PROLOUGE
In Dreams It Came or "Begin at the Beginning..."
In which there is something in the ground , and it's disrupting the night...
There was something underneath the ground. Something dark. And huge.
There was something underneath the ground and it was creeping. It was crawling. It was creeping and it was creeping creeping crawling…
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Integra Hellsing stepped out of her bathroom, wearing pale blue pajamas that complimented her eyes more than she'll ever care to notice. She yawned. It was time for bed.
It had been a long night. The soldiers had pursued two grade B vampires through the entire countryside for what must have been the better part of four hours, until by the grace of the lord, one was nailed by a chance shot from Officer Victoria and the other one was finally subdued by Alucard. She had lost her voice screaming over the phone by that point. It had been a very long night.
She took off her glasses and walked to the Queen size bed she owned, setting the spectacles down on a side table. She rubbed her eyes.
My god, she was tired.
She was a knight, it was true, but even the most valiant warriors needed some shut-eye every now and then. Integra sat on the bed. It creaked under her weight.
She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.
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And it creeped, and it crawled, and it creeped, it creeped, it crawled…
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The Hellsing barracks was no place for a light sleeper. Every possible kind of snore there was on earth and indeed, outside earth could be heard echoing there at night to the accompaniment of the natural evening sound.
But the Wild Geese were not light sleepers. They in fact took after the example of their much loved leader Pip Vernedad and always had a swig or three of the devil's drink before turning in. It did a hard man good, it did, and brought the sandman earlier than it would have taken without the booze although it did bring the lady Hangover in the morning, which wasn't always a good thing especially when the boss noticed.
And so the men slept and snored, Vernedad the king of loud amongst them, unperturbed and unaware…
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And it creeped, and it crawled, and it creeped, it creeped, it crawled…
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Walter slept like a dead man – straight and unmoving, with his hands folded and with a serene expression on his face.
It did not matter how soft the bed or how cold the night air. Walter had always slept like this, and indeed he always would.
Perhaps this was tribute to the fact that he did not dream. He never dreamed. Dreaming was something unknown to Walter since times long past….
But ever now and then he'd wonder what it was like to fly, and what it was like to be an animal in the wild, and what it was like to eat the untouched and unattainable food of the gods…
He wondered…
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And it creeped, and it crawled, and it creeped, it creeped, it crawled…
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In his sleep, Alucard stirred.
Anyone who would pay witness to this would perhaps say, "Something is wrong. The vampire is disturbed. Something is amiss."
But just as suddenly as his body convulsed, Aluard fell back in his coffin and relaxed, with a sudden look of pure calm and quiet on his pale, demon face.
Anyone who would pay witness to this would have felt a sudden chill in the air and would have suddenly felt very, very afraid.
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And it creeped, and it crawled, and it creeped, it CREEPED IT CRAWLED.
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And in the darkness of what she thought was her coffin, Seras opened her eyes.
She sat up, unaware that she was wearing a rather old fashioned and frilly blue dress with a white apron, tied in the back with two pockets on the front and unaware that for some reason, her eyes were no longer red but blue again.
She was only aware of the vast and seemingly endless forest she had suddenly found herself in, with trees so tall they blocked out the sun and cast shadows so long, they seemed to have shadows themselves.
This was the Tulgey wood.
And as Seras opened her mouth and whispered, "Where am I?", the forest echoed the words back, the words sounding like both mocking laughter and a hopeless cry…
Next: Thus grew the tale of Wonderland: Thus slowly, one by one...
Comments:
This was an interesting concept I just whipped up while I was eating fish crackers.
I've always been a huge fan of Lewis Caroll and the concept that is Alice in Wonderland. And since I love Hellsing, I decided this should be a fun thing to do.
If the writing is very stylized, I'm sorry, but I mean it to be that way.
BTW, the 'creeping crawling' verse is blatantly ripped off of Ellen Raskin's beautiful beautiful novel "Figgs and Phantoms". And I know the past tense is crept. Shut up.
Hope you enjoyed!