Blood Bound an AxS fiction
The icy blue eye, which countless agents and employees had become accustomed to seeing as stern and emotionless in years prior, instead rested with an intrigued curiosity upon the pale skinned Count sitting opposite her. Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing and her bestial servant of mythical power had taken seat at a table in the long since repaired Hellsing Manor. Age had touched her dark skin and time faded hair, and yet the vampire lord's own body remained in the same physical state as Integra had always known it. From childhood to her her elder years, Alucard had not changed in appearance save for the occasional alteration based off of whimsy or circumstance.
A used and dusty ashtray rested beside a chess board, whose pieces were scarcely touched at the moment. Both of their eyes lazily scanned the few pieces which had been moved prior, as they sat in a quiet contemplation. Over the years, even Alucard's usual banter and wittiness had dampened somewhat. Weather it was a result of the now long passed events of Millenium, or because his master had grown old and forced his japes to hold less appeal, none could be certain. Integra leaned slowly forward, sliding an unused pawn into a new position, to which her vampire servant responded by propping up his head on a hand with his elbow rested on his chair's arm.
Alucard let half-lidded eyes hover over one of his bishops, shifting between both and his Queen. "How did Seras do while I was away?" The dark and baritone voice spoke, breaking the otherwise comfortable silence. Integra did not look up to Alucard as he spoke, instead keeping her eye trained on his hand, which tapped on the table as he prepared a move. She raised the brow of her remaining eye with a manner that displayed mild interest at the sudden inquiry. She answered in her typical cool demeanor, "How do you mean?"
The vampire was without glasses or hat, the cascade of long black hair fallen behind his shoulders, a few stray locks and strands draped before his ears and cheeks. His body straightened somewhat as he abandoned his leaning in favor of a proper sitting position once more. "You know what I mean." He replied, his tone rich with both knowing and insistence as he continued. "When that insane Nazi child took me away from you, how did Seras Victoria fare?"
Integra's eye finally raised, looking to Alucard's gaze in an attempt to understand. Her expression narrowed as though she hadn't expected a question such as this. "I'm sure we've been over it several times. You know that Miss Victoria was just as responsible for carrying us through and rebuilding from that nightmare as you were." As she ended her reply, she sat with her back against the backrest of her seat, and folded her arms, nearly mirroring her servant's own body language in kind. Alucard shook his head gently, and smiled with keen amusement.
"No, no." The words came out, almost in amused astonishment. The vampire had imagined that by now his master would have truly recognized his own level of understanding. "Of course we've discussed Millenium and it's obliteration at our hands. I'm not asking how Seras served as Hellsing's weapon in my absence. I asked you 'how did Seras do while I was away?'." He paused for a moment, allowing a minute to pass as Integra processed and considered his words.
"Master." He spoke once more, his pitch and tone becoming smooth and serious. "Integra. I was in bonds since long before you were ever born. I was there and followed you as you grew up and came to inherit your father's legacy. My allegiance to the Hellsing family was thrust upon me." Alucard paused, offering a short laugh of amusement that only he particularly understood. Continuing, the vampire turned his head staring out of the nearby window in the large mansion room.
"Imagine this, Integra." Alucard explained, "Imagine a wild horse being taken in by rope, broken and tamed into complacency. Now imagine finding one that recognizes the security and mutual benefit to that partnership. A partnership built on trust and..." the vampire paused once more, this time for only a second before finishing his words. "Heh. Faith." As these words drifted in the cool air of the wide and open room, the red clad undead laced his hands together neatly in his lap, and offered a hefty sigh to accompany his attempt at wordplay. Perhaps not the clearest or most accurate of metaphors, but it would have to do for the time being.
"Alucard." His master spoke dully. "You are just as strange and cryptic as ever. When we first met Miss Victoria, I recall asking you why you turned her into a vampire. I believe you said that you were developing a sense of whimsy." Alucard smiled an eerily pleasant expression. Eerie because of how natural the smile looked, instead of some smirk or grin of intimidation. The vampire reached forward and selected a Knight aboard the table, tracing the 'L' motion and tipping a pawn of Integra's.
"Perhaps," Alucard responded in kind. "But I also believe I mused the possibility that your humanity was rubbing off on me. So with that in mind, my master... why could I possibly be asking you how Seras was doing during my absence?" The vampire's eyes drifted along the cloudy night sky outside, as Integra's blue stare lowered away from Alucard to the board. Integra never gave much consideration to such things. Boundaries had always been pushed in the Hellsing organization. Camaraderie and friendship were often crossed over, intentionally or otherwise. Whether it was the Wild Geese, or their own betrayer who had been in waiting for so many years. He had been Sir Integra's closest friend before everything went to Hell.
"Why indeed." Integra replied simply. The vampire and his master exchanged a few moves over several minutes in silence. Only the sound of the occasional click from a fallen piece, or a thoughtful breath in the air that hadn't quite garnered enough effort to form a proper sigh. Alucard said nothing, letting his words sit in his master's mind while the clock ticked on, and the numbers on the board thinned. She hadn't realized it, but Integra's pieces had been slowly chipped away, and cleverly boxed into a corner. His Queen stood opposite Sir Integra's now exposed King, trapped with nowhere to escape, and no allied pieces to protect it.
"So why am I interested in Seras Victoria, you wonder?" The vampire lord spoke with a resumed intent and emphasis. "To you, valuable and dear as they may be, your pieces on the board are still your pieces." Integra sat in observant silence, as her vampiric servant lifted his Queen and slowly tapped it against each square on its way to the King it was about to claim. He let the piece sit still just before the king, his fingers holding the Queen's head in a steady lock. "But to me, my master... I see a Queen."
The vampire's fingers lifted his onyx Queen statuette, and gently tipped over Integra's ivory King.