#( ᵂᵉ’ʳᵉ ᶠʳᵒᵐ ᴬ ᴴᵒʳʳᵒʳ ˢᵗᵒʳʸ // ᴺᵒᵗ ᴬ ᶠᵃᶤʳʸ ᵀᵃˡᵉ | Drabbles )

[frcmshadcws]

In Another Life.  ||  Drabble

     ❛  Is this the end?  ❜   

Lifetimes later, her voice still managed to ring in his ears. An echo of what once was, distorted by the sands of time and warped by his own suffering, it somehow never failed to bring back flashes of those bittersweet memories.

Countless people, obediently following a MAD KING.

Men fallen in battle, for the glory of whatever God they had all believed in. Women ravished and murdered, without any prayer for a savior left. Children killed without anyone's hesitation; babies burning to a crisp under the fire of a fight that they had never truly understood.

Enemies and allies alike.

Traitors or loved ones, it had barely even mattered.

Lambs led directly to a slaughterhouse.

Time and time again. A catalog of war-torn history, victories and failures; it was all a horrific, God forsaken blur after this many years. After this many deaths.

     ❛ Is this the end, Count? ❜

She had been so calm, when her death finally came. It had barely felt as though she'd cared about her own demise, that adoring smile somehow managing to grace her lips. Sad eyes, misty with concern for her master, still seemed a touch too bright under the circumstances.

Another lamb, brought to the slaughter.

     ❛ In another life, then. ❜

Other memories flickered  —  the ghost of fleeting affections, of that endeared smile twisting across perfect lips. Worried eyes and a touch to the arm, sideways glances that would have seemed mocking from anyone else.

In another life.

Old wine for two, and some war story spun for the maid's amusement; it had usually been one that she'd heard a dozen times, and occasionally she had been right there with him. If not in reality, then in spirit. They had never been new stories, not in any real way, but she had been company. Consistency, in an otherwise tattered world.

In another life.

Armor traded away for a blackened cloak, enough faux-deaths for the pair later that he'd certainly already lost track. Ribbon tied securely around her gorgeous throat  —  occasionally tugged away to reveal vulnerable flesh and the lovely blue of abused veins. Beautiful, kind, always willing to lend whatever he required of her  —  even as her soul shifted to another form and his own rotted away.

In another life.

Crimson tears left vibrant tracks down his cheeks, and for all the world, the vampire couldn't have told you when they had started falling. When sunset eyes had grown murky with sadness, or when his dead heart had begun to ache. Throat tightened with old emotion, a snarl curling across bitter lips.

             Adelaide.

It had been a century or more now, and wherever her soul had ended up this time? She wasn't here. For the first time in what felt like forever, she wasn't there to lend stability to this tattered existence. Perhaps he should have been happy for her, grateful in that her ghost may have finally moved on...

But he was selfish.

   ❝ I never wanted it to be the end. Not for you. ❞

Words that should have been said a collection of lifetimes ago, long before he'd forgotten how to admit such things to people. Back when he'd had some faux excuse to care about people, when people had still genuinely cared about him. Before the words had become so misplaced, that the only thing to hear them were his own shadows as they cascaded miserably across a dusty subbasement.

   ❝ Not for you. I loved you. ❞

He hadn't ever said that one, either. No matter how many reincarnations passed, how many times she'd loyally fallen back into step with him. A hundred moments where it may have even been appropriate, at least behind closed doors, as fangs brushed milky skin and affection coiled into a rotten heart  —

The count hadn't ever told her.

     ❝  I loved you.  ❞

What formation of love, even Alucard wasn't entirely certain anymore. Depending on the lifetime, sometimes varying from one moment to the next. That didn't matter  —  he had loved that damned, beautiful, stubborn woman. But somehow, he'd never taken the time to tell her that.

Years late, millions short. Even if he had managed to find her again now, there wouldn't be any point in saying it anymore. It would have been absolutely useless.

He wasn't her king anymore; he wasn't her count anymore.

Wasn't someone that deserved her affections, or had any right claiming to love anyone.

He was NOTHING.

   ❝ In another life. ❞

He wanted to sob, he wanted to laugh, he wanted to scream, and all that came out was a heartbroken chuckle.

Bittersweet laughter fell from the king's mouth, sunset eyes blinking back the remnants of scarlet tears. A sad smile, not all that different from her own so many centuries ago, though a monster's fangs corrupted the expression.

    ❝ In another life, Adelaide...                   God's sake, I miss you. ❞

«  —   @theabandonedones   —  »

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