Castlevania: Lament of Innocence Disclaimer: all characters belong to Konami. I only borrowed them.

Note: possible * spoilers *. Read at your discretion. Very, very mild slash. After watching Joachim's intro, I knew I had to write a fic for him and Leon. Joachim now is my second favorite Castlevania character, after Alucard. He's very adorable.

Beneath the Waterfalls

By kasura

Darkness imprisoned him, slowly depriving him of his meager possessions: sanity, pride, freedom..

His delicate pale lips would curve upward slightly on the irony of his situation. Himself, a prince of the night, confined like a pathetic human by the very essence that should exhilarate his spirit. His faithful companions spoke of time. Time is irrelevant to him since his rebirth, a minute drop in the eternal continuum of his universe. He forgot when he used to count them like fat merchants with their gold coins. And he wondered, by his companions' lackluster appearance from the deprivation of fresh blood to drink, that he and them indeed loitered here far too long.

Walter..curse to you to eternal damnation...

The door to his prison slowly opened. He heard footsteps echoing in the room. Not Walter, he felt disappointed. The heavy resonances of these footsteps stepping on the old stone tiles indicate a human, possibly a hapless victim miraculously escaped from armies of bloodthirsty undeads or one of Walter's vampire hunter plaything. The wretch was not worth his attention, perhaps good for a fast meal. The smell of fresh blood pumping through living veins whetted his appetite, but he refrained. A shot of blood would intensify his needs, and then his mind would turn insane, drive by the desire to drink more.

Could be another Walter's game, to watch him suffer from blood craving...damn bastard.

The human call out, his strong voice reverberated in the gloomy darkness. He identified himself as Leon Belmont.

IIIIIIIII

Leon saw a humanoid figure crouched in the dark room. He could tell the figure is slender, but the heavy shroud of darkness veiled him from his eyes. Forces of habit, he asked who the person or thing in the room is. The figure stirred, and walked toward him slowly. Leon could see more details are revealed with each step. Dark boots with filigree decoration, velvety purpose coat, beautiful black armor, soft silvery hair falling graceful to mid shoulder, a marble smooth oval face that reminded him of an angel sculpture in his mother's chapel and slender violet eyes with reddish tints.

A Vampire. A very beautiful vampire, with a face carved out of ice and pale lips that the ancient Greek sculptors would fervidly try to copy to carve on the faces of androgynous youths adored by gods.

He introduced himself, no, actually just snarled out his name "Joachim Armster". Five swords swirled menacingly in mid air from the cold ground. The battle has begun.

Joachim blinked his eyes in disbelief. A human had beaten him. This weak pile of flesh contained enough power to defeat his vampiric gifts. As Walter's bond on him dissolved due to his defeat, which force him to melt away from his long time prison, he could not forget Leon's face, glower with determination despite weariness and grim, he believe Walter perhaps has signed his own doom, and Joachim felt a unfamiliar emotion sprouted in his frozen heart.

Joachim roamed the castle uninhibited. Walter's unholy minions faltered before him. He followed Leon as he traversed through rooms, always few steps behind, melting into and out of walls. He could not explain his desire, just to see Leon's face, to see him triumph against creatures of darkness, to see him finally reached Sara after many trials and disappointments. Candlelight from the chandeliers gave an ethereal glow to Leon's golden hair, creating an illusion of God's avenging angel rather than a mere human, who would grow old and feeble in an eye blink.

Leon caught him a few times, puzzlement clearly shone in his eyes. Joachim made no attempt to converse with him, he only observed. Leon figured Joachim does not hinder his quest, he soon grew accustom to Joachim's presence. Sometimes Leon would raise his hand to acknowledge him when he finished off Walter's lieutenants.

Then the truth tumbled out, even Walter was swept away by the master puppeteer when the marionettes finished their crazed dances. Ironic that Walter the mastermind of the castle never realized he's used like a pawn before his eternal death.

IIIIII

He always loved the moon, especially full moon, because that is when she truly revealed herself to mortal and immortal eyes on earth, all the darkness on the pure lustrous glove. If God truly created the moon, why would he paint a heavenly jewel the color loved by his sworn enemies?

Under the full moon's lights, the wolves ululated their aria to her. The silvery lights enveloping Leon's kneeling figure and Sara's grave. Joachim drifted closely, watching Leon's eulogy in silence. When Leon rose from his position, and turned his face toward Joachim. Joachim whispered 'Leon'. It was the first time he spoke Leon's name. Stubbornly he refused to succumb to his desire, he imprisoned his tongue so that Leon's name is echoed in his mind, over and over.

Joachim drifted closer. His deep violet eyes with reddish tints and thick lashes focused on Leon's face, and said like a sigh "You refused Marthias' offer..."

"I had to." Leon replied, grief and helplessness exuded from his stormy blue eyes, "I couldn't.Sara had died for this..."

A pale hand touched Leon's face; cold like marble, and icy fingers traced the imaginary tears on the warm cheeks. "I saw your looks, when you thought I had floated away..were you tempted for a second? For then we can be closer..ease the loneliness in the hearts until time itself ends. "

Leon grasped the vampire's hand. Warmth exploded, Joachim felt it coursed through his barren body. He has forgotten what warmth feels like. Holding Joachim's hand, Leon gazed at Joachim, carefully imprinting the beautiful violet eyes that intensified under the moonlights, the smooth silvery eyebrows and the soft lips the color of pink roses. When he first saw Joachim in the Dark Palace of Waterfalls he was shaken to find a deadly vampire, the progeny of Darkness, a willowy figure with an angel's face. Leon's heart ached when Joachim melted away after the battle, he wanted to touch Joachim's face, and he wanted to attest to whether an unholy creature born cursing God could look like God's holiest creation. Blasphemy..yet so enigmatic and desirable.

They stood at the graveside, looking into each other's eyes, Leon's hand still holding Joachim's. Years may have passed, and unspoken words could have conveyed, the release of the hold is regretted but eventual. Joachim's face remain impassive, but he understood two worlds could never merge. They are and will always be opposite of each other.

Leon smiled, "Perhaps you would come to my funeral when it's my due and sing me a tune or two." Did he imagine it, or did Joachim's beautiful face turn a shade darker.

Slowly forcing his words out, Joachim snarled " I Do Not Sing" Leon laughed. Then silence, they both knew parting is close.

Joachim turned away from Leon, "I would not even remember you" He didn't bother to turn back to see Leon's reaction as he melted into the darken forest. Another story has concluded in the drama of the world since time was born, Joachim knew he might reflect the regrets, the possibilities in the dark recess of crumbling ruins thousand years later, but he just wanted to forget everything now.

End