Disclaimer: I make no claims of owning Hellsing or D. Grayman, only the OC that appear in this fanfic. Don't sue me, I'm really poor.
This is just a oneshot! Therefore, there may be more than a few inconsistencies with canon, since it has been some years since I've seen any of the two. It is also pretty bare-bones with only about 3k words so it probably has some problems.
Hope you enjoy it, as short as it is.
"This is…?"
Alexander Anderson stretched out his left hand to block the bright sunlight in his eyes that were passing through the rustling leaves and branches of the tree he was currently laying underneath of.
For a moment, he stared apathetically at his gloved hand that shielded his eyes from the light.
"What is this?" he asked as he balled the hand into a fist. "I was expecting my first impression of hell to be a bit more hellish." After using the Helena's Nail, he fully knew that God will never receive him at the Gates of Heaven.
He slowly sat himself up and examined his surroundings closely.
He was up on a grassy hill, under a large lone tree. The breeze he felt there was warm and nice against his skin. It would appear his body was perfectly intact, along with all of his old scars. Even his usual vestment and round rimmed glasses looked to be in immaculate condition, better than new.
It was something he found very strange indeed.
"Neither Heaven nor Hell," he smiled to himself. "Would Limbo be such a nice place such as this?"
Somehow, he doubted that was the case.
He opened his palm to catch a falling leaf and stared at it. "What does God have planned for me?" He chuckled as the question he asked was one that those in his line of work have always asked themselves over and over before.
Later on, he will discover the peculiar cross-shaped scar on his chest, right where he pierced his heart to create a miracle.
Several months pass…
Inside a small homely church, Alexander Anderson knelt quietly in prayer in front of an altar.
"Father Anderson! Father Anderson!" cried out a child excitedly as he ran towards the tall priest, passing by the empty pews on his sides. "Look what I made!" The young boy proudly showed the crudely carved cross he made from a piece of wood. "It's just like you showed us."
Alexander Anderson smiled and grasped the wooden cross the boy handed to him lightly in his hand. "This is wonderful Mikkel," he praised. "Maybe someday soon you'll be making these for churches all over Europe."
The young blonde boy was ecstatic by that. "You think so?"
"You are talented and strong, but there may be things that you will come to lack." Anderson handed the wooden cross back to the child. "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
The boy gripped the cross tightly in his hand and nodded seriously before running off to continue practicing his carving skills.
"You're as popular as ever with the children, Father."
A young modestly dressed woman carrying a bucket of water and a rag walked up to the priest with small pleasant smile on her face.
"Anya," greeted Anderson. "I've had many years of experience raising children like Mikkel. It would hurt my pride if I wasn't able to work well with them after all that time. I consider raising them one of God's greatest gifts. "
The young woman giggled. "I don't think I'll be ever as good as you with the children, even in a hundred years."
"Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." Anderson smiled warmly at the confused look of the girl after what he said. "You're still young. You need not be the best. Just continue on as you've always been doing and guide them as best as you can."
"Thank you, Father." Anya bowed and understood. "You're presence here has surely been an answer from God."
"I do not doubt that," said Anderson. "But I can't help but wonder if he still has more for me to do." His large hand covered his heart, as he remembered seeing the scar on it for the first time after he had arrived in the small remote village he was currently at.
Anya's hand joined the priest's. "When he does, he will send you a sign, I'm sure."
The words of one so young to himself comforted Anderson.
He had no doubt that it was God that had saved him and delivered him to this place. The people were friendly and accepting of him, even appointing him as the replacement village priest for the one who had moved away a few weeks before he had arrived. He had even accepted and began training a few orphans with the teachings of the lord.
But still, he could not help but wonder if he deserved such a peaceful life, even one given to him by God.
"It appears I am still lacking in faith," he chuckled before standing up and straightening himself. "I believe some physical labor in the gardens should help with that."
"I think Bella and Rita wanted to show you how ripe the tomatoes are now," said Anya.
"Then I shan't keep the little ones waiting," said Anderson.
He made his way into the back gardens where the little girls were eagerly tending to the fruits and vegetables, leaving Anya all alone inside the Church to begin cleaning.
It was only after half an hour into her work did Anya hear the front doors of the church open. She saw Mikkel running towards her with the wooden cross in his hand.
"Anya! Look who came back!" he shouted excitedly over to her.
Behind the boy, she saw several of the villagers and one person she thought she would never see again. "Father Nigel…?!" she gasped in disbelief. "Why are you here? I thought you had left us to be with you sick brother. Did you not say that you would be there to guide him in his final moments towards God's embrace?"
The old priest gave a familiar serene smile, but Anya felt something strangely off about it. "God turned his back on me, so I in turn, did the same towards him," his answer echoed throughout the church. "Come now," he held out his hand, beckoning the two towards him. "Let me show you the truth about God."
Anya held Mikkel down tightly with her hand, not wanting to let the boy near the old priest. She didn't understand why, but, she knew that they should stay far away from him and the rest of the villagers.
The old priest sighed.
"Are you really going to make an old man like me walk over to you?" he asked. Anya made no sign of changing her mind. "Very well, I suppose you can't have everything handed to you in a silver platter." He began to walk over towards the two.
"Anya? Do we have visitors?"
Father Nigel stopped in his tracks as he heard the voice of Alexander Anderson from the back entrance. He saw the new, rather tall, priest walk up to Anya with two little girls holding each of his hand.
"Father Anderson!" said Anya with relief.
"What's wrong?" asked the tall priest. He had come back inside the church since the two little girls needed to take a break from being in the sun too long.
"This… this person is…" Anya couldn't quite find the words on how to explain.
"Allow me to answer for her," said Father Nigel with a smile. "I am Father Nigel Talbot, the previous priest who was posted here. I must say, you did a fine job of managing the church while I was away."
Anderson frowned at that. Before he took over the church, he remembered being told that the previous priest had left to permanently stay at the hometown of his dying brother.
It would appear that those plans may have changed.
He handed both Bella and Rita with Anya, and walked over to the old priest. "I believe I was under the impression that you were staying at your brother's hometown to spread the word of God there," he said. "Did something change with that?"
The old priest walked closer to Anderson and looked up to his face. "Why, yes." He answered, still smiling. "…That place is already gone."
Anya and the children screamed as two large pikes came out of Father Anderson's back
Father Nigel took out the pikes that were once his arms from the priest's now kneeling body. "My brother can't really spread the word of God if there is no one to spread it to, now, can he?" he said as he flicked the blood off his pike arms. "He always did get under my skin." A fitful of laugh came from the impostor. "But now… now I'm under his skin! How funny is that?!"
He looked over to see if Anya and the kids found that as funny as he did. "What do you think about that, kiddies?" All he saw were the terrified looks of the children who were embraced protectively by Anya. "Not so funny? Really?" He scratched the balding white head of his with his pike arms, seemingly unable to understand the lack of sense of humor. "I suppose you'll get it if you experience it yourself."
"Stay back!" cried Anya in fear..
The old man had a manic grin on his face as he saw the fear in those eyes. "I promise you you'll laugh, once you've tried it," he said as he walked towards them. "If anything else, I'll get another good laugh out of it." The old man's grin split in two and showed the appearance of a long tongue and numerous serrated white teeth from the bottom half of his face.
"Nigel!"
The fake old priest looked back to the sound of the worried voice of his fellow Akuma, only to have them blocked from his view. He was under the silhouette of Father Anderson, who stood large and tall in front of the toothed leech with only the gleam of light coming from the round glasses he wore, the golden cross that hung down his neck, and… the blades he held on both his hands.
"…What—?"
The vision of the leech turned upside down as its head sailed through to a corner of the church. The last thing it saw while it was still in the air was the sight of its own body falling to the floor before it did.
The entire church had gone silent.
Anya and the children were shocked by what had happened. They had watched their old priest turn into a monster and kill Father Anderson. Then, before the monster could do the same to them, they saw Father Anderson stand up from his knees where he was supposed to have died, and decapitate the monster with the long bayonet blades that slid out from his long sleeves.
Right now, they were also scared of the shadowy looming figure of Father Anderson.
"Is everyone alright?"
The kind voice of the man they came to respect had wiped away their fear. All of them looked up and saw the usual kind and smiling face of Father Anderson, warm and gentle.
"…Father Anderson?" whispered Anya weakly, realizing that it was the same person whose taken care of all of them since he arrived into their lives.
The priest gave a small nod at her.
"Anya, why don't you take the children to the altar and practice those prayers I recently taught everyone," said Father Anderson kindly. "I will need to deliver God's teachings to the heathens that have dared to desecrate his sacred ground."
The young woman did not argue and obeyed the request immediately, shuffling the kids into a corner near the altar and having them kneel in front of the large cross that lay on top of it.
Anderson was satisfied by this and turned back to address the, now more than half dozen angry fake villagers, standing at the entrance of his church. They changed their forms into an amalgam of creatures with horrifying visage and countenance. Like the demons from hell that had been depicted over the centuries that Anderson has lived through.
They came in different shapes, sizes, and forms. Some had twisted human like appearance. Others looked to resemble animals. The last few were just a horrid mish mash of nightmarish abstraction.
The funny thing though, was that… all of them were also a bit scared of the dark visage of the tall priest walking towards them.
"E-Exorcist!" shouted one of the Akuma.
The foreboding presence of Anderson disappeared as he gave the monsters a normal smile befitting that of a priest. "Good afternoon everyone. Do you have a moment to talk about our lord and savior, Jesus Christ?"
The Akuma were dumbfounded by the unexpected question.
One of them growled angrily and said, "Who gives a shi—" Several bayonet blades pierced its skull before it could finish.
"I'll take that as a yes," smiled Father Anderson maliciously, with smaller bayonet blades dangling from between each his fingers. "Let us begin by loudly saying our prayers," he said.
Anya and the children to knew then to begin their prayers. They closed their eyes and clasped their hands together as they recited the words that were taught to them.
"Praise be to God, the creator of Heaven and Earth. Almighty be his name and presence."
Anderson sent the blades in his hands flying at the monsters that gathered in front of him, piercing their bodies and causing them to howl and shriek with pain as the blessed blades burned their insides. The holy blades were easily able to cut and pierce the flesh of even the armored collection of monstrosities.
"We are God's children and our lives are in his service!" he exclaimed.
"Praise be to God, our lives are forever in his embrace. Let us receive him as he shall receive us."
A large mantis creature jumped high above Anderson and slashed its arms dangerously close to him. A large bayonet struck the bug from under its head, sending black blood sputtering from the top where the blade protruded out of. Anderson yanked the blade strongly and split open the mantis' head wide open.
"His son, our lord and savior, sacrificed his life so that our sins would be forgiven!" Anderson continued his zealous sermon as he grinned savagely as he was showered by the blood of his enemies.
"Praise be to our Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, whose life he gave to have us cleansed of our sins."
As Anderson slashed down another monster, a large mutt like Akuma tore off one of his arms. The creature showed all its teeth at the priest while gnawing at the arm, pleased with itself at injuring him. He answered back with a wide smirk of his own and snapped his fingers of his other arm.
Sacred scriptures appeared on the bayonet the torn off arm was holding, and it burst into holy flames. The mutt screamed and howled in agony as righteous fire consumed it. The other Akuma it had bashed into from its writhing and panic were also doused by the flames, causing havoc among them.
"It is through them that our world was created and spared, and it is through them that our world shall be redeemed!" The priest now seemed to drown in the ecstasy of his belief as he seemingly screams out the words while he tore into the creatures and continued hacking away at them.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for the mercy shown upon us."
Anderson smashed down a doll like Akuma's head into the floor with his feet and crushed it with a splat. There remained only one moving among the torn and mangled bodies of the demons. The last remaining survivor, some sort of orcish pig, had its own body pierced by multitudes of bayonets, leaving trails of its blood as it was trying to crawl away into the daylight coming from the doors leading to outside the church.
"Aargh!" it screamed as Anderson stomped down hard on one of the bayonets piercing its torso, effectively pinning the creature in place. It saw Anderson grinning down madly at him, a predator who was playing with its prey.
"Thus, as their believers, we shall continue to have faith and spread the word and their teachings!" Father's Anderson said so with conviction as his head came in close and dominated the creature's vision.
"Glory be to God and our Lord, glory be to the highest, and glory be to us, their true believers. Amen."
"M-monster!" shouted the Akuma in abject terror as he saw the thorns burst out of the priest's elbow, where his arm was severed, regrow into the missing limb.
The maddened glee disappeared from Anderson's face.
"Amen…" he all but whispered.
Then, two bayonets crossed over the Akuma's neck, which was then dragged cleanly and quickly through, ending the last of the wicked corrupted horrors that visited God's holy ground.
A week passes…
Alexander Anderson stood outside the sturdy wooden doors of the church, carrying a traveling pack behind his back. Outside with him to bid him goodbye were Anya, the orphans, and some of the villagers.
"Are you sure you really must go?" asked Anya with pleading eyes.
Father Anderson smiled warmly at her and answered, "It is what I believe God has sent me here to do."
Anya was sad to see the priest go, but fully understood that he must answer God's calling.
One of the orphans, Mikkel, ran up to the priest and hugged him. "Will you come back?" he asked tearfully. Rita and Bella joined him as well.
Anderson lightly brushed the boy's blonde hair then patted the two girls head. "I will be sure to visit from time to time when I can."
The village elder, who had welcomed him to their town before, walked up to him and asked, "Where will you go?"
Alexander Anderson grinned to him and said, "To a place I've known all my life, yet a place I've never been to." The answer he gave perplexed everyone. His grin widened at that. "As they say 'All roads leads to Rome.' Or more specifically, I will be visiting the holiest city of the world… Civitas Vaticana."
"What is it that you hope to find there?"
"Information about the demons and heretics that plague this land," said Anderson seriously.
He nodded and left as he said his goodbyes afterwards. To the west, he looked upon to where the holy city lay ahead. The sun was as bright as the first time he awoke in this new world.
Quietly, he whispered something to himself.
"…And maybe even God."
A/N:
I've been itching to write something else besides my main crossfic for a while now. I made this and plan to write a few other oneshots to get the creative juice flowing again.
I'm not sure I got the whole prayer things right, but I'm not gonna be bothered all that much about it since this is only a oneshot anyway. I think it sounds fine the way it is.
