AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so here's one more segment before the new year. This is one that my collaborator just came up with to build up to a story that will take place in the past. He also wrote another segment, but I can't publish that one just yet as it is the aftermath of another segment I need to finish.
DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.
The New Frontier
Part 10
There were those in life who wished they could live forever, but if they ever spoke with Macbeth, then they would no longer have such a wish. The once great king of Scotland lost so much in his long lifetime, and even now he still felt the burden of his unnatural lifespan and the pain of losing those he was forced to outlive. Family and friends alike had all gone away in the end while he remained, and would continue to do so until he finally slew the one whom he shared his curse with.
But today, Macbeth sought not a hunt for his old enemy, but was instead visiting one of his many now long passed friends. This time he was visiting the grave of a young man in Norrisville. The headstone was covered in weeds and was left with no one tending to it. The person within the grave had long been since forgotten, though if anyone did care for the long deceased boy, they were now with him in the afterlife. The old king brushed aside the weeds and read the headstone's inscription as he had done every year.
Here Lies Britt Cranston
1909-1924
Gone Too Soon
"It's good to see you, lad," Macbeth said to the grave. "I see they haven't been keeping your bed clean. I'm gonna have a talk with the groundskeeper about that."
He then placed his hand on the grave.
"I hope your resting easy, Britt," he continued. "You were the finest Ninja this city, no, this world, ever knew."
Macbeth had made it his personal task in his eternal life to visit the grave of this young man every year. For he, along with several others, once stood between the Earth and the apocalypse. Sadly, that battle had casualties, and Britt was one of them. The former king kept tabs on every Ninja since Britt, but they never seemed to even come close to him. That was, until he saw potential in the latest one.
"The new kid reminds me of you," the Scotsman furthered. "He's cocky and a tad full of himself, but I think he's worthy of that title."
"My, my," came a sudden voice from behind him. "What's this? An old man talking to ghosts?"
Macbeth let out a sigh, for he knew who this intruder was. He turned around to see a tall man dressed in red standing under a nearby tree, not that he needed to, for the sunlight would do him no harm. The man grinned wickedly, bearing his long fangs to the immortal while his glasses covered his red eyes. However, rather than try to fight the man, Macbeth instead greeted him.
"Alucard," Macbeth regarded with a nod of his head, "It's been a while."
"I've been busy," the vampire replied. "As have you I'm told."
Macbeth shook off that comment, Alucard always had a knack for getting under people's skin. But Macbeth didn't even consider trying to battle him, for he knew that Alucard was more than a match for him. For Alucard once went by another name ages ago. One that struck fear into the hearts of those who even heard the name in a whisper: Dracula. There was a time, long before the events that brought them together the second time that the two kings did meet on the battlefield, only for said confrontation to end poorly for the Scottish king. However, since then, the two had now held a sort of respect for one another.
"So, I take it that if you're still alive, then that must mean she's alive too," the vampire surmised.
"Yes, Demona still lives," Macbeth confirmed.
Demona. The gargoyle who had plagued Macbeth for ages. He had hunted her to the ends of the Earth and still he evaded her. There was a time back in 1924 where he nearly had his revenge and could finally find peace, but he chose to instead spare her in order to save the world.
"So, what brings you all the way out here then?" the former king inquired. "Has the hound of Hellsing slipped his leash?"
Alucard shrugged off that remark with a look. Since his defeat at the hands of Abraham Van Hellsing in the late 1800s, the former Prince of Wallachia had been a servant of the Hellsing family and their ultimate weapon against the creatures of the night. His new master, Intgera, had served country and Crown loyally and has kept Alucard on a tight leash, knowing that, should he slip from her control, then no force on Earth could stop him.
"My master has allowed me some...personal days," he finally answered. "It is getting close to the anniversary after all."
Macbeth could accept that. After all, the vampire was right in that regard. It was drawing close to the anniversary when they, along with a few other brave souls, stopped a great and terrible evil from returning to the world.
"I take you visited the others then?" the Scotsman surmised.
"Only the ones who are dead. They're easier to be around," Alucard answered. "Though if you must know, Walter is visiting Jones at his estate as we speak."
"Aye, I'll probably be joining him soon," Macbeth responded. "I heard that Henry doesn't have much time left in this world. And what about Pearl and ol' Jackie boy? You see them lately?"
"I haven't seen either of them since 1924," the vampire king answered. "Nor do I wish to."
"It's probably for the best," the fellow immortal said. "Knowing them, they might try to kill you again."
"They can try," the red-clad monster said with a dark grin.
Alucard then turned his attention to the grave.
"So, what do you think of the new Ninja?" he asked finally.
"He's got the makings of greatness in him," Macbeth began. "But time will tell if he'll be as good as Britt was."
Alucard merely nodded at that. He wasn't much for small talk, nor did he want to talk about...her.
"She can't come back, we made sure of it, Alucard," Macbeth said, as if he knew what he was thinking.
There weren't many people that the king of the undead feared, but there was one who was at the top of the list. An ancient evil that once spread malice and chaos across the Earth before she was exiled to her world. That was, until Demona attempted to free the monster from her prison. Luckily, Alucard, Macbeth and a few others managed to stop her return to Earth, but the price was high. This evil had gone by many names throughout history. Eris, Hecate and Lilith just to name a few, but that evil would be known and feared by all who knew her as Mirage.
"And if Mirage does come back, what then?" Alucard asked.
"Well then...I guess we'll just have to leave it up to the next generation," Macbeth answered with a smile.
