#castleva

Charlotte settled down on the grass with an exasperated sigh. A few strands of her hair fluffed out as she pulled her legs to her chest, resting her chin against her knees. Sure, everyone had different ways of relieving stress, she understood that. Boys needed to expend their energy. Not that they weren’t doing enough of that, of course, what with the continued monster-fighting, but Jonathan would insist that this was different, it was for fun. That was another mystery – how could anybody call this fun, she had no idea. It just seemed a whole lot of purposeless mess to her. But then, Jonathan seemed to be enjoying himself, if the goofy grin and exhilarated laughter was anything to go by. She supposed it was a good thing.

Still, she wished she understood what possessed him to think that it was a good idea to have a food fight at the gates of Dracula’s Castle. With the alleged reincarnation of said vampire, at that.

“Waiter Skeleton Soooooul!”

“Cream Pie Subweapooooon!”

Jonathan didn’t need to shout the name of the subweapon to use it. Neither did Soma, from what she’d seen of his power. It was part of the ‘fun’, apparently. Charlotte stared at the red curry and white cream all over the boys. It would take ages for them to get the food out of their clothes, especially since Soma hadn’t even bothered to take off his coat. If Jonathan came asking her for a spell to get the stuff out of his hair, she certainly wasn’t going to help.

A glob of cream landed near her feet. She pulled her legs closer to her body, a frown on her face. The rest of their party were already giving the two boys and their mess a wide berth. While she wanted to keep an eye on Jonathan, she thought it prudent to follow their example, and shuffled back a bit, away from the danger zone.

She felt movement just behind her back, and turned to see Alucard stepping out of her way.

“Oh!” she said, standing up quickly. She could feel heat rising up to her face. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there!”

“Pay it no mind,” he replied smoothly. “I should have anticipated your movement. They are getting quite rowdy, are they not?”

“Y… yes,” she answered, not quite meeting his eyes. Although they’d been fighting alongside for a while now, the beautiful dhampir still intimidated her somewhat. “I’m sorry about Jonathan. I should have made him behave himself…”

Alucard shook his head with a humph. “You are due the same apology. Soma should know better, especially considering our current situation.”

His exasperated tone made her giggle in spite of herself. He was obviously as annoyed at Soma as she was at Jonathan. Alucard looked at her with a strange expression on his face, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips.

“If you are bored of their antics, perhaps you should join the rest of the group? I know Yoko has been looking for a chance talk to you.”

“I would,” she said, fidgeting. “But she’s always with Julius, and the way he looks at Jonathan is really strange. Well, he does that to me too, but more Jonathan.”

Alucard hesitated a second before answering, his voice subdued. “I will speak with Julius about that. He bears no ill will, only... he is very glad to see the two of you again, even if you do not know him yet.”

Once again, Charlotte felt heat colour her face, although this time the cause was slightly different. As old-fashioned the dhampir was, it was so easy to forget that he was actually from the future, same as Julius, Yoko and Soma. However, at times like this, she was reminded that he knew everything about her – how she would live, what she would become, how she would die. “W, well, I don’t mind that much,” she stammered, trying to hide her sudden flusteredness. “Maybe I should get Jonathan to talk to him more... when he’s not covered in food, anyway.”

Alucard gave a snort and turned his gaze back towards the two boys. Charlotte started to do the same, but something about his expression caught her attention. For this instant, his normally impassive face, while suitably irritated, also held unmistakable warmth. After a moment’s debate, she quitely said,

“You care about Soma, don’t you?”

Charlotte regretted her words as Alucard tensed up, but eventually he relaxed his posture with a sigh.

“It is good to see him laugh. There is so little cause for it nowadays, even with his exceptional ability of finding enjoyment in the most inane of things.”

Charlotte looked back towards the boys, thinking over Alucard’s words. She supposed it was nice to see Jonathan laugh so openly. Perhaps she shouldn’t be so annoyed at him...

“Waiter Skeleton Soul!!!”

Soma threw, Jonathan dodged, and the plate of curry flew towards the two observers. Charotte let out an undignified squeak and ducked out of the way. Alucard made a similar dive, but he was not quick enough to save his flowing cloak. Red-brown splattered over the black cloth. Charlotte winced in sympathy as the dhampir stared at the once-beautiful cape. Anger clouded his features, and Charlotte braced herself for an explosion, but Alucard pushed the rage down with visible effort. Instead, he reached into his coat, taking out a slip of paper and a small brooch in a figure 8 shape. Charlotte gasped as she recognised the blue aura surrounding the brooch.

“Is that— It can’t be—”

“It is,” he replied, “but over the years, its magic has weakened. It is of little use in combat. However, this“ – he brandished the piece of paper – “is one of the few things it will still duplicate. Observe.”

Holding the piece of paper between forefinger and thumb, he walked up to the boys and pointed it at them. A plate of spaghetti flew out of the paper and smacked Soma on his shoulder, which finally distracted the boys from their fight.

“Wha—”

Soma’s exclamation was cut off by another flick of Alucard’s wrist, landing him a faceful of shortcake. The paper flashed again and again with blinding speed. Before anyone could react, Soma was buried up to the waist in all kinds of food. As a final touch, Alucard flicked a peanut off the boy’s forehead before storming off, drawing his soiled cloak around himself.

For a moment, there was silence. Even the rest of the party had stopped their discussion to gape at the scene. Soma’s eyes were almost popping out of his head as he gawked at the retreating black figure. Jonathan quietly detached himself from the pile of pot roast, omelette and pizza, slinking over to Charlotte’s side, and she couldn’t help but burst out giggling at the look on his face. The laughter spread out to the rest of the party, until even Jonathan and Soma were doubled up. Charlotte tried her best to look stern as she declared,

“Right, no more food fights between missions!”

The effect was quite ruined by her inability to stop laughing.