On our Side

Klaus was walking with tense steps, trying to conceal his anxiety with a bit of sternness. The strange Alucard behind him was no less tense, but he didn't show it. Something had changed in him, and this morning he was trying to harmonize with the ground... as his long unconsciousness, in his view, had made him lose even the automaticity of walking.

The donkey had disappeared... that was also what he was trying to comprehend.

There were footprints of the "Devil's Sheath" pointing deep into the forest, where the tall, tangled grass had been crushed... increasing Alucard's bewildered fear.

"Haaah, Klaus... sorry, are you mad at me?"

"Not at all, Alucard. All I want to understand is why you entered our lives... what is your goal? You arouse suspicion."

"It all started with Raiv's speech..."

"My father's speech?"

"Yes, and the talk about the sea... everything started from there."

"My father gave a speech? You're delirious, right?"

"Didn't he tell you?"

"Not at all."

"Well..."

Klaus stopped walking and turned his head toward him:

"Are you trying to shit on me?"

"Shit on me? Manipulate?"

"Luring me alone... what a plan, you want to enchant my mind with your words!"

"Wait, Klaus... why are you raising your hands?"

"These sharp words aren't like you... you'll see why!!!"

"Like me?What!?"

With a furious will, he lunged his head to smash Klaus's head, who wasn't that tall, hitting him right on the nose, causing him to fall, roaring in pain.

"What habits are you talking about, you despicable negga?! You know nothing about me, nor my life, nor what I want, nor what I could want, and now you speak as if you know everything? My disappointment... both of you are just pigs! Your father only deceived me into thinking you and janemba were the best in this field, and now I wake up to see you truly as pigs!"

"Watch your words... you! ....Do you know who you're talking to?!" he said while holding his nose, his voice echoing distortedly.

Alucard hit him again, but this time with a strong kick to Klaus's testicles, causing a wave of sharp pain in his brain, making him delirious and scream madly.

"I know well... I'm just talking to another delusion. You're like everything..."

"What are you babbling about!!, you basterd?! ... Let me... get up... just..."

...

"Father, what's happening?" The words in his head weighed heavily, Janemba finally spoke them in a calm tone.

"Haaah Janemba???"

"Everything seems strange today... we've been through a lot."

Raiv sighed again, as if recalling something beyond Janemba's understanding.

"It's good... and beautiful. It's the struggle of maturity, my son. The moon—it was the first to leave before our eyes, that ancient cosmic echo, announcing the inevitable arrival of what's to come. The days pass, and the world drifts further and further from its scientific nature... as if it's drifting toward its own departure."

He paused for a moment, then added, closing his single eye, a half-smile forming on his lips:

"The struggle, yeaah... there's nothing else."

"So it's the real struggle then... yes, I saw you struggling... huh, it's truly the struggle. I apologize about the boy, I think my nerves took me too far."

Raiv replied calmly: "The boy is truly strange, Janemba, but I don't see evil in him. This time, the strangeness is on our side."

Janemba smiled, "So this is what departure leads to... there's magic on our side sometimes, huh... true."

Raiv chuckled a little, then asked: "How are they now, I wonder? Klaus and the boy?.. He's quick to understand... unlike you."

"The only thing that made him understand quickly... is that he didn't lose his shoulder."

Raiv laughed, and Janemba followed.

With a swift attack through his legs, Klaus lunged with surprising speed, taking advantage of a rare moment of Alucard's carelessness. He didn't expect the fall, didn't expect the betrayal, but he fell. His body hit the muddy ground, the air was knocked out of his lungs for a moment, and everything became tangled—dirt, wet grass, the sound of his ragged breaths, then the pain. Before he could even think, Klaus had partially risen, one knee lifting his body, his hands raised in an attacking stance, and the punches rained down mercilessly.

"You think you're the only one who will return home in peace? I'll smash your skull, I'll send you to the moon's hell!"

Heavy blows, one of them hitting Alucard's jaw, he tasted blood, the metallic rust filling his mouth. He turned his head with the blow, but didn't fall again. His hand automatically reached out, grabbing the ground, a handful of dirt and wet grass, not thinking, just doing, as if his body had made the decision without waiting for his mind.

He surprised Klaus, throwing dirt into his eyes, it wasn't a finishing blow, but it was enough. A furious scream, Klaus's voice rising as he raised his arm to try to wipe the mud and dirt from his face, one moment, just one moment, but it was enough.

Alucard rose with a movement... he was just waiting for the chance, his body lunged forward, his first steps unsteady, like a tremor, but he was running, accelerating, without thought, without a goal other than to escape.

"Fuck you, You and your kind!" Klaus shouted, his voice a mix of anger and contempt, as if those words alone could become a knife tearing through Alucard's back as he fled. "I'll avenge you, brother!"

Running was the first real thing Alucard had felt in a long time. The air slapped his face, and his body moved without thought, his feet hitting the ground hard, but the thought didn't leave him—this wasn't an escape, he could hear the sound of Klaus's footsteps behind him, that heavy, unwavering sound, the true pursuer.

He turned, just a glance, Klaus was there, charging with all his might, his face still stained with dirt, his hands clenched, and the only thing in his eyes was murder.

"What do you think of a peace treaty?"

Alucard said it, with sarcasm... and added:

"How? Wasn't he tired just moments ago?"

"Klaus, wait..."

"Klaus..."

"Shit!!!, you're becoming Janemba now..."

Reality began to press on Alucard, and without realizing it, he found himself drifting toward the edge, where a small stretch of land extended before him, unknown what lay beneath.

"Damn, I need to change my course, but... this is hard..."

"Wait..."

Slowly, he turned his head. Klaus was there, right behind him, closer than he should have been, closer than Alucard's mind could comprehend.

He attacked with his whole body, as if every atom in him wanted nothing but to catch him..

And in a moment, with no choice, no thought, they both lunged toward the edge, slipped, and fell together.

And without a sound, without resistance, they plummeted vertically into the unknown.

It was the only river that had always roamed their world..

The fall was silent, then, when their bodies touched the water's surface, the silence shattered.

Alucard hit first, his head submerged under the cold surface, and his nose was hit by that smell. The smell of stagnant water, the smell of algae, mold, dampness, and everything.

"Damn this smell..."

He raised his head quickly, gasping as he caught his breath, then turned in confusion.

"Klaus? Where are you? Wait..."

Then he saw him—not standing, not floating, but drowning.

His arms were reaching upward, his right hand tearing through the water, creating two whirlpools of bubbles that rose to the surface and disappeared...

Then his body wasn't moving that way anymore, he wasn't resisting anymore, he wasn't trying to rise.

He was drowning.

"You can't swim!..."

Alucard didn't say it, there was no time to say it, but he understood it..

Alucard dove into the water, the cold pierced his bones, and the lack of visibility... the river's current seemed calm on the surface, but in the depths, it was something else, it was heavy, it twisted around them like a living thing wanting to keep them to merge with it.

He touched Klaus, got closer, reached out his arm, the weight resisted him.. and Klaus became just a heavy body sinking toward the bottom..

Think.

If he tried to pull him forcefully, it might make him panic and resist unexpectedly.

The river has its logic, the water has its weight, and the current has its direction.

Instead of swimming directly toward him, he circled around him in an arc, slid with the current, and came from behind. He wrapped his arm tightly around Klaus's chest, kept his head above his shoulder so he wouldn't drink more water, then pushed their bodies with the current, using its strength instead of resisting it.

With each push, with each kick of his legs, he began to feel them rising.

And finally, they broke the surface.

Klaus gasped a little coldly..

But Alucard didn't stop, there was no time to rest. The riverbank wasn't far, moving quickly.

With effort, he began to paddle, not with strength, but with focus, using the current when it was in his favor, resisting it when it became dangerous, it became his boat now, it was the thing he always excelled at, the boat and he were one.

And finally, after what seemed like the longest distance he had ever covered in his life, he felt the mud of the bank under his feet.

Klaus was reddish despite his blackness, he seemed to glow, as if bathing in lava.

The wounds and exhaustion, all now glowing, making him weaker and in more pain. He was in a completely feeble state, and Alucard felt that well. Damn, in this state, the water was too cold for him.

"A peace treaty, then?"

Klaus said it with a half-closed mouth, before turning, opening his mouth fully, coughing bitterly, then vomiting the water in pain.

"Ha! You didn't swallow much, then." Alucard laughed.

"It's bitter, and foul... I don't aspire to die contaminated from within.... my ugly appearance is enough... thank you, boy... I'm completely paralyzed now.... you've exhausted me running with all these wounds..."

"Oh! I see it now, I see the results of your struggle and understand it well, Klaus! You're truly a noble man.."

"I aspire, no, both of us aspire to be like him, the Golden Lion, and you, Alucard, since you've earned his admiration, you're no different from us....."

Silence...

He paused for a moment.. then said in his tired voice: "Boy, where are you going?" He was looking at Alucard, who seemed to have noticed something shocking—it was clear in his eyes.

It was the donkey..

Upside down, completely stuck a few feet away, in the middle of the mud.

"It's the donkey.... its legs!! Standing upright!"