All is black.
All is cold.
At least until they dig me out of the rubble.
Out of the Ash.
They pulled me out, tying my arms in silver chains. "Heh. We'll soon put you out of your misery. Monster."
Still healing up. Why won't they just go away?
They drag me out, and make me walk to where they wanted.
Just like in Millenium.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Seras was called to Integra's office to receive some unsettling news. "…Seras. A new 'troupe' of monster hunters is gathering. They have 'monsters' to 'exterminate.'"
Seras twitched.
Integra sucked on her cigar, as she fiddled with her hair. She had brushed it over the now blinded eye, in an effort to cover it. She constantly had to re-brush it over her eye, and talked to Seras, considering finding a new way to conceal it.
"Don't let a single one survive, monsters and troupe alike. Not unless there's someone you want to survive. "
Integra almost scoffed at her last remark.
Seras nodded silently. Integra was letting Seras make many more decisions now, including life or death orders. It was just Seras and Integra, but the memories of Walter and Alucard were everywhere, reminding them of the past.
These people almost always bound memories of past missions, people they had met in the war, piece-of-trash vampires they had killed…It seemed the memories were there on purpose, as if to say 'Don't forget me', Seras thought silently to herself as she darted as a shadow to her destination.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
They all wore cloaks, thick cloaks, to conceal their faces. They revealed a single blade, shimmering in the moonlight.
Made from Silver.
I wasn't afraid though. I could feel her coming.
Coming for them.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Seras split into thousands of bats, multiplying and spreading throughout the forest area.
She killed all of them. All of the people who reminded her of the grim past she desperately tried to avoid.
All the killers she could find. The monster killers were in large cloaks, so it was easy to differentiate them between freaks.
Seras came back together from the bats, killing the people that were left by hand. She went to all the monsters chained to trees and killed them quickly. Without pain.
She couldn't help but think that most of them were like this not by choice, but by an unfortunate accident. She was sure she could never do what Alucard did, ripping them apart with pleasure and glee, under her own power. So she did her best to kill them quickly.
Then she came to a tree with a man chained to it with silver cuffs. He was tan and tall, his eyes a deep blue, his hair a silvery gleam…
"…You…!" was all Seras could say. She looked at his bloody body, unmoving except for is steady breathing. His eyes were glued on her as she approached him.
It was now her choice, again. Kill him, or let him live.
"You helped in the destruction of my Master, of Master Integra, and part of the world. You probably aided in most attacks against the innocent people who had nothing to do in this war." Seras pointed this out without hesitation. He did not look away.
With a flip of her hand, the chains shattered.
The man raised his head to look at her, surprised.
"As long as you're not headed for world conquest…" She turned, walking away."…Everyone could use a second chance…"
Her feet stumbled, and she fell gracefully to a nearby tree. She caught herself, and slid down the trunk of the tree to a stop, sitting on the ground.
"Ah, that's the last time I go killing as bats. Master never did, and I know why now."
The world reeled around Seras for a moment, her head dizzy and unstable. The man walked up to Seras, she could see, and stopped to contemplate something.
"Go on, you war dog! Shoo!" She said this while waving her hands around, so it was a very humorous sight to behold. He turned left then right before supposedly darting away into the woods. Seras sighed, and looked up at the majestic mountains, and the light that was shining behind them.
"Oh, bugger. The suns coming up, lucky me." Seras could stand the sun of course, but in her weakened state it would feel uncomfortable. She forced herself to stand up straight, and slowly started walking back to headquarters. The world was rushing around her unevenly, and she wondered if Vampires could throw up, because that's what she felt like doing.
Hans jumped out of the trees and bushes to Seras' right, and almost made her fall down. "What are you doing here? You could have scared me to…err…Life!" By now she could almost see his face correctly, it was just blurry. She also had a throbbing headache. He was carrying something, and was offering it to her. But like the rest of her vision, it was blurry and she couldn't make out what it was.
"Eh? What's that you have there?"
He handed it out to her and she reached blindly out to take it, missing several times before actually grabbing anything. Once she got her hands on it, she could feel it was made of thick velvet, and it was a cloak.
"This is one of the troupe members' cloaks, right?"
He nodded.
"Well, thank you." She draped it on herself as the sun started to rise. She walked on through the woods, slowly regaining her balance and vision. "If you're going to follow me, you may as well just walk beside me." He had been following her a few feet behind. The man walked up her, and awkwardly trotted alongside her.
"Do you have a name?" He nodded yes.
"Can you speak at all?" He shook his head no.
'Is this not the war dog we said adieu to a year ago?' asked Pip, awaking inside her. 'Yes Pip, but now he's back and I think he wants something from me…'
While she was having a silent conversation with Pip, the man was shuffling out a stick in a nearby shrub, and was drawing something in the ground with it.
'There are many things he could want with a girl like you, you know…' 'I've killed him once, I could do it again!' 'What is he doing?'
'?'
Seras turned to see the man motioning for her to come look at something. She walked over cautiously, and he pointed to the ground.
"H...Hans?"She said stuttering slightly. He nodded.
"Well that certainly makes things easier, right?" Hans nodded, a quick smile on his face before continuing walking. "Hans", Seras started to ask, "How did you survive? I saw you burst into flame. I would understand if you had regenerative powers, but…" Hans nodded.
"You have…Healing powers?" He nodded.
He nodded again. She put her hand against her forehead, and sighed."Well what do you want from me?"
He stopped and wrote something in the ground again.
She stopped and walked back to him, looking at what he was writing.
"You don't know. Then what's the point of following me in the first place?" She flailed her arms for a bit before settling down enough to keep walking.
Hans shrugged, and stared at her.
Seras fidgeted.
He blinked and turned away abruptly.
Seras coughed and cleared her throat.
Hans shuffled his feet while walking.
"So…Why aren't you trying to rebuild Millennium right about now?"
Hans shrugged and kept his eyes on the dirt road.
"You're indifferent?"
He nodded.
Seras stopped and stiffened.
"You could've prevented that whole war? You could've helped to stop this whole mess? And you didn't? What is wrong with you?" Seras was stepping closer and closer to Hans whilst yelling in his face, and he stumbled backwards a little, surprised by her sudden outburst as she continued to ramble.
"Do you know how many lives were taken in that war? In that whole beginning Vampire mess Millennia started when they were sending out Vamps like crazyjust to slaughter people?" Seras was now inches from his face. "Around millions! Including mine!"
Hans' eyes' widened slightly and Seras stepped backwards in shock to that he showed emotion.
"You…Didn't…Know?"
Hans shook his head vigorously, and he gave her an earnest look.
"So millennium never found out, thatI died, during a Vampire extermination, by Hellsing?"
Hans nodded.
"So what, Millennium just assumed Master went out one night and decided to bite a random girl he found on the street? Is that it?" Seras was almost trembling as she yelled this, and she thought to herself 'This is silly of me getting all emotional about myself when Millennium killed millions of people.' 'Well I'm all for you.'
"Shut up Pip." She said this aloud, even though she figured Hans wouldn't understand.
She ran to the side of the dirt road and ripped out a tree before hurling it at Hans. Hans dodged it of course, but he couldn't help but notice the streaks of blood that went down her face. She had obviously not been harmed when she had picked up the tree.
She ripped the cloak off herself and threw it to the ground, crying out "Take this and your bloody past with you, and leave!"
She darted inhumanly fast away, despite the burning sun that was making its way to the peak of the sky.
She did not notice Hans stooping down to pick up the cloak.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Integra had noticed Seras's foul mood when she came back to headquarters.
"Seras, what happened?" Integra felt a little strange, for once asking her to confide in the she-knight, but she couldn't help it.
"…I found…A survivor…" Seras said, shadowing her eyes with her hair.
"A survivor of what, Seras?" Integra inquired.
"…Millennium."
Integra almost fell off her chair.
"Did you…?"
"I let him live. We talked."
"…and…? Why didn't you kill him?"
"…I don't know, Sir."
Integra spun around in her chair, looking out of her half broken window.
"I gave you permission, so I suppose I cannot punish you for that."
"Thank you, Sir."
"What else is bothering you? You're making everyone else depressed when you walk in; you're supposed to make us feel better. All…pink. Fuzzy. That." She waved her hand around.
"He informed me that Millennium did not know that they were the cause of my…Death."
Integra raised a single eyebrow. She knew that Seras was sensitive, but…What.
"Seras, if that makes you feel like you weren't important, you are. The entire Hellsing agency is running on your shoulders."
"No, it's-"She blurted, but then stopped herself before finishing anything.
"What? That you weren't as inspected or important as Alucard? As Walter? As me?"
Seras twitched.
"Look, you're the one that made them fidget, which made them feel nervous. It was your presence that made them doubt themselves."
Seras looked up a little.
Integra sighed. "Just get better from your depression so I can stop being a mommy-figure."
Seras smiled.
'Of course, why am I so depressed? It's the now that matters.' Seras thought happily.
Integra's phone started ringing, so she out it on speaker.
"This is Sir Hellsing, what is it soldier?"
"There's a man who just(CHHHTTT)past the gate(CHHHTTT)coming for you(CHHHTT)/cut/"
"Soldier? Soldier!"
There was no response.
"Seras, stay here and guard the door. Whoever's coming is going to get a surprise from you."
Seras nodded and walked to Integra's side, watching the door intently.
They heard the gentle tapping of footsteps coming to the door.
Both the ladies sat calmly.
The door swung open, to show…
…Hans.