Ruben the Freeborn
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Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from the movie "Van Helsing" or "Wes Craven's Dracula", just Ruben. Everything in this little piece of writing is fully fictional. No copyright infringement is intended.
Storyline: Ruben the Freeborn, brother to Gabriel the Firstborn, third son to God the Almighty seeks to bring the truth to his brother. But of what cost will that be?
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My name is Ruben the Freeborn, but only few know my real name. Some call me Dawn, some call me Sorrow, but most people know me as Ruben Gregory. I have lived for many centuries, too many. I have seen the Archangel rise and fall and being reborn, I have seen the Church try and fail to rule the world, I have seen Good and Evil fight their never-ending fight. None of that could ever make me falter, nor would it ever, or will.
Like a shadow I follow, unseen, unheard, and unwanted. I don't sleep and I rarely eat, I am wandering around ever since. Gabriel Van Helsing has never noticed me but he knows about me, he feels me, he sees me in his dreams. To him, my presence feels like a menace, like a shadow that haunts him. But until now, nothing has happened that made him think that I am a danger to him. He has been avoiding me for as long as he can remember, but before that, he knew me, he knew me very well.
Van Helsing only knows my common name, the name of a stranger. Ruben Gregory. I know that this is not a very good disguise, but nobody, not even the Wisest of the Wise nor the Oldest of the Old ever realized that I still use the name that was given to me on the day of my birth. Gabriel Van Helsing had changed his, or better, he forgot about his real name and since then, used the name the monks gave him.
He met me once or twice, but that was before he had his mind-changing encounter with Count Vladislaus Dracula, or how the monks called him, Drakulya the Slayer. But they don't know what his real name was, either. His name was Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed God and his best friend, Jesus the Crowned. He betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver and hung himself after the realization of his doing came to him, almost driving him crazy. But the rope around his neck tore and God in his anger cursed him with eternal life in death.
Jesus, Gabriel and Gregorius, all three of us are of the same blood, but still, we all have chosen different paths which led to different futures. And now, the surviving brothers will be reunited. Their paths will join and like before, at the beginning of time, they will hunt together again.
After Dracula had been destroyed, Van Helsing returned to Rome to stop evil creatures from killing innocent people. He had gotten to know a complete new side of him, for the werewolf would be forever engrained in his memory. What had somehow been erased from his memory was his past.
I know why. And I know that Gabriel knows it too, at least he knows that there was a very good reason for it. What I don't know is why Gabriel does not want to do anything about it. He seems so perfectly content with his life the way it is now, although it was just an impression that people get who don't really know him. I know him like I know myself, and I know that he is not happy.
Now it is about time that Gabriel Van Helsing remembers who he is and for what purpose he had been born into this world. Dracula had shown him, but it was too little for Gabriel to realize who he really is. Now it is my obligation to tell him the truth, even though he will not like it.
I will not let him forget again. Gabriel Archangel and Ruben Gregorius, once Angels at our father's side, will now strive together for what has once been denied. He will be like he was before, he will be his father's left hand again.
I will not stop until I have fulfilled my oath to my father. I have sworn by my own blood that I will not hesitate to use all my knowledge and power against Gabriel if necessary to bring him back. I will not make the same mistake again and fail to comply my father's wishes. I have done so once, and I have been regretting it ever since.
Gabriel the Firstborn and his brother, Ruben the Freeborn. Both sired by the One God, both having become renegades. I will make him remember...
LA FIN