purple_shad@hotmail.com Recapitulation
Later that night, after eating, the two of them reclined on the gently sloping roof of the old inn, watching the stars appear one by one. Maria, wrapped snuggly in the folds of Alucard's cape, lay with her arms around his waist, head resting against his chest. Alucard crossed his legs in his usual manner and leaned back. Then, as an afterthought, he shifted to unhook his rapier from his belt. He weighed it in his hands and fingered the hilt.
He remembered when his mother had given it to him on his eighteenth birthday. He did not even remember when his birthday was now, but even back then it was a frivolous thing. His mother had never seemed to forget, though.
The tall, lanky, young man sat at the table expectantly as Lisa rummaged into the deepest part of her closet. When she pulled out the thin sword, his eyes widened. His mother hated violence, so to see her hold a weapon as grand as this was ludicrous. He received it in awe despite having seen hundreds of swords in his father's castle. She told him to take good care of it for it was her family line's cherished heirloom.
It flamed when he sliced through air and sung as he brought it back around. The sword was made for him. His mother insisted on putting it on him herself and she knelt to hook it onto his belt.
Alucard's flashback faded into the night. He now looked at his sword, turning it over. With a slight scraping of metal against metal, he pulled the sword out two inches from its sheath. The sword glowed warmly and he fancied he could see his mother's gentle, smiling face against the backdrop of the night sky and its countless stars. He clicked the sword and sheath back together, lay it by his side, and let his head fall back against the roof.
"Is something wrong?" Maria lifted her head to look at him.
"Nothing. . . Absolutely nothing."
And for the first time in over three hundred years,
Alucard smiled for mirth.
~END~
All I can feel is this moment,
and all I can breathe is your life,
Sooner or later it's over,
I just don't want to miss you tonight.
And I don't want the world to see me,
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
Well everything's made to be broken,
I just want you to know who I am.
Iris
-Goo Goo Dolls
