Kana: AGH…just…agh…(flails) I've recently read a wonderful story of the dysfunctional Dracula family called my history textbook (makes a face) it offered a wide variety of plot bunnies just dying to escape – evil little buggers – and I just cant help myself. I don't know whether anyone has done this before, and I seriously doubt anyone hasn't, but it won't go away. (I have this serious urge to call him 'Ragu' XD )
Summary: Radu Dracula betrayed his elder brother centuries ago, siding with the Turks, wreaking havoc and destruction upon his brother's kingdom, and stealing the throne. Now he has returned, to offer his guilt to the Nosferatu. But the question remains; how is he still alive?
Setting: Sometime after WWIII. As this is AU, the ending of the war is AU as well. Pip is dead though (insert funeral march), but Walter is here (continue with happy songs followed by Psycho) since the Major's death might have snapped him out of that bad, bad…BAD phase.
Disclaimer: (Almost missed this one) I don't own Hellsing, or the Dracl family (Or Dracula family, or Tepes, which ever you choose)
Everyone is always adding Radu into the story. Some day I shall writing something on poor Mircea, possibly about Alucard watching his death…hmmm…the bunny awakens…I swear, it was three am, I was downstairs drinking Cola, and all of a sudden I went bunny, and ran off to write this. It happens frequently.
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Dead, Death, and Dying
Chapter One: Nostalgia
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Do you still enjoy torture? I remember them telling me that you captured small mice in your cell, and impaled the little creatures on tiny spears. Abraham had you summed up so easily, saying that you had a child-mind.
You always fought for the attention. Gaining the throne of Wallachia three times – and me only once -, becoming the infamous Count Dracula, plotting world domination, and even now, the great No Life King. So strong, so deadly, so…you. Always malicious, always just, always royalty.
I want to hate you; to hate you with such passion that it makes my heart burn. You are everything I am not.
But I cannot. You are my brother, even more so than Mircea was.
I want to make peace.
OOOOO
Integra blew smoke above her head and watched it fade into a vague cloud before vanishing into the ceiling. She did it again, over and over until her cigar was worn down into a small stub and a mist of smoke covered the ceiling. Her dinner lay half eaten, the pie and mash forgotten easily with the fork still sticking erect in the potatoes, as if Integra had abruptly decided that she had finished.
Something was bothering the great Iron Maiden so much…that she couldn't work. Integra was at a loss, and something was making her fidget. She refused to work until the feeling had passed, lest her mood make her work sub-par. Heaven forbid.
Lighting another cigar, Integra forced herself to relax, hopefully making the task of finding what was disturbing her easier. And smoking always made her muscles less tense (for they were never fully calm. It was a curse).
"If Alucard was here, he would comment on your terrible smoking habits." Walter stated, opening the door practically unnoticed. It would take Integra another few months to get used to his new shape – she was so used to the grandfatherly butler waltzing around the estate carefully, not a teen whipping from job to job, effectively performing every task asked of him until he had sufficiently done each one with so much time to spare in the evenings that she had been forced to allow him to accompany the soldiers on missions, to his evident glee. He had been given another chance at life since his change from vampire back to human, though she was sure he would spend it exactly as he had his former one.
But with Alucard, Seras, and the newly recruited Angel of Death on Hellsing's side, and nothing truly 'exciting' happening since the fall of the last of the Third Reich, it was like turning the 'MIA' Jackal into a water gun. It was characteristic of an organization to become lethargic at such a period of peace, but Integra knew that was how many things failed.
"Like you should be talking of smoking habits," Integra said, offering her lighter to Walter as he strode up, a pack of Carrolls. "How did you pick up the habit again?"
"New set of lungs," Walter smacked his chest twice. "I might as well waste them while they're still fresh." He puffed for a moment, smiling as if the smoke was a happy memory. His expression melted into that of pure bliss. "I could smoke a million of these and still find them utterly perfect."
Integra took a moment, contemplating on Walter's relaxed state. "Pardon me for interrupting your pleasant smoking experience; but is there something in particular that you wish to speak with me about?"
"Yes," Walter crinkled his cigarette into the silver ashtray and cleared his throat, blowing out one last lungful of smoke before continuing and straightening to his former, more familiar posture. "The remaining Wild Geese have informed me of a visitor requesting to see you."
"Is it Iscariot?"
"No, sir. He speaks to the guards of asking you about…family matters."
"Family matters?"
"In other words: Alucard will most definitely find this interesting."
OOOOO
Seras couldn't put her finger on it – she was at a loss, stumped. She had thought about the matter for at least five minutes, and it still was a mass of confusing knots. Even the Wild Geese were investigating the matter – in their own way, which usually included prodding the problem with their rifles.
Why did the man look so much like her master?
The visitor was tall like her master, with the same slim stature and elegant way of holding himself. His black hair was long, like Alucard's when he wasn't slinking around in his red ensemble, and he had one of the most handsome faces she would probably ever see on a man, with high cheekbones and large red eyes. If the Geese hadn't hesitated at his gentlemanly suit, they would have shot the vampire on the spot.
If she didn't know better, she would have categorized him as a Nosferatu. But her master was the only one, right?
"Alright, back off!" Seras continued to shoo any Geese away from the man as their curiosity got the better of them. There were so few mercenaries left (maybe three of the originals, with a few dozen others thrown in – she just called all of them Geese now); she didn't feel like losing any more to a disgruntled, high-class vampire. "Give him some space!"
A wave of whispers ran along the Geese as they backed off, still eyeing the new vampire with caution. The word 'vampire' still put cold fear into the heart of the mercenaries since the Third War, and they were slightly more skittish around Seras ever since she ingested the blood of their captain, but with a respective air. Alucard, on the other hand, was no longer just someone they rarely saw and killed with, he was a horror show to them. They understood his power, and more than once one of the original three left would drop a gun on another's toe at the very sight of him. The new legionaries had been confused of the fear of their own comrades – until one of the Geese told them of Alucard's hoards of souls. They all shut up about it after that.
Seras stood a safe distance away, watching the man as he scanned the mansion grounds, every so often making a move to walk up to the entrance, but then rethinking the notion and stepping back once more. His face was that of supreme conflict and anxiety. What was he here for?
At once a guard trotted out to the barracks, bringing news that made the man jump up and run into the house with him, having to round back every so often when he went ahead of the guard.
Letting her curiosity get the better of her, Seras left the first lieutenant in charge and followed behind the two inconspicuously, keeping her severed shadow-arm in front of her to work as slight camouflage against the darkening sky. She could have regenerated her arm easily after the war, but now it was more apart of her than the original limb.
But even as she tried her best to remain under the guard's radar, Seras couldn't help but feel as though the strange man could see what she was doing, and was allowing it with good-humor.
OOOOO
"Where is Alucard?" Integra asked after a moment of watching the door. She knew Walter was right outside the door, waiting for the visitor. And she was right.
A black mop of hair poked in after a moment. "He is currently having a bout of nostalgia."
"Meaning…?"
"He's playing pranks on me. They don't work as well as they used to, but he seems to find them just as amusing." Walter wedged a spot on his waistcoat that looked as if it had been set on fire through the door. "His older form is not as enticing as it used to be, now that I've had a bit of experience with it." He continued to 'stand guard.'
Integra made a mental note to reprimand the vampire on this subject. "Is the visitor coming?"
"Of course," Walter said, his tone slightly muffled by the door. "I sent for him fifteen minutes ago; perhaps it would be best if you finished your supper."
"No thank you," Integra eyed the forgotten meal. "It's surely cold by now."
"Perhaps some tea to lift your spirits?" That was Walter, always trying to get her to relax.
"No," She snuffed out another cigar. "No…; is Alucard still sleeping?"
"Evening is still working its way across the horizon, so he should still be in his coffin." Walter could already tell what she was going to ask –
"Go fetch him for me, please." Integra disliked calling Alucard through telepathy, and usually had him or Seras get the vampire if he was not already near, or somewhere within the vicinity of her office – like he usually was.
"Will do." With a flurry of feet and smoke, Walter was gone, racing down the hallway with all the vigor he had once lost.
Integra smiled slightly, though to the naked eye, it was as if her mouth had twitched very softly. To everyone else, it was a miracle. She would be close to something called satisfaction if not for the uneasy feeling in her gut.
OOOOO
Walter found Alucard still sleeping like the dead, his coffin shut tight. Packs of blood were scattered around the casket and on the lid, with a puddle of the fluid dripping from a half-finished bag onto the floor. He flinched at Alucard's disgusting eating habits.
He rapped on the lid, hearing the Nosferatu groan and smack it back. "It's night, time to get up Alucard."
The lid raised an inch, allowing a glowing red eye to peek through. "Go away," he rasped.
"Up," Walter threw the lid off, and immediately regretted it.
"You've gotten so mean, Walter," Alucard said, adjusting her white pillbox hat and gloves.
"That's nice," Walter smiled with gratification as Alucard pouted, returning to his usual form, his clothes materializing as he stepped from the coffin, still looking sleepy. He looked like a groupie of a heavy metal band, his hair covering most of his face. "Do you need a moment to get the spiders out of your head or are you all set and done?"
"Shut up, brat," Alucard jammed his hat on his head, trying to wonder what was making him so irritable. "I'm perfectly able to wake up and be alert on the spot."
Amused, Walter nodded to him once and dashed out the door again. Alucard couldn't help but smile despite his mood; he was so glad to have his energy back again.
But why did he feel so irate; furious enough to tear something from the wall, or perhaps just break the wall down.
Yeah…he was mad enough to break down the damn wall.
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Integra clicked her nails on her desk exactly three hundred forty seven consecutive times before Alucard finally dissolved through a wall, his hair slightly dusty from what appeared to be rubble.
"What did you do?" She asked suspiciously as he took off his hat to shake it, letting bits of stone and dust fall to the carpet.
"Forgive me Master, but there is a wall in the dungeons that needs to be repaired."
"How damaged is it?"
Alucard gestured to the bits of debris on the floor. "That is the wall."
She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "You will be punished when I see that it is fit – perhaps even to rebuild the wall yourself – but not now. At the moment I have called you to inform you of a visitor."
"Oh?" Alucard's right brow practically disappeared above his hairline. Integra never called him when it involved visitors. If anything she ordered him to remain in his room. "And who might this man be?"
Opening her mouth, Integra began to say who the visitor was (or at least, who Walter thought he was) but the aforesaid butler entered the room, the strange man in tow. Alucard's eyes barely widened behind his sunglasses, but Integra nearly flinched at the wave of emotions that battered her from his mind; rage was a big part of the emotions, as was despair.
The extremely handsome man stepped forward without consent from Integra or Walter, and embraced Alucard, who remained as stiff as a board.
"My brother," He whispered.
He was Radu Dracula, younger brother to Vlad Dracula; known as Radu cel Frumos, Radu the Handsome, once Prince of Wallachia, and betrayer to his family.
And he didn't even flinch when Alucard shot him in the stomach with the Casull three times. All he did was smile and bleed.
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Kana: Oi veh, I hate mid-years with a serious passion (much like Alucard up there). Man, I feel like this chapter was one big cliché (sizzles) And I can't get this image of Radu snuggling Alucard as he shoots him over and over until he's just one big slab of gristle holding onto his leg X3
Read, love it or hate it (and if so, leave constructive criticism. Insult me like that guy Simon, I don't care, but be constructive), and review (then tell Iscariot to pray for me cause I need to work myself up to Ivy League level).
In other words; READ AND REVIEW! XP
