A/N: Happy Late Valentine's Day. Have some sad feels.
Rip Van Winkle and Respective Hellsing Characters © Kouta Hirano
…
Her name was Ida, and she was the most beautiful thing Rip Van Winkle had ever seen.
Rip Van Winkle first fell in love with the tiny creature when she saw her tiny hands raised in fists, crying softly in the arms of a nurse. Though Ida was nothing more to her grandparents than Rip's "growing disgrace" and "a stain upon this decent family", Rip could not see the contamination visible only to her mother and father. Rather, she saw only the faint vestiges of the man she passionately loved before he was sent away to do the Fatherland's work, as well as her own countenance reflecting back at her when Ida opened her eyes and smiled at her mother. Ida had her father's eyes doubtless, but Rip selfishly saw more of herself from thereafter in the child's delicate facial features and lovely curls not unlike her own. Her parents be damned if they saw any fault in Ida's purity, she was as innocent and beautiful as eidelweiss blooming in summer. How could Rip Van Winkle give up such a beautiful treasure?
There was no way she could ever abandon the child. From that moment on no matter what she had to do, Rip Van Winkle swore to her child in that tiny hospital room that she would never give her up for anything. Though she may be but eighteen years of age and her parents resented the tiny baby, Ida would never leave her side.
Wasn't it funny how fate seemed to work in Rip's favor? Contrary to her parent's beliefs, Ida wasn't viewed as a mistake in the eyes of the country at the time. In fact she was seen as quite the opposite; every friend the young woman possessed that was involved with the Nazi party celebrated Ida's birth and encouraged Rip that she had done the right thing, that in fact she was benefitting the new Germany with her rather unplanned arrival. For it was well known that Ida's father was an exemplar of the ideal soldier, he was one of the few who could prove he was from pure stock and any woman to have his children should be seen as most honorable. In fact her many girlfriends insisted Rip should write to her beloved, and marriage should commence straight away.
Oh, but she didn't really care about that. What mattered most was she could keep Ida with her forever. Government assistance and help from her family's more "enlightened" friends made sure that they both would want for nothing, and what a happy little life they lived together. Twelve years of one man's insanity were pure bliss for one single mother and her tiny child, the latter of which grew indeed in grace and beauty being nurtured by a doting mother.
Rip Van Winkle recalled many things about Ida's youth; she could never stand to have her black curls twisted into plaits, she was shy to all who were strangers yet the slightest hint of a smile could earn her complete trust, and she always slept fitfully if not nestled by her mother's side at night. Perhaps the fondest of memories was when Ida slept against Rip's warm chest, and the woman would run her thin fingers like a comb through Ida's thick hair, singing softly into her ear the words conceived by Weber some hundred years ago. Anything from the opera Der Freischütz had the uncanny ability to make Ida's lovely green eyes droop with fatigue and surrender to sleep.
To Ida's childish way of thinking, the wonderful tall woman who gave her life was nothing less than angelic in appearance and personality. She was Ida's raven haired goddess, her beloved mama who never minded that she was not making many friends, nor chastised her for hating the intense physical activity required of the Bund Deutscher Mädel. With Mama there was no obligation, no strict orders or beatings if Ida failed to be anything but perfection. There was only waiting arms, permeating warmth, and especially Rip's beautiful voice which the child could not do without.
Yet this life of pure unconditional love was simply not to be lived out to the fullest. Necessity required even women to participate in bloodshed when the dregs of the German army were beginning to waste away in a torrent of bullets. It was Ida's tenth year when suddenly Rip Van Winkle was called away to fight for her Fatherland's eternal glory. Many citizens still had faith in their homeland and their leader who by now was wholly and irrevocably mad, even those who were closest to him were sensing the end of days and already were preparing to flee. It was those days of uncertainty, far from her beloved Mama that Rip knew Ida had hated the most and lamented over the hardest upon her return. Rip returned sometime after her duties battered and bruised to her parent's house, hoping for rest and to say goodbye to Ida before she left for those who needed her skills. Some of Hitler's chosen had approached her, learned of her skills in marksmanship and gave her the opportunity to partake in what the tall Doctor had called "a revolutionary discovery in the field of science". Rip had made the decision to let sweet Ida remain in safety when suddenly she noticed the child's tear stained cheeks and the horrible dark circles under her eyes as she wailed in her mother's arms.
"You have spoiled her beyond the point of help." complained Rip's parents, who had never really warmed up to sweet Ida, "We have done all we thought possible, not even the women in the Bund Deutscher Mädel were able to straighten out her weakness. She's proven to be more of a disgrace than we could have possibly imagined."
Rip Van Winkle looked from her parents to Ida's shaking form. Her small daughter clung to her uniform desperately and pierced her heart with watery eyes.
"Don't leave me behind mama." Ida whispered softly.
And she didn't. The young huntress was determined that no matter what the consequence, she would never leave Ida again. Not when she needed her the most. Though Rip had been told even in battle that she could have more children, that she should have more than just her clingy daughter, she wouldn't hear of it. Any other child produced by her would be of pure necessity for her land, Ida would always be the one who had hold of her heart. So it was with strong determination that she left for Poland where she was needed, clinging fiercely to a worn bag of provisions in one hand and her beloved child nestled against her arm, ready for anything.
At first, those of the Last Battalion had hardly minded Ida's presence. Though it was nearing the end of days even those who were the most hardened of the Waffen SS still found joy in the presence of a child. Many of the men had families of their own, and still being human at the time they were completely harmless. This tranquility continued for three months, in which time Ida began to notice that every so often, one of her soldier playmates would disappear and never come back again. She also began to notice a change in her beloved Mama as well. She snapped at Ida often, seldom let her play outside of the barracks they were assigned to, and perhaps worst of all Rip never really sang Ida to sleep anymore. When the night came, she bolted the door to the room they both shared and sat at the edge of the bed, rocking slightly and fingering the trigger of a large gun as she watched the door like a trained guard dog.
She never told Ida the reason why this change had come about, Rip was determined that the child was to live securely by her side; she was even willing to go against the Reich and kill any vampire soldier who made so much as an attempt on Ida's life. It wasn't until the former ruthless huntress began to get sloppy in her duties that she was approached by the Doctor, who insisted that despite her feelings that it was for the child's best interest that she leave Poland and return to Germany.
"I won't send her away!" She screamed vehemently, "Not back to that hell after I just rescued her!"
"It is for her own safety." Said the Doctor, "I do not think you understand the severity of this problem, first Lieutenant. The soldiers are all aware of her presence, they've been trying for the past few days to escape their containment cells to eat her and yourself. We can save you from such a fate, but she cannot stay. I know of a good family who can take her in if you would prefer your parents did not take charge of her upbringing. If possible I will personally ask the Major to use his connections to see she is treated fairly-"
"No! If I am to stay then let her remain here and have the surgery as well. I give you permission to do what you need!"
The old Doctor sighed with exasperation.
"That is where the problem lies." Said he, "The chip cannot work, it is much too strong for a child. Sending her away where she will get the proper care is more humane than putting her through that kind of suffering."
"Then send me away with her. To hell with the Major and to hell will all of you! I won't give up my child again!"
The Doctor merely shook his head, he did not have to state the impossibility of that outburst by justifying the fact that they needed Rip Van Winkle more than ever now. That would only cause more insubordination from the woman who spoke so brazenly against the Führer's chosen. Instead of raising his voice with finality the Doctor spoke in a whisper, so low that the woman had to stop her fuming an listen as he made his point very clearly.
"It is the Major's orders that you are to be turned tonight." He began, "Nothing can overrule this decision, and Ida will be in more danger now that you will no longer be human. You will not see her as your daughter, she will instead be seen as food once your more baser instincts are activated by the blood within the chip. Do you want to kill her that much? Are you so careless as to lose her to your own stubborn nature?"
At first, Rip Van Winkle opened her mouth to vehemently deny the Doctor's words. She wanted to scream in his face, to tell him about the promise she made all those years ago in that hospital room where she had only been a frightened young woman just blooming out of her youth. Yet she had to acknowledge Doctor Napyeer's rationale, who would take care of Ida once Rip ceased to be human? Who would protect her innocent baby from the creatures of the night once her mother entered their ranks? The Doctor was right, Ida was not safe where she currently resided, but Rip couldn't part with her sweet child again. Not when she knew Ida would fuss and stay awake nights just waiting for a mother who could never turn back once the surgery was complete.
Yet another thought came to her mind: if she was to become a vampire, wasn't there also another option available? She knew the legends well, she had often told them on nights when Ida had wanted to be scared just for the fun of it. Rip would make her voice lower in that frightening tone which made Ida shiver and cuddle in close to her mother's breast, and she would tell riveting tales of those damned souls who spread their curse through one single bite. Those had always been Rip's favorites, because after the scare was over both mother and child would laugh and reassure one another with kisses knowing that such a thing could not exist in a perfect German world.
Yes, there was always another choice...
"I will have the surgery." Rip said in an almost brainwashed sort of way. She knew what she had to do. Nothing could stop her decision to keep her only child.
"Good. It shall be arranged to send Ida away first thing in the morning."
With a gloved hand that disguised his own inner faults, the Doctor clapped Rip on the shoulder in a rare display of reassurance.
"Do not fret. You are making the right decision." He said gently, "Ida will be well taken care of."
Rip Van Winkle smiled back almost mindlessly, as though she were a zombie.
If only she had known... If only she could have had some kind of inkling that humans who selfishly tried to replicate the work of the devil would inevitably suffer the horrible consequences.
...
Meanwhile, Ida could not sleep to save her life. Rip had not come back for quite some time, she had promised to be there before dark to sing for her baby as long as she wanted with no sort of interruption to watch the door and act like a hardened soldier. Rip had been so much like herself again that Ida had wished things would return to the way they once were before this dreadful place changed her mother from a freckle faced angel to a hardened monster. She had given Ida strict instructions to keep the door locked until she came back, but where was she?
"Mama..." Ida whimpered, tears pouring down her peaked face as she huddled deeper into her covers, "Where are you? Come back Mama..."
She remained like that for some time, crying in the dark and wishing her and Mama were home in Germany, back in their cosy little house tucked into the lumpy bed they shared for ten years. Ida wanted to hear her her favorite lullaby again, she wanted to hear the notes Weber had seemed to compose just for her beautiful mama's voice.
It was when she was mid sob she heard it. Ida heard her Mama's lovely melodic voice singing the faintest lullaby just outside the door, teasing her ears, calling to be let in.
Suddenly Ida didn't care that she had been warned never to go outside without Rip Van Winkle's supervision. Quickly Ida undid the lock and threw open the door to find her Mama standing there, still singing that sweet lullaby she had known since her infancy with the most far away look in her eyes.
But she didn't care. Mama was back and she was beautiful and singing again and everything was wonderful as Rip Van Winkle held out her arms for her only child to jump into. Ida quickly wrapped herself in her mother's embrace, inhaling her familiar warm smell that she neglected to notice smelled almost different, as though something had altered her drastically.
"Don't ever leave me again mama." Ida whimpered into her mother's shoulder as the young woman continued singing, "Don't ever go away no more. Stay with me forever."
Rip Van Winkle did not respond until the last few dying notes of the opera Der Freischütz ended, and she lifted Ida up with such ease that it would have startled her had she not been so relieved to be in Mama's arms at last. The Huntress gazed deeply into her child's eyes, calculating all the love and devotion radiating from that sweet little face. Those were Ida's father's eyes once, but she was wholly and irrevocably Rip Van Winkle's creature.
"Put out your neck for me, and I'll never leave you again." She whispered.
Because her beloved mama asked this of her, Ida obeyed without question.
She hardly felt the pain of Rip Van Winkle's bite, for the beautiful young woman had started singing again.
Yet by the time she had completed the last verse, it became apparent that Ida was not at all the monster Rip expected her to be. As long as she lived she would never forget the sound of Ida's unearthly wailing, that horrible cry that was not unlike the sounds the child had made the day she had come to collect her from her parent's house before this horrible mess. Nor would she forget how Ida had even tried to turn on her, mouth snapping like a bear trap and eyes rolling back into her head before a shot rang out clear as day and forever silenced the child's screams.
It had been the Captain who inevitably ended Ida's suffering. Both the Doctor and Major tried to make Rip Van Winkle understand afterwards that the chip would not work on a child nor would a bite cause one to be reborn as a vampire, the chip had an adverse effect on children. It simply turned them into ghouls and intensified the pain of the transformation. Countless children in Auschwitz had met the same fate in the chip's early days of testing, each one turning against its creator and howling because of the terrible pain. Again, the Doctor stressed to the huntress that it would have inevitably been more merciful for the child to have been sent away to a family who would have assuredly taken in such a good child.
But Rip Van Winkle couldn't listen. She was far too busy singing that same damned song over and over to a corpse that would never again feel life within it, all the while praying the lullaby had made the child only sleep so that Rip could wake her in the morning.