The first rays of the approaching dawn drifted over the horizon line, touching the poisoned city and illuminating the horrors to the world. The rivers of blood still fill the streets; the remnants of tattered bodies litter the street. The crackle of fires fill the air as London is nothing but a corpse, nothing more then a shell of its former glory. In the burnt red sky there streaks a black line, like dark lightning it streaks across the sky. The darkness zips across the clouds dancing around itself as if in confusion, however the shadow knows exactly where it is going. Soon enough the ruins of the city come to an end and the manor house is in sight, the very building that represented the deaths of monsters, a house of monsters itself. The dark streak hit the building's roof as it crashed into the broken manor, the house was on it's last legs but somehow with a will of it's own it still stood. The manor a grave in itself, the broken bodies of both Nazi and mercenary filled the bloody corridors, just the same as last time. However the woman of steel who lorded over the once grand manor was unsure if Hellsing would ever recover from this one.
The last few remaining mercenaries rushed into the office of the steel woman, Integra, just as the dark lightning crashed through the roof. A rumble was felt through the manor as the last remaining creature of the night flawlessly landed on the checker floor, the servant Seras landed on the floor and released her master Integra. Integra shook her head and pushed her ruffled hair behind her eyes.
"Thank you, Seras." The woman spoke to the creature behind her. At this word Seras nodded to the back of the woman and stood up, uttering not a word. The mercenaries who were still stood at the door to avoid any rubble that might have come down, they gulped when they saw their employer and the creature that they respected before them.
"Is it over?" One spoke. Seras merely looked over to them with a warm smile on her face, she nodded. Integra turned away from them to go to her still standing desk, only the dust of rubble from their entrance marking its features. However the papers from her desk littered the floor, Integra smiled, those papers seemed pointless now, even if they were filled out there was no one else who would be reading them. Integra leaned down to pick them up off the dusty floor, blood still dripping from her eye as she did so.
"Yes, it is. But we are not done yet… Seras!" At this Seras looked puzzled over at her master. "There are doubtless multiples ghouls still up and walking around the dead streets, Seras, I want you to search and destroy!" Integra barked at her servant, the only creature left powerful enough to do the job. Seras clicked her heels together and stood to attention, saluting her master with her right hand.
"Yes sir!" With that she turned and jumped up and out of the hole in the roof.
Integra watched her go with a smile on her face. She is such a good girl. She thought. Then she looked back at the two soldiers, who stood in the doorway, they both wished to ask her why the ghouls would still be alive. So Integra answered them.
"In many instances of hunting the vampires made by those freaks the ghouls would still live even after the host vampire died, at least no new vampires would be created this night, as even virgins of the opposite sex are doomed to a new life as a ghoul. Seras will finish these abominations off before the army enters the city at dawn."
Integra righted her wire waste paper bin by her desk and placed the loose papers inside it, she then stood and leaned on her desk, the old oak still standing as proud as the trees that made it. "Someone fetch me some bandages for this…" She pointed at her eye as if it was obvious. Then one of the soldiers perked up again.
"Where is…" He began.
"…Walter?" She finished. "He is dead, he was the inside informer, he was the traitor in our midst…. And I never saw it coming…" She trailed off; an obvious sadness covered her face before it quickly vanished. At this one of the soldiers left the room, his boots thudding over the hard floor as he went.
Seras flew over the grounds of the manor, her darkness allowing her to defy gravity as she careened through the air, soon the grass turned into buildings, most still standing but the amount of blood was enough to build a lump in her throat, far too much blood. A low moan of the dead attracted her attention to land in the middle of the street, her feet skidding slightly on the wet ground; the remains of human insides littered the road and squished underfoot as she stood. Seras took in a deep breath of her surroundings, the smell of blood was intoxicating, she struggled with herself for a few seconds, this was too much blood, far too much blood, she drove the urge to feed down deep inside her, locking it away until she deemed it necessary to release it. Just off to her left a ghoul was shambling her way toward her, Seras glared at the creature, a thing that was once human, it even still wore a business suit as it struggled to her, a sick crack met her ears at every step as it walked on a broken foot. It was walking with its foot stuck out to one side, and using its ankle to drag itself to Seras. When a growl reached her Seras struck. With speed like lighting she tore off its head in one simple swipe. The head fell as dust in her hand and the body soon followed.
One down, she thought. Only another thousand or so to go… With that she ran off into the night, she passed under a broken street light, attempting to light the road ahead but the light spluttered forth from the wreck as it's last amount of energy died out. Leaving only the approaching dawn to light dead London.
Integra fidgeted while the last remaining medic did his work, she winced as he cleaned her wound, and then struggled not to move away as he wrapped the bandage around her head. She stared at him while he tried to smile at her. Bad news, that's what he was about to say.
"I'm sorry Sir Integra… but you won't be able to see out of that eye ever again." Integra glared at him but then sighed; he was only doing his job. She was now sat at her desk, her chair was merely dusted off and she learnt on her now empty desk.
"Somebody get me some coffee… now!" Integra pushed back the urge to shoot every one of them, just to relieve from tension, she wasn't even sure if she would be able to sleep tonight. Another of the soldiers flinched and ducked out, to hopefully find the kitchen, if it was even still there. But Integra hoped that it did indeed still stand. The other thing she craved right now she could get herself, she felt with her hand down the drawers to either side of her desk. Her hand stopped at the bottom drawer, with a slight pull the drawer slid out of it's place and opened it's contents for her to see. Inside was her prize, she pulled out a box of cigars, laying them on the desk she opened them and placed one to her lips, quickly realising Walter had her lighter she cursed and felt in the drawer for a spare, as luck would have it her hands clasped down on a spare lighter. She brought it to her cigar and flicked the flame on; it burnt the end of the fine cigar as she inhaled the calming flavour. Integra closed her one remaining eye as she rested her hands under her chin and breathed out the heavy smoke.
Seras panted for unneeded breath as she cut through the roves of ghouls that approached her, she felt her vampiric nature just underneath her consciousness as she destroyed the creatures wholly and utterly. She didn't mind anymore, it didn't control her anymore, she controlled herself, no one else would be able to take it from her. A smile appeared as she ripped out the heart of a ghoul in front of her. A hand latched onto her from the side, Seras spun fiercely, shredding the arm from its host as it fell uselessly to the floor. That ghoul soon fell as mere dust as she grabbed its jaw and ripped it clean off, destroying the remaining part of it's head with her remaining hand. Row after row of ghouls scrambled to greet her, Seras stole a quick glance at the sun, it was now above the horizon, and dawn was finally here. It niggled at the back of her mind, at the irritation the sun brought, when did she begin to hate the sun so? Seras laughed under her breath as she turned back to her enemies.
I'm slacking, I need to hurry up and get back to the manor. Suddenly with an impressive burst of raw darkness she tore through the rows of ghouls, shredding them with her one hand while the darkness that leaked from her stump of her other arm licked behind her, it spread out and ripped apart any ghoul she left behind, much in the same fashion as when she killed the nazi vampires in the manor house.
As Seras let her senses fill the old London buildings trying to find any last remnants of any ghouls, she had crawled through the entire London city, the sun was now high in the sky and she was tired, all Seras wanted to do was crawl up into her coffin and sleep… although it would be lonely now in the basement. Her master was gone… at least… gone for now, as she couldn't quite bring herself to believe he could ever be truly defeated, no, not her master. Seras closed her eyes as her senses covered the city, a difficult feat to do considering the size, usually the many souls of the living made this an uncomfortable thing to do, and it was impossible to find certain people in the din of souls and voices unless they were of a different state of mind, like her master, Alucard, and her. She could no longer sense any undead in the region of London, but she did however sense living humans, the soldiers, they would be entering the city now for cleanup and possible cover up, if that was even possible. The sun shone bright behind her as Seras decided to seek the shadow to bathe her, and keep her away from the direct sunlight, she found shelter beside a building, the sun cut the ground beside her, like a knife it passed through the city easily striking at the barrier of the buildings that once held so much life. Suddenly as Seras was just beginning to relax her senses, she felt a familiar prick at the back of her mind… what was that? She thought. The familiar nudge was fading fast, as she threw her senses out in full force to find what was tugging at her mind. Then… there! She found the source of the tugging. Near the crashed zeppelin where the crazy major had sat over his new dominion was an object. Seras ran through the streets toward her destination, no humans where deep enough into the city yet so she ran unheeded through the rubble. She hissed, as she had to traverse the roads where the bright sunlight shone down. Normal vampires should be dead now, or what she assumed was a normal vampire, but the sun merely caused at irritation on her skin, an itch she couldn't scratch, so she tried to ignore it as she came upon the object she had found with her mind. She skidded to a halt as she looked down at an object covered in blood, Seras knelt on the bloody ground to pick it up. The blood dribbled off it as she raised it to her eyes. Seras couldn't believe it… how was it still here? Before her eyes was her master's gun, the Cassul. His silver gun lying abandoned in the street. Seras wrapped her hands around the familiar object and brought it to her chest, this was all he had left behind, she wished to keep it and so held it in her right hand, her small hand just managing to hold the hilt. A grin appeared on her features as she jumped off the ground and flew back into the air, heading back toward the hellsing manor. Her new home, her home for monsters.
Integra jumped in surprise when the phone on her desk rang, communications must have been restored, she thought. Taking her cigar into her left hand she lifted up the phone to ear.
"Yes?" She answered. The voice of the president of the round table conference filtered though the dusty telephone on her desk.
"Sir Integra, it is good to hear your voice again. Are you well?" Integra would have torn his head off if he had been in front of her… but he was not.
"I am well. What is the situation?"
"Currently the only members of the round table left are myself, and you. The other members were slaughtered in their own homes, I was lucky enough to be away from my house that night, called away on emergency business. I no doubt my home has been destroyed though. The Queen was evacuated just before her residency was attacked… oh where is Walter?" He suddenly asked. Integra guessed that he must have figured out who Walter really was as well.
"He is… dead." She answered. Sir Irons merely snorted in disapproval.
"He was lucky, I was hoping to bring back capital punishment for his high treason. However that does not matter now, have you reigned in your monsters now?" Integra winced slightly but recovered once again.
"Monster." She corrected. "Alucard is gone, but officer Seras Victoria is out finishing off the remaining ghouls."
"Well she better hurry, as the army is already inside the capital destroying any remains they find. I'm afraid they will shoot her on sight if they see her." Integra just smiled.
"Don't worry, she'll be back before your men even see her."
"Good… good luck Integra." He finished before the line went dead. Integra placed the phone down on the desk and put the cigar back to her lips. The coffee had never reached the desk as the kitchen was decimated as she had thought. There were no other chairs in the room so the guards just stayed stood just beyond her desk. Just as Integra was about to speak she felt a familiar presence, that familiar darkness that raised the hair on the back of her neck. She looked to the corner with a genuine smile on her face. But there was nothing… Integra's smile faded and she shook her head. Suddenly a silhouette appeared in the distance. Her smile reappeared, but more subtle and warmer. Integra watched as her remaining monster swooped in and through the hole in the roof. The tension in the room seemed to ease, an odd and somehow reverse reaction of whenever Alucard appeared in the room. Integra glanced over at the soldiers, they did indeed seem to respect her somehow, and whether it had anything to do with Pip she was unsure. But now wasn't the place to ask.
"Seras." Seras looked up at her human master Integra, she once again clicked her heels and saluted the knight.
"Mission accomplished, all ghouls are dead. The city of London is now free from all undead. Well apart from me." She added in at the end, in a lower voice so that Integra had to struggle to hear her.
"Good… wait, what is that?" Integra had just noticed that Seras clutched a familiar silver gun to her side. Seras looked down at the gun in her hand.
"I-I found it. I didn't think it should have been left there." She sounded generally sad. Integra felt pity for the vampire, the fledgling was still connected to a master that no longer existed. She would never gain her freedom, not that she even wanted a free vampire to run around, but she was tied to this organization and to her through chains that Integra no longer held. Perhaps that was worse then being free. But then maybe it wasn't her freedom she wanted, perhaps she simply wanted Alucard to be back here. With them both. Integra shrugged off her thoughts.
"You can keep it if you want. No human can wield such a weapon anyway. But be careful with the ammo, once it's gone you'll have to find a way to create some more." Seras' face filled with joy with that fact that she would be able to keep this small token of her master.
"Thank you sir." She bowed low, and then when she came back up half wondered why she just did such a thing. For now Seras merely shoved it into the side of her belt, she needed a better way of holding it but it would do for now, she shifted as it dug into her side.
"Now." Integra started looking over to her men. "You have all done your jobs wonderfully, but I cannot force you to work here any longer with your team mostly gone. Your will be given your pay in full and are free to leave, any family listed for the dead will be given their share of the money as well. I wish you well gentlemen and you are free to leave whenever you wish." Integra began to stare at her desk and sighed. Would she be even able to bring the Hellsing organization back from the dead? She glanced over at Seras. Yes, yes the organization would live on. She has got the rest of her life to try.
"Thank you sir Integra." They beamed, but then a more sober mood was felt in the room. "But with your permission we wish to bury our dead. It's the least we can do before we leave." Integra looked back up at the soldiers, she smiled.
"Of course, the Hellsing graveyard is open to you." With this they saluted and both of them jogged off back into the corridors of hellsing. A ruffling noise brought her attention back on Seras; Seras was rubbing at her skin and clothes as if she had an itch. Her skin was slightly red and a slight mist of steam arose from her body. Of course she could survive in the day, but she was no Alucard, she hadn't thought of what effects direct sunlight would do. But she seemed fine and the redness was already starting to disappear. "I bet all you want to do is sleep." Integra asked her last friend. Seras merely shrugged. "I am sorry, but we won't be able to stay here, not until this place is repaired. Go fetch your coffin and I will try to find somewhere else for us for now." With that she shooed the girl away and picked up the phone once again.
Seras jogged out of the room following the soldiers who left a few minutes ago, she turned on the corridor heading toward the basement. As she ran she was thinking about her simple wooden coffin with a cross on the top… no she didn't want that one. While her master was gone she couldn't leave his coffin so unprotected. So Seras decided gather his coffin and use it for her own. She smiled at the thought as she rounded the corner again…
Hope you all enjoyed the first chapter. I find that there just aren't enough stories of the 30-year gap when Integra and Seras were the last remnants of the Hellsing organisation.
So decided to start my own. Hope you enjoy and I'll see you next chapter.
Please read and review, I much appreciate them, as I'm sure everyone does.