Disclaimer: I neither own nor harbour any rights regarding the production or anything related to Hellsing. Damn, I wish I did, but, alas, I don't.
Chapter One: The Beginning to an End
From life comes death, and from death comes life anew.
They ran. They ran with all the might their beings possessed; they ran with every last ounce of strength in them; they ran with adrenaline coursing through their veins and fear nipping at their ankles. They ran for death was chasing them.
The trees, only darkened silhouettes accentuated by the light casted upon the forest by the moon, passed by the two students in a blur as they sprinted through the night. The wind, already a light howl at the beginning of their deadly game of cat and mouse, had begun to crescendo into a mighty roar. The frigorific wind bite at their exposed skin, only adding to the two's suffering as they wildly tore through the woods.
Suddenly, one, the taller and less winded of the two, roughly pulled the other aside. He threw himself and the other behind a large, jagged rock and crouched down low to the ground which was thickly littered with leaves. The other did the same and panted out of both fear and need for air.
"My feet," said the smaller one between gasps for air. Her feet were bloodied, bruised, and turning purple from lack of footwear. The fall was un-expectantly cold that year, providing no mercy for the shoeless couple.
The young man hushed the other while taking her hands into his own, rubbing them together to help keep them warm.
The young woman's heart skipped a beat as, over the roar of the wind, they heard a twig snap. Then another. And another. All coming closer and closer to the rock.
"No, no, no, no. . ." the young woman trailed off, grasping onto the hands that tried to warm her own. "We're going to die, we're going to die-"
"Sally," the other cut in, his voice low as he slowly pulled the woman towards him. "You're not going to die. Not now. Get behin-"
"Not going to die, hm?" sung a voice just on the other side of the rock. The two froze, fear paralyzing them as the voice drew nearer, as if rounding the rock. "Who said that? Because," Sally bellowed out a bloodcurdling scream as a hand clamped upon her shoulder, prying her away from the young man. "They're a horrible liar!"
The young man lunged up at the bodiless voice that had snatched away his lover, pure fear and unbridled hatred at those who tormented him and Sally aiding him as he wildly reached into the darkness in search for her.
Hands, dozens upon dozens, grabbed at him, yanking him away from where Sally wailed in terror. They pinned him against the hard ground, easily holding in place as he swore and frantically thrashed against his restraints.
"Tsk, tsk. So disobedient, so rash," said the voice from before as a figure stepped into a moonbeam that shone upon the large rock's face. Out of the darkness came . . . a figure completely engulfed in shadows. It was as if, in the creature's complete monstrosity, God dammed this creature to be devoid of any physical manifestation and instead left him to be a shadowy husk of a man.
In a shadowy arm was the squirming form of Sally. Her hands, the fingertips purple from frostbite, tore and fought against the hand that was harshly clamped around her neck. She was suspended a foot off of the ground and kicked about her, trying her damn best to get her unholy captor to release her from their villainous clutches. She gagged and gasped as the young man watched as the light slowly drained out of her eyes and her acts of resistance became sluggish and lethargic.
"Oh, how poetic," mused Sally's captor as it only strengthen its crushing hold on the young woman's neck. The young man, with renewed strength at the sight of Sally's failing strength, flailed and fought against the hands in vain as tears, hot and salty, streamed down his cheeks.
"She's calling out to her lover in her last moments. Touching, truly. It's amazing how hot the fire of passion burns when one discovers love for the first time. And, oh," the captor sighed, disappointed tainting its velvety voice. "So sad that you two couldn't consummate the relationship. But, all the better for us. If absence only makes the heart grow fonder, then abstinence only makes the blood grow sweeter." The captor began to chuckle as it reared its shadowy head back, seemingly to smile up at the full moon before plunging his fangs into the virgin's neck.
With one last ounce of life, the young woman feebly reached for her lover before shedding a single tear as the unholy creature consumed her life.
With crimson flowing from its shadowy lips, the creature unceremoniously tossed aside the bloodied corpse before locking eyes with the struggling human who wept and wept upon the ground. Its eyes were red. A dark, unforgettable red. The same red that now bled from Sally's neck and dripped from the creature's fangs that glistened in the moonlight.
"I'm sorry. I'm rather selfish, you see. I must always take the delicacies for myself and leave the tainted- soiled, if you will- blood to my children- my fellow walkers of the night. And oh, they do sound quite hungry.
"Tell me, do you fear death? No? Well, you should," the creature said with a hint of a smile as dozens and dozens of fangs tore into the young man's skin, tearing away at his soul till nothing was left but the impenetrable darkness of nothingness.
The trees rustled against one another, whispering the secrets of the wind. An endless number of truths had been thrown back to the wind and now swirled about in the delicate form of fallen leaves. The leaves, the inconspicuous holders of truth, danced around the ankles of those who walked to and fro across the age-old campus of the University of Bristol. A swarm of students, some freshman and most under-graduates, shouted out to one another in a joyous cry of welcome. The university had opened its doors that weekend to the student population as a whole. A few days before the arrival of the others, freshmen had been wandering the campus, tripping along after guides who pointed this and that out about the historic campus in which they would spend the next four or so years. Overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught of information, rules, orientation, the occasional 'I forgot a toothbrush!', and the like, the freshmen were more than happy to be let loose by their guides.
Many clotted together with those they had acquainted themselves with during the days of orientation while others branched out, boldly striding up to upperclassmen. Upperclassmen watched in amusement as many of the freshmen make complete asses out of themselves- not intentionally, of course.
A campus tour guide had been contently watching the mingling of the new students when a light poke to his shoulder startled him, making him drop his clipboard. "Wha- oh, hello there," he said quite dumbly as he bent down, gathering up his papers that had been thrown about in the slight wind.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you!" said a soft voice from above him.
"No, you didn't frighten me. Merely startled me," he corrected, glancing up at the one who had spoken.
The tour guide paused in his gathering of papers as he gawked up at the young woman before him. She wore nothing striking, nothing extreme. It was, in his opinion, her eyes that had him staring up in awe. Two clear, innocent blue eyes peered down at him in uncertainty. He was mesmerized by them- star struck, even-, by the oceanic orbs that carried a depth not known to him before.
It took him a moment to realize that she was saying something. Again. He had been too caught up in her gaze.
"What?"
"Your papers. They're flying away." She pointed toward a few stray papers that danced along in the gentle breeze.
He cursed; rising to his full height as he dismissively waves a hand towards the papers that fly about the feet of the other students. "They're just brochures for the freshmen anyway," he explained, turning his attention back to the stranger before him.
The young woman stood a few heads shorted than himself but held herself as a soldier would; back straight, feet together, shoulders back, stomach in, chin up. And yet, though she had a slight of air of military-like posture, the young woman seemed to radiant a gentle, almost timid aura. Again, it was the eyes that helped convey the air of doe-like gentleness and innocence.
"What can I help you with?" he asked, clipping the few papers he had managed to grab to his clipboard as he shook his head, trying his best to dismiss his thoughts.
"Well, I know this'll be a bother, but I'm a freshman. Er," she pursed her lips, her brows furrowing a bit. "I, uh, couldn't make it to orientation and I'm a bit lost. Completely lost, actually. I don't even know where my dorm is," she sighed, hanging her head a bit at the confession.
"Lost, eh? Good thing I'm a tour guide." Even to him, that sounded a bit corny. "What I'm trying to say is that I can help you get your bearings. My name is Adrian Wetherstone," he said, tucking his clipboard beneath his arm before extending his hand out towards the young woman.
"Nikola Wester," Seras Victoria replied, meeting his hand with a surprisingly firm grip.
AN: Heya! This is, if you haven't caught on, an AU focused around college. Though there are some fairly major twists in the usual college AU (as seen by the little snip-it of the antagonists of this story at the beginning), the characters will adhere to how they are in the cannon Hellsing. And, though I only had a small portion showing her, Seras is the main point-of-view in this story.
I haven't had a chance to look through some of this, so tell me if anything isn't really able to be followed (in other words, isn't totally coherent), and tell me if there are any glaring errors in spelling and/or grammar.
How was it? Somewhat interesting? Boring? Neat? Dumb? Either way, please write a review to tell me if you hated it, loved it, feel indifferent to it, or honestly can't tell what the hell(sing) is going on.