Castlevania: Untested (21/27)

[patriciatepes]

Title: Untested
By: PatriciaTepes (AKA Patricia de Lioncourt @ fanfiction.net; PatriciaLouise @ TTH)
Chapter Title: I'm Not Crazy
Links to Other Chapters: Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen
Fandom: Castlevania
Rating: Pg-13
Disclaimer: I don't own Castlevania, any related characters, or the images used below.  Yes, Aly (of Aly & AJ fame) is my model for my main OC.  But please, don't let my inability to draw hinder your imagination, as Ria really doesn't look exactly like that. :)
Summary: Adriana Smith is just a normal girl...or so she thinks. However, as her mother and she move into a house known as Belmont Manor and a strange storm and decoration enter her life, she will find that her mother has not told her the truth of her family...
Author's Notes: So, when I wrote this chapter, I'd recently acquired on DVD the fourth season of Two and a Half Men, and I loved how their episode titles (I'd only watched about half of season one and then all of season four of this show, so I'd never noticed this until then) are lines of dialogue within the episode. So, that's how I've come to choose to the title to this chapter (I did some title swapping in previous chapters, so this one needed a whole new title). Just a little fun fact. Enjoy!

Chapter 20: I'm Not Crazy

Dracula said that they were getting closer to the coliseum. Ria didn't argue, figuring that the vampire king ought to know the layout of his own castle. But her silence towards him held more than agreement. It was also filled with the utmost contempt.

Since the discovery of the vampire's true identity and the fact that Isaac had known about it before Ria, the group—without Isaac, of course—had made a great deal of progress. By Ria's count, they had gone now a whole two to two and a half hours without having to stop at a safe room again. Ria was quite happy with this…Dracula and Sara did not share her feelings.

Of course, that was probably because Ria now had a cut on her right arm to match the one on her left, a gash in her leg that was healing, a small scrape on one of her knees, and a tiny cut on the right side of her forehead where a bat's claw had got her. She was bleeding, but not anywhere near life threatening amounts. And she was feeling no pain. She was too angry to feel pain.

But Sara was worried about her, and Ria was sure that the smell of her blood was more than probably driving Dracula insane. But he couldn't attack her…then he wouldn't have the means to defeating Walter. The scent was probably torturing him.

This thought brought a small smile to Ria's face.

The group was currently near the halfway mark in the Marble Gallery, according to Dracula. Sara had finally had enough. She stepped in front of Ria, who stopped. She might have been able to walk right through her friend, but she had never tried it. Nor had she wanted to. Walking through someone just seemed…wrong.

"What is it?" Dracula asked.

Ria ignored him, staring straight ahead…which was right at Sara. Sara had her hands on her dainty hips and her face set in a glare.

"Adriana Smith, you need to heal. We are resting and that is final!" Sara said.

"I'm not resting. I'm not going to waste any more time in getting to my mother. And I'm sure that my pace so far has been annoying Drac back here," she replied, jerking a thumb back at the vampire.

"Who in the world are you speaking to, girl?" Dracula asked.

Well, now Dracula thought Ria was losing her mind. She supposed if she had really wanted to annoy him, this would be the way to do it. Her only response to his inquiry was a glare, before she turned her attention back to Sara, who was looking quite perturbed.

"Ria, if you push yourself too far, Walter will surely…destroy you. You can't let Dracula get to you. If he gets to you, he wins, always. I know you're angry—"

Ria cut her off. "Angry? Angry doesn't even begin to cover it! I refuse to rest with this…this monster anymore! We're saving my mother and killing Walter on my time…and I say I can handle a hell of a lot more than this—" she waved her arms about for emphasis, "before I give out. Now, let's keep going!"

She shot a look at Dracula, and, if she wasn't so pissed at him, she would have laughed. The lord of darkness actually looked kind of…frightened was too strong of a word…uneasy with the way Ria was acting. He must have been questioning if his little reveal or if the castle as a whole was affecting the girl. Or maybe he was considering a sound slap across her face, to bring her back to her senses? Ria scoffed and rolled her eyes, pushing past Sara, who only whirled to continue to speak to the departing Ria.

"Adriana, you listen to me right now, young lady! I am your trainer and your friend, and I am worried about you! You are letting your anger get way out of control! You have—" Sara yelled at her until a gasp from Dracula cut her off.

Both women turned towards him. Dracula's eyes were wide and staring right at Sara. And if he wasn't already deathly pale, all the color would have been gone from his features.

"What?" Ria asked.

"Don't you…see her?" Dracula muttered, pointing, briefly, at Sara.

Sara blinked, shocked. "Me?"

"Sara?" Dracula whispered, stepping closer to her.

Ria moved quickly between her friend and the vampire. Dracula stopped just before Ria, his eyes glued to the ghostly figure behind her.

"It is you!" he said, stepping back again.

"You can see her? How?" Ria asked.

His eyes now fell on her. "How is it that she is even here? She died…centuries ago."

"Because of you!" Sara snapped.

"Really? You can see her?" Ria said pointing at Sara.

Dracula sighed. "Yes, Adriana, yes! I can see her as clearly as I see you!"

Maybe Dracula should have slapped her. In any case, she sure felt like she needed it now. How was this even possible? All this time with Ria being the only one able to see her…and now suddenly Dracula gains the ability to be aware of Sara? Of course, when she thought about it for a moment, there was one glaring difference.

"It must be this castle," Ria said.

"What? He's never been able to see me before!" Sara said.

"Before?" Dracula exclaimed. "What before? How long have you been…present?"

Sara rolled her eyes. Ria scoffed. For being the only teenager here, she rolled her eyes a hell of a lot less than her two, centuries old companions did. A crash in the distance made Ria and Sara jump and Dracula whirl around to face its source. When he turned back, his eyes widened.

"Where did she go?" he asked.

Ria and Sara exchanged looks. Ria shrugged.

"She's right here. Right where she was," she answered.

"I can't see her now."

Ria arched a brow just as Sara grabbed her arm protectively. She pointed behind Dracula, her eyes reflecting fear.

"There's something coming! We need a safer place than this," she said.

"I see you again," Dracula said, matter-of-factly.

"Although it is nice to have confirmation that I'm not crazy, maybe you should focus. Is there a safe room near here where we can hash this out without fear or possibility of death?" Ria said, using two fingers to motion his eyes to hers.

Dracula blinked, giving his head the smallest of shakes.

"No, no safe room near here. But my creatures rarely enter the clock tower. Time confuses some of those who do not fully comprehend their existence. It's the room just beyond. Move ahead."

Another crash sounded in the room behind, and it sounded a lot closer than the last one. Ria turned, not needing to be told twice, and pushed ahead. Moments later, she emerged in a room occupied by two statues stationed above the right and left side of the room, one of which—she noticed—moved as the hour struck on the giant clock behind her. Ria moved to the center of the room, Sara following close behind her.

"Can you still see me?" Sara asked, turning to face Dracula.

"Where did she go?" he asked simultaneously.

"That would be a no," Ria said, looking at her friend.

"Explain this," the vampire king demanded, his eyes locked on Ria.

"Don't order her around like that!" Sara snapped.

Dracula crossed his arms. "Again, I see you. Why do you fade? Does she fade in your eyes, Ria?"

"Adriana," Ria corrected harshly. "And no. She doesn't."

"How are you still here, Sara?" he asked, seeming to pay no mind to Ria's correction.

"I'm why the Vampire Killer works. My soul is bound to it, gives it its power. It was an alchemy spell that bound me. Surely you remember your old practice?" she said, acid dripping from every word.

Ria's eyes darted to Dracula, who appeared lost in thought. His eyes were roving Sara's form, studying her. Ria turned to attention back to her ghostly friend, who appeared to be getting angrier and angrier the more he stared.

"Interesting. I am familiar with the spell…I was unaware that this was a side effect of it," he said, his head tilting ever so slightly to the side. He looked like a cat who was wondering why its mousy-plaything had suddenly stopped moving.

"I'm a side effect?" the ghostly woman hissed.

Ria rubbed the bridge of her nose. If Sara got any more hostile, she would be red and screaming like a steam whistle. Dracula arched a brow at her.

"Have any of the other Belmonts been able to see you?"

"I don't see where that is any of your business!" Sara yelled.

He shrugged. "Very well. Just my curiosity, not really important," he turned to Ria and added, "Now that we have a moment of peace, I had an idea that may serve us well."

Ria opened her mouth, trying to find the right words. For a moment, words wouldn't even form. Sara was heaving just like any living person who was trying their best to hold in their anger. Her hands her clenched at her sides, and she strode forward to put herself between Ria and Dracula.

"We're not through with this!" she shouted.

Ria pointed towards her friend. "Uh…I think she's right. I mean, we don't even know how you are able to see her. In truth, only female Belmonts have been able to see her."

She knew that Sara had only kept that information from him to spite him, but Ria figured that if she threw Dracula an informational tidbit, he might be a bit more forthcoming. Now, he waved his hand dismissively.

"You were probably correct before, Adriana. It's most likely the castle affecting her," he said.

"But you haven't seen me before, you idiot!" Sara said, close to outright screaming.

"Has she ever been this emotional?" Dracula asked, leaning around Sara to look at Ria.

"Not really."

"That explains it then. This castle feeds off strong emotions. And I'll also wager that her bond with you, personally, has affected it. Are the two of you close?"

"Leave her out of this!"

Sara was finally screaming at the vampire king. Ria couldn't stop herself from covering her own mouth in shock. She had never seen Sara with any sort of reaction like that. Not even when she had had to relive her time with Walter. Dracula grinned.

"That concludes it, I think. Now, onto my plan. It concerns Isaac and you, Adriana," he said.

Sara was breathing heavily again, her eyes wide and nostrils flared. She now appeared to stiffen in her place in front of Ria. She crossed her arms and huffed.

"I won't let you harm her," she said.

"What about Isaac?" Ria asked, stepping just off to the side of Sara.

"I propose a blood bond between the two of you," he said.

Ria's face automatically contorted into one of disgust—anything that vampires did concerning blood just couldn't be pretty—while Sara shook her head.

"No. That's not going to happen," Sara snapped.

"Why don't you let the child decide? It would be most beneficial," Dracula sneered.

"Then why don't you do it?"

"A blood bond with me, with the one he already has from Walter, would tear him to pieces."

"Oh! That's going to make me want to agree to this. She's not doing it!"

"Um, maybe if I knew—" but Ria cut herself off. It was clear that the two were just not listening to her.

They continued snipping at one another. It took several go-arounds, but Dracula finally looked like he was getting angry with the whip-bound spirit. Ria kept trying to interrupt, finding it more and more likely that they had forgotten she was even there.

"I have planned this out, thoroughly," Dracula said in defense of the bond.

"I've seen your plans, Dracula. They don't always quite turn out the way you want them to. Myself, for instance, is a perfect representation of that. Not to mention the fact that Walter's back. In fact, all of this mess is pretty well all your cursed fault!" Sara hissed, glaring daggers at the vampire.

Ria sighed. This was worse than some of the arguments she had heard in school. He did it first! Nuh-huh, she did! And not once had either stopped to ask Ria's opinion. Did she want to be blood bonded with Isaac? What were the side effects? The pros? The cons?

Meanwhile, Dracula threw his hands up defensively, shaking his head. "Well, hindsight's twenty-twenty!"

Sara blinked. "Okay, I know how I know modern speech. Where did you learn that one?"

"I've been watching television at the hotel!"

Ria lost it. She actually screamed. A loud, shrill shriek of a scream that made even Ria want to put her hands over her ears. Dracula's and Sara's eyes were wide as they turned her attention to her.

"Ria, what—?" Sara began, but stopped as Ria shook her head violently.

"I can't deal with this! Get out! Go, work out your histories, and then come back. When you're sane again!" she yelled, pointing at the door behind Dracula.

"But…Ria…" Sara said.

"Go!" she screamed.

Dracula puffed up his chest. "I will not be ordered about by a little girl."

Ria reached for her whip, letting it unfurl to the ground. He stepped, perhaps unconsciously, a little bit back from her.

"Go outside and talk…no yelling! I just can't deal with this right now!" she screamed, gripping the whip with a vice grip.

"Okay, okay. We will…just…"

But Sara didn't finish her sentence. Instead, Dracula and she simply backed from the room. Ria, somewhere in the back of her mind, wondered just how far away Sara could go from her…from the whip. But she didn't care. They were out of the room, their problems with them.

But Ria really didn't feel any better. She was shaking. Finally, she just burst into tears. She had never been a crier, not really. Not even as a child. But now here she was, standing in the middle of Castlevania, the tears just streaming down her face.

She sat on the floor, putting her face in her hands, and just sobbed.