasp of surprise and felt the soft spasm of muscle play under his lips as the warm blood spilled itself into his mouth. Soma’s blood was a new flavor, one that quirked Alucard’s own dark powers. In the darkness of the moonless night, drinking the blood of a powerful source of dark magic, Alucard’s sense came fully alive at the first taste of blood after so long.

Their powers responded in glorious ways, Alucard’s fully empowered yet again was still an older power. Soma’s was young, still new to the world different from other dark powers as it willing submitted to Alucard’s. Acknowledging the older force even as they struggled for dominance, much like Soma who would obey orders when given. Yet the youth still struggled under the orders, obedient yet disobedient as well. That power was a song, both young and old, the melody of darkness was old, but the *words* were new reflecting the newness of the boy. The boy’s blood alone was also a deepening treat. The blood given was not given of free will rather out of surprise. Yet there was no fear in the taste, heavy weariness and exhaustion yes, but not fear. Soma trusted him completely apparently even going so far as to accept what had just happened. He retracted his fangs from the flesh finally flickering his tongue over the punctured spots. Licking away the last traces of blood from his mouth. For a moment he let Soma see him with his fangs present and waited.

“You came out in… the day… Can’t be a vampire then… half… you’re a half vampire… Dhampire…” Soma whispered softly, his eyes drooping with increased exhaustion.

“That is correct.”

“I still trust you though.” Soma had said his voice growing soft and slurred. “You could kill me right now and I’d trust your judgment. Ever since the chamber…” Soma nodded off at that point, unable to see the mild surprise on Alucard’s face at that admittance.

***

“It looks expensive.” She noted at the shimmering light on the sword.

“A trifle compared to what he went through,” Alucard answered as he lifted the sword. “I’ll take it with me if you have no objections.”

“No… go ahead… though you said there was a passing interest from the group in Japan? Is that why they knew he was home? He hasn’t even been back a whole month before they... they…” Alucard could smell a breakdown coming, but before he could answer her, the doorbell rang. With the resonating dark/holy power of a certain mix blooded witch. “Excuse me.”

He nodded as the woman left the room, giving Alucard a moment to truly study Soma’s room without her presence. Transforming into a wolf he could smell the faintest traces of Soma’s blood along with the stronger smell of the chloroform. Had they wounded him in the struggle to capture him? Transforming again, this time as a bat he sent his echo across the room and found something even more disconcerting. Changing back into his human form he rushed out of the room to speak with Mrs. Cruz. He saw Yoko at the bottom of the steps, but he couldn’t have cared less at the moment.

“Are you aware that someone has repainted areas of your son’s room?” he asked from the second floor. He saw both women start and stare up and him in surprise as he returned to the room. In the background he heard her rush up the stairs. Before reaching the door panting from the sudden unplanned run.

“What do you mean?” In answer he pulled out- actually magically manifested- a dagger from inside his coat and began scrapping paint off of a spot on the wall near the window. A few delicate swipes of the blade revealed a cut in the wall that had been quickly patched up. It was more like a sudden scrape from a careless blade then anything else. From there he took off his glove and let his fingers roam over the wall till he felt another *imperfection*. He didn’t really need to touch the wall, but he had to give *some* semblance of being completely human to the woman. From there he began scrapping away again this time showing a bloodstain. It was a smear of blood that Alucard knew from smell was Soma’s. Just the sight of blood alone was enough to set off Mrs. Cruz again. The woman fell to her knees in a fit of hysterics.

“There, there, it’s going to be ok. Why don’t you and I go downstairs? You can tell me what happened.” Yoko suggested encouragingly as she worked on getting the woman to her feet.

Tenshi nodded numbly after a few minutes and finally left the room with Yoko while Alucard worked. They returned downstairs to the living room, where Yoko took charge and went to the kitchen and found a teapot with cooling tea ready to serve. She reheated it and returned, gathering up Tenshi’s cup and making herself something to drink. Tenshi came into the room like a weak and fading ghost before collapsing into the chair that Soma had sat in just a short while ago.

“How did you meet my son?” Tenshi asked weakly from the chair as tears fell from her face.

“Ran into him at the shrine. I work for the church, but have a few connections to some of the shrines of Japan. A girl who lives at the shrine is like a little sister to me and your son is her friend.” She giggled slightly. “Actually I think of Soma like a younger brother, he’s such a sweet boy. Very brave and protective,” she giggled again before casting a look at Tenshi. With a sigh she walked over and knelt down so the older woman could look at her. “Now don’t you cry! Crying makes you look older then you are and you can’t afford that! You have to look like you did the last time he saw you or he won’t recognize you when we bring him back! We *are* going to bring Soma home to you! Alive and in one piece so no more tears!” The teapot began to whistle for attention so Yoko went to pour a cup for herself and to refill Mrs. Cruz’s cup when the woman suddenly began to speak.

“I don’t know what happened. We went to bed like normal around 10O’clock that evening. When we woke up again it was almost 4:58 in the afternoon…”

She had dreamed of darkness. There had been no light anywhere yet she felt warm arms wrapped around her, making the darkness bearable. Suddenly there was light, not a great deal of light, but enough to know there were two people around her. The last time she had dreamt of such darkness, a pale haired woman in a very old style dress had given her bouquet of flowers. But that had been just before she had found out that she was pregnant with Soma in the first place. Now Soma appeared before her, looking out into the darkness dressed in an elaborate Dracula costume. Yet who was the person holding her? She craned her neck around and saw Soma standing there, resting his pale head on her shoulder. She reached up with a smile, gripping his arm in a silent *hello*, he smiled back in answer, but it was a distant smile. He looked at her wistfully, as though he was sad about something and trying to hide it. Suddenly the other Soma, who had eyes as red as fire, reached out and grabbed her Soma. She couldn’t seem to move as he sighed and let her go, so she was forced to stand and watch as he was led away into the darkness. He looked back at her though, waving at her regretfully.

“Be strong mom. Even if I can never return to you, be strong and know that I love you. Ok?” He said.

“Ok. When they’re ready for us we’ll move out, these two need clean air more then anything right now.” The voice had broken into her dream, causing her eyes to open up. She couldn’t see the white ceiling of her room, instead it was the tired white of… of… an ambulance? Tenshi sat up quickly and looked around frantically as the medic took notice of her and tried to ease her back into bed.

“What’s goin…” She ripped off the mask over her nose and mouth and tried again. “What’s going on?” The tube in her body and the man scared her. Why were they here? Or rather why was she here? “Get out of my house!” She said her confusion making her deny that she was in an ambulance at all. She got out of the bed quickly before he could stop her and she hopped out of the back of the ambulance only to see a horror before her. Police cars lined her driveway with cops walking in and out of her house. Emilio was talking to some cop off to the side, but she didn’t care.

“Mrs. Cruz please…” A voice behind her made her run. Something was wrong, the house wasn’t on fire obviously so why…

“Soma? SOMA! SOMA WHERE ARE YOU!?!” She ran to the door a cop grabbed her and pushed her back from the house. She could vaguely recall someone calling her name while she kept calling for Soma.

“Tenshi!” Emilio grabbed her and forced her to look at him. “He’s gone Tenshi! They took our son.” His eyes were red from unshed tears as she shook her head in denial.

“No… NO! Not my baby! Oh God, not my Baby!” She fell to her knees sobbing as the dream and the horror of the current murder cases hit her in full force.

“Did anyone sleep in your son’s room while he was away?” Alucard asked from where he stood. It didn’t really matter to him that Yoko was trying to comfort her or that Tenshi was choking on a sip of tea.

“Hey!” Yoko looked up at him in annoyance. “What’s with the teleporting?” she asked in Latin. He merely ignored her, he had enough practice ignoring frilly girls after all.

“As I see it there had to be someone in his room to get a paint that matched his walls perfectly. I checked the walls and found a scrap behind his bed, possibly for someone to get samples of the paint color.” He reported bluntly to the pair.

“Can’t it wait?” Yoko asked, firmly annoyed. Alucard could be brilliant at times but he could also be such a major jerk at the worse times.

“We can’t return to this place once we leave. These people knew the exact color of paint to use on the walls of that room to hide more information from the investigators. They have to have someone around who’s watching the house. The Cult is not a sloppy half built organization if they realize that there are still people coming here… They may decide that Soma is who they think he is.” He didn’t need to elaborate Yoko knew what he meant.

“Jus… Just Marisa.” Tenshi lifted her head up from the table. “She moved in a few weeks after Soma went to Japan. Then a few months back she had to fumigate her house because of an infestation.” Tenshi gulped and wiped tears from her eyes. “We let her stay in his room for the few days… You don’t think… But she’s been so kind to us!”

Upon hearing that Yoko suddenly realized where Soma got his partially naïve nature from.

“A serpent can hide just as easily under a field of flowers as the grass.” Alucard countered before turning to go back to whatever he had been doing upstairs.

“What are you doing anyways?” Yoko asked with a tilt of the head.

“Reconfiguring Soma’s laptop so his parents can use it. Once we leave here I won’t be calling nor do I want the phone used to call me again. The laptop has a safeline to reaching me and a failsafe.”

With that he turned and left to go back to Soma’s room. ‘He must have fought them with the sword. Which meant he was prepared for an attack. He wouldn’t have been able to summon the sword even in a dark room without drawing more attention to himself.’ Alucard thought as he went back upstairs. Under his coat, in a pocket he held a vial of Soma’s blood. One of several that he had gotten in case he needed to use a bloodrite spell, even with Soma being so young his powers were more than enough. The moon could be in any phase when he went about using the vial, Soma’s blood tended to radiate power to one such as him like a nuke. The two laptops were nearly done with downloads when he returned to the room. He sat back in the chair in front the desk placing Soma’s sword on his lap while he waited. How could he bring the sword out of the house without attracting notice? If the Cult did have spies they would know about the sword. ‘Damn it all to hell Soma wake up!’ he thought viciously at the blade but it didn’t so much as flicker. Cast an illusion? But then he would have to explain a lot more to Mrs. Cruz than he was willing. But if the neighbor was a spy and managed to find out that the sword was gone it would raise questions. How could he completely protect Soma’s family and get things done without being here? Send them over to the Belmonts? No, Julius was just getting back into having his memories, and undoubtedly still trying to sort out his children and grandchildren.

‘Heh… The sword broke while she was moving stuff around. Obviously she’d be careless in her present state so she called me to come and repair the sword. Might work…’ he thought as he saw the blinking sign on his laptop saying that the download had been successful. He began typing away on the laptop, reconfiguring the programs so she would be able to reach him at a moments notice. Putting up passkeys, one password to allow her to a dummy program that would simulate a conversation with another teenager. While another one would allow her to talk directly to his office, more than likely his familiars.

“You’re giving this to me?” Soma asked in surprise looking over at the laptop on Mina’s desk.

“Yes. It has means for you to reach me over instant message. You can also use it as a journal. Write in it, whatever you’re feeling and do not fear it being read by someone else. The laptop is affected with dark powers, and it takes one with dark powers to activate the journal feature.”

“I don’t care… Computers can be hacked into after all… Seems like dancing with death.” Mina said with a sniff. She didn’t seem too like the idea of Soma possibly getting into trouble in the future.

Soma answered by summoning up his Death Robes and Scythe before leaning over Mina’s shoulder from behind. “Care to dance?” he asked his hair and bottom part of his face the only thing visible from under the hood.

“SOMA!” She cried out and grabbing a pillow went about trying to beat him into submission. Alucard merely sighed before returning to work with the background noise of Soma cowering from Mina and begging her to stop filling the air.

‘Mother, this is the incarnation of evil that you married, begging for a lone girl to stop beating him with a pillow.’ He thought as he typed.

“Maybe it’s me… but how could they have painted over Soma’s bl…” Tenshi was back in the room again, sitting on the bed and hugging one of Soma’s pillows to her chest. “I… I mean shouldn’t the paint have mixed with the…” She nervously tilted her head towards the bloodstain.

“Not really. They couldn’t just start painting the walls while he was putting up a fight after all. They would have had to have a way to keep him quiet since they didn’t take out the neighbors at the same time. So he might have been wearing something over his nose and mouth.” Yoko walked over to the dried blood and began to examine it further. “If you come over here you can see that it’s very pale, thin smears of blood. Some of it must have congealed while the fight was going on.” Yoko explained.

“Why did you name your son *Soma*? After all that does imply he’s a vessel.” Alucard asked suddenly as he stood up and began holding out the sword as though he was studying something in the room with it.

“Soma’s the vessel of all my hopes.” She answered watching him thoughtfully. “I’m sterile.” She admitted looking down as he turned to stare at her. “We were thinking of adopting a baby when I dreamed of a lady one night.”

The room was filled with women with their children in their arms. The women were chatting merrily among each other about the merits of their babies. Painfully aware of her own empty arms, Tenshi had repeatedly had baby after baby thrust upon her by smiling mothers showing off their new bundles. Tears began to burn the backs of her eyes and causing her to finally try to find a way out of the terrible dream. The room was suffocating, with the sound of cooing mothers and babies. They talked about everything, weights when the children were born and other things that she would never get to experience. She suddenly noted that the room was filled with only women; there weren’t any men in the room save baby boys. But it didn’t matter really, she didn’t want a dream of men showing off their new born sons and daughters, knowing Emilio would never have the proud moment to do so himself. Stuck in a room surrounded by women who could and had given birth. Where as she couldn’t have children would have been just as bad as being in a room full of men. Proudly showing their children off when Emilio would never be able to become a father with her for a wife.

She hurried along, not caring about the people she bumped into as she walked along, nearly running. People generally ignored her if they were already in a conversation, though they would try to get her to look or hold their own babies. She stumbled along blindly till she was sure she hit a pillar in her stumbling, the thing was hard enough to be a pillar.

“Hello, is something wrong?” the sound startled her for two reasons, one, it was a man’s voice and two, the person wasn’t talking about his newborn baby. Wiping the tears from her eyes she looked up and stared at the man. He was dressed in a very old fashion outfit with a cross hanging from his neck and a whip hanging from his side.

“I… I just need some air.” She said as she noticed several other men standing around.

“Oh trying to get some fresh air for you and your child? Fraid you can’t use this doorway out, we’re protecting someone on the other side of it… Where is your child?” The man asked looking around her as though she may have had one on her back.

“I don’t have a child.” She answered stiffly as she stared up at him.

“Oh? Well in that case you can go on through.” He said, tilting his head towards a set of large elaborate doors.

“But I thought you said you were protecting someone on the other side?” She pointed out, her eyebrow raised.

“We are, but not from anyone in here.” He said tilting his head forward towards the other women. “The one we’re protecting gets a little depressed around all of them. Her son isn’t here and she gets lonely for him.”

Confused she carried on towards the doors, walking to what turned out to be a balcony. A woman was sitting there, with pale blond hair and in a deep violet dress with a bouquet of flowers on her lap. The woman turned to look at her with a faint smile on her lips.

“No child?” She asked gently. “I know the feeling, I haven’t seen my son in ages.” She continued, stopping any attempts from Tenshi to speak. “You won’t be here from much longer. You’ll wake up soon.”

“Am I dreaming? How can I interact with my own dream like this?” Tenshi asked when the flowers were held out to her.

“In these flowers there rests a message for you. Once you decipher them you’ll know…”