Castlevania: Reunions

40: Changed

"Trevor stop." Ruby tells him when he wants to walk down towards the hold after Sypha opened it "They died!" "Who died?" Adrian asks, confused, but Ruby runs down without giving an answer, Trevor gives it "Our family, but if she's acting like that..." "I do pick up the scent of multiple humans." Adrian points out, so Trevor runs after Ruby. Sypha, Lisa and Adrian following at a slower pace.

"How?!" Trevor asks "I saw the house go up in flames, you... died..." he trails off, but they're not too sure how to explain it "While we were waiting for you we got a visitor who warned us that we had no time, we also had to promise not to interfere in your lives." Marie explains, she's hugging a crying Ruby, running a hand through the messy hair "Who's that mom?" someone asks, second later Trevor nearly loses his balance "Just don't attack our visitors." Trevor deadpans.

After introductions are made the ones who didn't know about Ruby being a Damphir, so most of them, get a shock when she tells them and Lisa finishes the explanation "And now we're here hoping to find a way to defeat Dracula, or at least... bring him back to his senses, we're probably being trailed by monsters though." "Nothing we can't handle." Gabriel assures her "Wait dad you and mom knew she wasn't human?' the oldest asks, so the two nod "There were plenty of hints though." Ruby mumbles "Like killing a werewolf with only throwing knifes, or the fact she was allowed to use that crossbow." Marie sums up "But I understand if you guys want nothing to do with me anymore since-" "Nonsense! You're our little sister, you always will be!".

The battle with Vlad goes relatively the same, except that Lisa isn't left behind to deal with the monsters outside, Gabriel has that handled, though the outcome is the same, with slightly more injuries since Vlad thought they were messing with him "I'm up!" Trevor yells when he's poked awake "Mom's making breakfast." Ruby tells him, they were sleeping in the hold since Gabriel, although he's not attacking Vlad, is wary of letting everyone stay in the castle "You don't look happy." Trevor mumbles, he had learned as a kid to read Ruby's facial expressions, guess that hasn't changed much "Well... I'm think of leaving with Vlad, Lisa and Adrian once the castle's fixed, I'm going to outlive everyone and..." Ruby trails off as she looks at the makeshift bed left of her, their youngest sibling is sleeping there peacefully "That's why we did it, didn't we?" she asks quietly "What do you mean?" Trevor asks, earning a sigh "There were only two people who knew exactly when the Clergy would come to our house and what would happen, two people Trevor, we did, we're the only ones." "You think one of us saved our family, but how?" he mumbles "Don't know, mom and dad won't talk, neither will our sisters." "And if we had found out she was expecting then..." Trevor trails off, they hadn't known that when the house burned down, hell if he'd known he would've run in to save at least his mother "Let's go eat breakfast.".

Breakfast is quiet, Sypha is confused on why Trevor and Ruby are acting off though "Do you wanna talk about it?" she asks, but Trevor shakes his head "Mom, can you describe the person who warned you?" Ruby asks "I don't remember, it's been a long time ago." Marie answers, she remembers though, she knows exactly who warned them "Don't worry about it kid." Gabriel adds, he had recognized the look in the eyes of the Ruby who warned them, pain, loss, but also hope, whatever had happened needed to happen again, no matter how painful it is "So... I'm leaving once we finish the hunt for Godbrand and then... well..." Ruby trails off "I'll try not to wait too long with visiting I guess." "Ruby, you wanted to practice a bit more right?" Adrian asks while peeking inside the dining room "Yeah." she tells him, so he mentions she has to come.

Like true Belmonts, and to the disgust of the other two, Trevor and Ruby bring back the skull "I can't believe you got poisoned." Trevor mumbles while digging through the bag of medicine for the antidote for Sypha, but he catches it when it's thrown at him "Thanks Ruby." "No problem." she replies while writing in her journal "Are you still-" "Yes, it keeps my thought organized, besides, I like the drawings I made." she cuts him off, well, a journal was better then nothing he guesses "I'm curious, how'd you get burned?" Sypha asks, she had been curious for a while now "I'd really rather not talk about it." Ruby mumbles, trying to hide herself in her cloak "Okay, tell us when you're ready." Adrian assures her, making the other two nod in agreement.

"You're letting the Demom Spawn live?!" a clergy asks, they had found it suspicious that the house was being rebuild "That so called Demon Spawn is my daughter!" Marie counters, but Gabriel pulls her back slightly "They're not worth it love." he whispers "We will take her and burn her-" the man can't finish talking since a knife gets lodged in his skull, causing the rest to back away from their dead comrade "Mom, take the kid away," Ruby deadpans as she walks over "dad, please tell Adrian there will be food shortly." "Be careful." Gabriel tells her, so she gives a thumbs up. Of course the rest of the Belmonts hear the fighting, so they go check since there are screams coming from grown men "I will let you live, however, you can go straight back to whoever send you and tell them that I'll be coming for them next if anyone shows up here again, understood?" Ruby asks, earning frantic nod "Then get the hell out of my sight!".

"We can manage fixing the house Ruby, it's alright if you leave." Marie says, after letting the last one leave they had gotten a letter stating that their family for forgiven for their sins, whatever those were "Alright, anyway, Vlad left you guys a present and I will be taking Godbrand's skull with me." Ruby replies, she's gotten a lot of questions on why she could mercilessly slaughter so many though "By the way, you should go find an article about the church trying to burn a child, see how you feel about it afterwards." she advises them as she walks through the doors of Vlad's castle and the door closes behind her as that sentence sets in "She'll be fine Marie." Gabriel points out, earning a nod "Yes, she will, I don't know how or when, but she'll live and I'm very glad for that." Marie admits, none of the kids had known she was pregnant when they were attacked "Mommy, will I see big sis again?" "Of course Richard, of course you will." she says, her kids would be fine on their own, she can see that now. "Sypha, let's go and find the remaining demons!" Trevor shouts "We also need to find my family." Sypha adds to that "Yes yes, let's go! Bye mom, bye dad!" "Bye sweetie, come back often!" Marie calls after him, she had understood what the older Ruby meant about not interfering, even if her husband didn't completely agree with those choices.