"I've still got one more ride in me."
Slade mounted his great black steed with ease, despite feeling the stiffness of rideless decades in his joints. He settled into the black saddle, feeling the full body of warm muscle beneath him as Char shifted beneath him. He could not hold back the eagerness to change, and he allowed the flames of justice to overtake his body. The searing heat was welcome, and had he had lids to do so with, he would have closed his eyes and reveled in the power that licked and burned over his bones.
"Carter Slade," Johnny realized, no surprise evident in his tone. Slade nodded silently.
The stallion beneath him, unchanged, was tense, his kind eyes bright with anticipation, gazing at the rivaling metal steed beside him. Slade smiled gently, knowing Char would miss changing after this. It was their last change...their last ride. They were over a century old, but Slade and Char had more in them then Johnny might think.
"Can you keep up?" the younger Ghost Rider prodded as he sat his lifeless steed.
In answer, Slade touched his horse's shoulder, who burst into flames as his skin and muscle gave way to flame and bone. His hot breath blew through his nostrils in streams of fire as the adrenaline coursed through the steed.
"Let's ride," Johnny offered as he allowed the Ghost Rider to flame out over him.
.
The wind whipped through Char's charcoal mane and tail- the only thing left of his earthly body- but nothing was cool about the night ride. Slade allowed himself to become utterly invigorated as Char's great stride ate the ground at an impossible speeds, his hooves pounding the desert earth to ash beneath him along side the younger Ghost Rider. The ageless stallion kept stride easily with the machine, never falling behind for a moment, but Slade had not yet driven him. Char was traveling at an easy pace for him yet- this was a light jog for him.
Johnny flamed and glowed to Slade's left, and the older man observed him for a moment through black, gaping sockets. He was about to resign his centuries old assignment to this...man that was yet still a boy in so many ways. But despite his youth and lack of careful thought rather than following his heart, Johnny would do well. He would deliver justice where it was due. One with a true heart would find that path easily- it only took time, and form here on out until the next Ghost Rider was born, he had plenty of that. He was leaving this sin-ridden world in good, bony hands licked with the flames of justice.
Johnny's flame-ridden skull turned to look back at Slade, and in a single moment of understanding, he drive forward. Johnny gunned his bike, which bucked with the sudden amount of speed, shooting out ahead of the older Rider. Had Slade any lips, he would have grinned before asking Char for more speed with a small give in the reins. The flaming stallion needed no more urging and did not buck in response, as the metal beast had, but threw his great power into his gallop.
The demon horse stretched out at full speed, taking up impossible lengths of land in every stride, rings of fire burning out slowly in their tracks as Char not only caught up to Johnny's heavy bike, but charged forward and past. Slade felt hot tears that could only be descried as lava stream down his cheekbones and out behind him. He and his horse would never know this pure display of power and agelessness again. A great sure pumped his embery heart, and Char's own powerfully beating and glowing responded to his rider. With a last will and force the horse lurched forward and left Johnny clear behind and he put every pound of muscle and leg into this final excursion the world flying by in a blur, the air smoking behind them, galloping as never before. This was the end of their days, of their powers, and Char understood that was well as Slade did. He would regret what he had to do for over one hundred years, regret what he had lost to become the Ghost Rider, but never would he regret the great binding power between himself and his magnificent Char. Great love coupled with the extreme adrenaline of their fire seared bodies, and both knew their time was coming to an end.
Slade let out an unearthly cry as Char screamed out a trumpeting farewell to this world they had served so long, and disappeared into a lingering cloud of smoke in this, their last ride.