Blood Red Moon Resurrection Chapter 10:
     Two Faces, One Mind

     Disclaimers: All characters belong to their various
copyrights, with the exception of Reinhart Masaki and Rosa Masaki.
Those two are mine.  Beyond their usage in this story, I claim no
ownership, no rights of creation, no nothing.  Please don't sue me.
Comments, quips, insults, and death threats will only be accepted
at Platinum_Dragon@usinternet.com
     The Tenchi Muyo Characters in this series are based on the OVA
versions, but don't be surprised if there aren't one or two TV
references.  The characters Carrie Fernandez, Alucard, Death,
Dracula, Maria Renard and Lisa all belong to the Konami Castlevania
series. This cross-over series is placed roughly 17 years in
Tenchi's world, 120 years in Alucard's world after the events in
Blood Red Moon.  Reinhart and Rosa Masaki, the children of Tenchi
and Ryoko, are now young teens.

     "To what profit is it to a man, if he gains the world and
loses his own soul?  Mathew 16:26 I believe." - Dracula, as he dies
at the end of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

*****

     Dracula looked down at the body of Kagato with a distasteful
smirk.  He lowered the end of his sword to the scientist's
tunic, and cleaned it off, and then resheathed it in the scabbard
at his side.  Tenchi stared at him warily, holding his force blade
at the ready, and mentally prepared to fight.  The ancient vampire
looked at him, coolly raising an eyebrow.
     "Surprised?" he asked.  Tenchi shook his head.
     "Not really."  Dracula laughed, and Tenchi let the force blade
dissolve, confident that he could summon it again if he needed
to.  The vampire king smiled just slightly.
     "Were this my world, doing that would have cost you your
life."
     "At least you're honest about it."  Dracula laughed, although
his mirth didn't touch his eyes.  Tenchi frowned.  "Why help me?
You could have killed me, and then him."  Dracula shook his head.
Next to him, the image of a pretty young woman with golden hair and
dark eyes appeared for a moment.
     "I have no interest in destroying you.  Fate bound you to
defeat me, and I consider it a blessing.  Here...  In this place,
I can be with her again.  Perhaps this Lisa is only the shadows
of my memories, but it is still her.  For that, I will help to keep
you as you are."  Tenchi nodded, and looked up, at the tower.
     "It's him, isn't it?  The man that called himself your
servant.  Yuzuha gave me the clue, when she said that you had gone
to stop him."  Dracula nodded.
     "Baranabas was loyal to me in my world; here, he has gained
great power.  When you destroyed him in Castlevania, his essence
flowed through your vampirism, and hid, biding its time.  He is
getting stronger, fed by something in my world."  Tenchi nodded.
     "Well, then, the sooner we start, the sooner we get there,"
he said.  On the point of walking forward, Tenchi paused, and then
invited Dracula to lead the way.  The vampire smirked, and entered.
Sighing, Tenchi followed him in.

*****

     Alucard slowly followed his father, as he led him into,
fittingly enough, the confessional room.  His mind was spinning
now.  This was the final proof.  His father truly was dead, and his
battle over, once they stopped Cain.  Castlevania, as he had said,
was a fitting punishment for Dracula.  The vampire himself seemed
real enough; not ghostly or unreal.  He appeared to be a young and
vibrant man.
     "Ironic, isn't it Alucard?  Just as you turned against me and
my ideals, so too has your son turned against you.  And for much
the same reason!" laughed Dracula.  Alucard frowned at him.
     "What do you mean?"  Dracula laughed roughly.
     "Please, Adrian, spare me the 'for the good of the human race'
routine.  Perhaps it was part of your decision to fight me, but we
both know that you blame me for Lisa's death, just as Cain blames
you for... Maria's, I believe it was?  That has long been your
motivation in your endless battle with 'the night.'"  Alucard
nodded absently.  Cain blamed him for Maria's death?  He looked
at Dracula, frowning.
     "What would you know of such matters?  A creature of evil for
more than a thousand years."  Dracula looked away.  Was it simply
his imagination, or had there been pain in that gaze?  The silence
stretched out for a moment, and then Dracula spoke quietly.
     "By the time that I found out, it was already too late, and
she was already gone.  Not even Death could bring her back, though
I would not have allowed him even if he could have.  Yes, I swore
revenge against the 'human race.'  But that was my decision,
and no one else's."  Alucard frowned again, and slowly turned to
go, but his father stopped him.
     "It is your right to judge me, by my deeds and actions of the
past.  But if you must judge me, then at least honor me enough
to judge me fairly, by all of my life, instead of only a part of
it.  Humans made me a vampire; I embraced it, instead of bemoaning
my fate, just as I shall not complain to be imprisoned here, for
the rest of eternity.  This is what Fate has delt me, just as you
were delt your role."  Alucard looked at him for a moment,
considering his words.
     "Humans may have made you a vampire; does that then mean that
you had to become evil as well?  You were the first; you were the
one to set their role."  Dracula sighed, but in his eyes Alucard
could see that his words had stung him.  For a moment, he
considered softening them; then he realized that it would make no
difference.  The words of truth were often the most painful words
of all, and nothing could change their bite.  This, Alucard knew
well.

*****

     Rosa woke up suddenly, startled awake by something.  She
opened one eye, and looked around.  Sheann'a was dozing not far
from her, and Drathar leaned against the end of the pew, keeping
watch.  Across from her, Reinhart appeared to be sleeping, Carrie's
staff resting across his lap.  His head was down; it almost looked
like he was praying.  She paused a moment, and realized that he
just might be.
     It had happened so suddenly, it had taken her a moment to
understand that Carrie had been hurt.  By then, Cain had already
taken the Whip, and disappeared.  Then Reinhart had caught her, as
she had fallen to the ground.  Carrie's last words had been too
soft for even her to hear.  Then, just like that, she had been
gone.
     Part of her wanted to scream with the wrongness of it, and
yet, at the same time, she knew that Carrie had had a long life.
There had been so much pain, for her; Rosa simply couldn't imagine
losing her parents, or others that she loved.  Carrie was free,
now.  So, for Rosa, it came to the fact that while it hurt, while
it was wrong in the way that she had died, it was something
that Carrie might have welcomed, hard for Rosa to understand
as that might be.
     Looking at Reinhart, she sighed.  She pitied him, both for the
pain that he was in now, and the scars it would likely leave on him
for the rest of his life.  She knew that he would hold it in,
refusing to talk about it.  She also knew that he could usually
handle pain.  He never was very vocal about hurts, either physical
or emotional, always better at handling it by himself.  He had once
broken his arm, when they were very young, but never even
complained.  He had just held it all in.
     But this...  She knew that he hadn't slept in their room the
night before.  She had woken in the middle of the night to find
that he wasn't there, and had been awake when he had teleported
in, though she had acted as though she was asleep.  The reason
why had seemed obvious enough; even she wouldn't say anything
to him about it, in public or otherwise.  She knew that Reinhart
wouldn't have done that unless he truly did love her, and she had
wanted it.
     She knew that he shouldn't hold this in, but she just didn't
know how to get him to talk.  It was ironic, she reflected.
She really was the talker of the family; not even Mayuka could keep
up with her at times.  But Reinhart really was a private man; even
as his sister, there were things about him that she didn't know,
and when he closed up, nobody could get through the defenses
that he put up.  So, when he had told her that he would deal with
it later, she had let the matter drop, hoping that he would be able
to deal with it in his way.
     She wondered why he had taken the staff.  A memento, perhaps?
It didn't make sense to her, only made more questions.  Yet, she
was certain that he had taken it for a reason.  Frustrated
by the entire ordeal, she sat up and pounded a fist into the pew.
Sheann'a, who had been sleeping curled up against an armrest,
was startled awake as the bench jumped under the blow.  She frowned
at Rosa sleepily, stretching.
     "I was just having the most interesting dream.  Why is it I am
always woken just before anything fun can happen?"  For a moment,
Rosa considered asking just what the dream had been about, but
before she could come to a decision, Alucard reentered the chapel.
The dhampeal had a somewhat stormy expression on his face, the
first time, she realized, that she had really seen an expression
on him at all.  Dracula followed slowly after.  There was an almost
defeated air about him.
     From what their parents had told them, Rosa had expected
to meet the devil himself when they found him.  Yet this man seemed
resigned to his fate, and almost sorry for his deeds.  She
remembered the ghostly Rosa saying that she didn't blame Dracula
for what he had done, but his servant.  She wondered what it was
like to be able to forgive a thing like that.
     Reinhart looked up; his expression unreadable.  Though his
eyes were still pained, he somehow seemed less angry than before,
more at terms with what had happened.  That worried her more than
anything, because she had never known Reinhart to let go of anger
quickly.  Sheann'a flew over to Alucard, as he spoke.
     "We must move on.  I do not think we have much time left,"
he said.  There was an almost icy chill to his voice, and it made
her shiver slightly.  Reinhart stood up, nodding, as she stretched.
Alucard began moving toward an exit opposite of where they had
entered.
     "Hear me, Alucard.  Cain's goal is the destruction of the
Pendulum, but he holds a wish for vengeance against you for Maria's
death.  Be wary of him... my son," said Dracula suddenly.  Alucard
paused, and turned to arch an eyebrow at him.  Then, cape swirling,
he led them out, and into a long hall.  Rosa fell into step next
to Reinhart.
     "Penny for your thoughts, brother?"  He looked at her for a
moment, with a thoughtful expression.
     "I was wondering if it was just chance that mom and dad came
here, or if they had to, because of fate or whatever," he said
slowly.  Rosa frowned.  She was certain that it was an evasion,
but is was still a valid question.
     "Who can tell?  If it wasn't fate, then what chance that they
be here just when they needed to be?  And if it was fate, then is
it fate that you and I are here, now, as well?"  She let the
thought hang, unfinished there, because she suddenly found herself
uncomfortable with it.
     "Fate.  She is at best a cruel mistress.  Sometimes she will
give you what you desire, but always she take it back from you
in the end," said Alucard suddenly, and she looked at him in
surprise, as he halted them.  He gestured at the door before them.
It was fairly unremarkable; not even the heavy gilt seen throughout
the rest of the castle was evident there.  "Of all the traps that
the castle holds, perhaps the most deadly are the Corridors
of the Mind.  For each of us, it will draw out our most painful
memory, and force us to relive it.  Many can not stand it, and try
to stop it from happening.  That is their final, fatal mistake."
They nodded, and he pushed open the door.
     Almost instantly, Rosa recognized the scene that was presented
to them.  It was of an elementary school; students were pouring
out of the doors as the final bell rang.  The sky was a little
overcast, but all in all it didn't look like a terribly bad day.
Reinhart stepped next to her, looking around.
     "This is where we went to second and third grade."  She
nodded, as Sheann'a looked at them.
     "It doesn't look like they enjoyed themselves very much here,
considering how fast they are running away.  What is it, some sort
of giant torture chamber?"  Rosa laughed in spite of herself.
     "Something like that, Sheann'a.  Something like that."  They
continued on their way; the children didn't seem to notice the
strange group, although they flowed around them in a milling
throng.  Rosa frowned, trying to figure out what memory this would
be.  It had to be one of hers; she was certain that Reinhart's
would be Carrie's death, and of course neither Alucard nor his
familiars had ever gone to a school in their world.  The whole
scene tickled at her memory, but nothing clear surfaced.
     The flow of students finally came to a stop, as the neared
the entrance of the school.  As they drew near, they began to hear
the sounds of children, shouting and laughing.  Then they heard
a terrified cry for help.  Looking at one another, they hurried
toward the sounds.  Rosa rounded the corner first.
     She saw, before them, a circle of perhaps ten children.
They were standing around another, smaller group.  Five children,
all looking to be in about fifth grade, were attacking a sixth,
younger boy.  He was small, and frail looking.  He couldn't have
been in more than third grade.  As they got there, one of the older
boys punched the younger one hard in the stomach, and he doubled
over in pain.
     Even as she finally understood what the memory was, her eyes
widening, a much younger form of herself suddenly dropped into the
circle from thin air.  She looked to be in second grade, and all
knees and elbows, as tall as the older boys, and thin.  The outer
ring of students scattered as she grabbed the nearest of the
bullies by the scruff of his neck and threw him away from the area.
He landed on the pavement some ten feet away with a dull thud,
struggled a moment to get up, and then passed out.  The other boys
turned to her, grinning darkly.
     The first just rushed at her, intending to knock her down and
then go back to what they had been doing; moments later, he
stumbled away, blood pouring from his shattered nose.  Two more
flanked her.  She watched them both closely; the one on her left
jumped at her first.  She spun, catching him by the shirt, and
threw him into the other boy.  They slid backwards a few feet, and
then remained still, one of them moaning in pain.
     The last one produced a small gun from under his coat.  Rosa
knew what happened next, and had to force herself not to squeeze
her eyes shut.  Her younger self instinctively raised a hand.  As
the other boy was still aiming, a fireball formed, and blasted
out at him.  His eyes widened in shock, and he leapt out of the
way.
     The fireball slammed into the younger boy, who had been
standing right behind the bully, and he was thrown into the wall.
He crumpled to the ground bonelessly, a small amount of smoke
rising from his clothing.  The boy with the gun stared between
him and her younger form, and then tossed the weapon away, running
as fast as he could.  Her younger self stared, shocked at what had
happened.  Rosa remembered that that was the first time that she
had ever thrown a fireball; their parents hadn't yet started
teaching them about those abilities, beyond their teleportation.
Suddenly, Reinhart appeared, running around a corner that he had
teleported behind, and grabbed her, pulling her away from the fight
scene before any teachers came.
     "He was in a coma for five years," she mumbled.  Reinhart
looked at her in surprise.
     "You followed what happened to him?"  She nodded.
     "None of the other boys ever said that it was me that did it;
they were all afraid that I'd come after them if they did.  He was
in a coma for five years; when he finally woke up, he couldn't
even remember how to speak."  She laughed a little raggedly.
"The last that I knew of him, he had just finally passed
kindergarten again at age fourteen."  She sighed.  It had taken
her a long time, but she had finally managed to put that day behind
her, even manage to forget it.  Now it seemed that the wound was
reopened.
     "Why did they attack him?" asked Sheann'a.  Rosa looked at
her.
     "He turned them in for trying to sell drugs - a sort of
poison.  If I hadn't have stopped them, they probably would have
killed him anyway."  A medical team had just finished putting
the boy on a stretcher, and loaded him into a waiting ambulance.
Two other medics were checking the bullies that she had stopped.
     "You fought in his defense, and your spell was in your own
defense.  Why take pains for doing as was right?  You owed him no
debt for his being injured; it was an accident," said Alucard.
She looked at him for a moment, and smiled sadly.
     "It doesn't matter.  It was because of me he was in a coma.
My 'spell' as you put it, isn't exactly the norm in our world.
So, I am the one who has to deal with it."  He nodded, though he
frowned in thought.  As he did, the scene changed.  One moment,
they were standing on the school grounds, then next, they stood
in a town square, under a heavily over cast sky, in a town square.
They were surrounded by villagers, who seemed angry at something.
The houses about them were Victorian, painted in reds and browns.
     Alucard looked around, and sighed loudly.  From his reaction,
Rosa assumed that thus was his memory.  Looking around for herself,
she saw that the villager's anger seemed to be directed toward
a pretty young woman who was held spread-eagled on a tall wooden
cross.  Below her, a carefully constructed pile of wood waited.
She was pretty, her hair a light blond.  Rosa couldn't see her
face, turned down as it was her hair hid it from view.  As she
watched, four villagers bearing torches appeared, led by a
black-robed man holding a book and a cross.  Rosa suddenly realized
what was happening, and automatically moved to try and help the
woman.  Alucard stopped her with an outstretched arm, shaking
his head.
     "The past is set in stone.  Nothing you would do here would
effect the present, beyond earning you your death."  As he said it,
another Alucard ran into the square.  Although he appeared no
different from the man that stood next to here, she had the sense
that this Alucard was much younger.  The man ran toward the crowd,
pushing his way through.
     "Mother!"  The woman on the cross looked up as the younger
Alucard shouted.  Her features were delicate; her dark eyes sad,
and yet brave.  She looked as if she were ready to accept what
might come with open eyes and arms.  Rosa looked at the Alucard
they had come with.  As he watched the unfolding events, his lips
moved in time with the words spoken by the images.
     "Watch me die, and remember my last word always:  You have the
power to set him free.  He has been punished for long enough,
suffered long enough.  Set him free of his chains."  He blinked
in surprise, as the woman looked not at the Alucard of the past,
but of the present.  But before he could react, the four villagers
each set fire to a point of the pyre.  She didn't scream in pain,
didn't shout in terror.  Instead, she held Alucard's gaze until
the flames had shot too high to see her anymore, that same sad
bravery never leaving them.
     "Those were not her final words to me.  She said, 'Do not hate
humans. If you cannot live with them, then do them no harm, for
theirs is already a hard lot,'" said Alucard slowly.  He stared
at the flames, as they roared high, his expression completely
unreadable.  Sheann'a and Drathar both had puzzled expressions
as well.
     "Why did they do that to her?" asked Reinhart.  Alucard looked
at him.
     "She was a doctor, and healed many, many people.  But the
church thought that she healed them through witchcraft.  She was
accused with such, and they burned her at the stake for it.  Father
swore vengeance against the entire human race because of it, not
knowing her final words."  Rosa suddenly thought of something.
     "What if that really was her, and she was trying to tell you
something?"  Alucard raised an eyebrow at her, but Sheann'a nodded
thoughtfully.
     "It could be.  A message important enough to her that she was
willing to go through the pain again to get it to you.  And I can
think of no other place beside the castle where something like that
could happen."  Alucard frowned, turning the thought over.
Whatever conclusion he came to, though, he held his own council.
     The scene faded away, to be replaced by the castle's villa.
Rosa gasped, as she saw herself enter the foyer, just as she had a
few hours ago.  Carrie followed behind her, and Reinhart, then
Alucard, bringing up the rear.  She looked at Reinhart; he was
clutching tightly at the staff, his head bowed.
     As they watched, Cain suddenly appeared at the top of the
stairs.  He walked down them, just as he had before, speaking
to Sheann'a and Drathar.  Rosa's gaze swung between what was
happening before them, and Reinhart.    Her brother stood as still
as he could, but slowly raised his head.  In his eyes, fury began
to rage as Cain stopped, looking at Carrie.  The staff suddenly
began to glow, softly at first, and then brighter and brighter.
     "Reinhart," she said softly.  He looked at her, and shook his
head.  The staff stopped glowing, as Cain finished his speech.
     "Unfortunately, I'm afraid that you won't have the time."
Once again, Cain raised his hand, that sphere of darkness forming
so quickly.  She watched as Carrie, with a sudden expression
of understanding, swung her staff down, forming a shield even as
Reinhart leapt toward her.  He bounced off the shield, and the
sphere smashed into her side.
     Rosa couldn't understand why Carrie smiled as it did.
Reinhart was at her side just after Cain disappeared with the whip.
Reinhart frowned, and moved toward them.
     "Did you see it, Alucard?" he asked.  The dhampeal looked
at him, curious.
     "See what?"  Reinhart smiled just slightly.
     "Cain.  He winced as he threw the spell, and again as he took
the Whip.  Just slightly, barely enough to notice... but he did."
Alucard frowned, clearly thinking.  Slowly, he nodded.
     "When you point it out, I realize that you are correct.
I thought that he placed more power than he needed to into his
Sphere."  Rosa looked at them, confused.
     "What are you talking about?"  Reinhart smiled a little wider,
but his eyes were cold.
     "Cain winced when he threw his spell, and when he touched
the whip;  Alucard thinks that he put too much power into his
spell...  Cain might be bluffing in his abilities."  Rosa frowned.
     "Or he could be trying to trick us into thinking that, and
underestimating him," she said.  He frowned, but Drathar cleared
his throat.
     "It is possible.  His blood, being both Belmont and Tepes,
fought itself.  It may also fight the powers each side gives him.
The Belmont blood fighting the Sphere, and the Tepes blood fighting
the Whip."  Alucard nodded slowly, understanding what he was
getting at.
     "So while his powers are not weaker than we thought, he must
put more effort into using them."  Reinhart nodded.
     "Exactly.  That might an edge that we can use against him."
Beside them, Death knelt and picked up Carrie's lifeless form, and
then disappeared after Alucard spoke to him.  The castle seemed
to lurch, and the scene faded away, to reveal a plain, empty
corridor.  It had no decorations, was completely seamless except
for a second plain, wooden door before them.  They had passed
through the trap relatively unscathed.
     "We are nearly there.  Only the castle's keep and the clock
tower remain."

*****

     Ryoko looked up as Tsunami sighed, and saw her remove her hand
from Tenchi's chest.  So she had finally run out of the energy
needed to sustain the web.  The goddess was very haggard looking,
her hair standing out at random angles from her scalp.  She looked
as though she had aged a few years over the past week.
     "It is up to Tenchi, now, and the children to stop whatever
is feeding the curse.  My powers have reached their limits,"
she said softly.  Slowly, she stood up, moving stiffly, which
wasn't surprising considering that she had been sitting in the
chair for the past week.  She looked at Ryoko.  "How are you
holding up?" she asked.
     "I keep asking what is taking them so long.  I'm scared,
Sasami.  Mayuka's dream scares me.  Last night I dreamt that Rosa
came home a vampire, and told me that Reinhart was dead before
tearing me apart.  No, before you ask, it wasn't that sort of
dream."  She laughed roughly, and ran a hand through hair as messy
as Tsunami's.  "Forget scared, I'm completely terrified.  The only
reason I haven't gone mad yet is because you and the others are
around to keep me company."  Tsunami sighed.
     "I'm not certain I'm not going mad myself.  I could have sworn
that I felt somebody helping me for the past few days.  If I hadn't
have known better, I would have said that it was Yuzuha."  Ryoko
laughed, only partly hoping that she was just joking.  After a
moment, Tsunami laughed as well.  There had been little enough
to laugh about, and it felt good to do it.
     Their mirth subsided as Washu came into the room, a short
printout in her hands.  The scientist wore a concerned expression,
and Ryoko immediately wondered was on the paper she held.  She
didn't have to wait long to find out.
     "This just came from Ayeka.  The fleet was engaged about six
hours ago.  The got beat pretty bad.  The fleet lost twenty-five
percent of its non-treeship forces, and one of their treeships
was badly damaged when the enemy mothership 'shattered' a Light
Hawk Wing.  She's enroute here, now."  Tsunami nodded, unsurprised.
"She says that Mihoshi got there just in time to keep her from
being captured."
     "Captured?  But why, aside from the fact that she is the
empress?" asked Ryoko.  Tsunami looked at her.
     "Just as striking at Tenchi was meant to help ensure their
victory, the capture, instead of outright death, of Ayeka would
set us off balance."  Washu nodded.
     "I wouldn't be surprised if their next target isn't the Galaxy
police.  They are nearly as powerful as Jurai, and for more diverse
in abilities."  Ryoko nodded, having experienced that power first
hand, and Washu grinned suddenly.  "Our enemy will have a nice
surprise when they attack the Galaxy Police."
---
The Platinum Dragon
"The rising sun will eventually set,
  a newborn's life will fade.
  From sun to moon, moon to sun,
  Give peaceful rest to the living dead." - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of
Time
http://dragonsanime.dreamhost.com - Dragon's Masaki Shrine of Tenchi Muyo
Proud Member of the Ryoko Forever Fan Club