Invalid - a Hellsing fic
Falling. The world was crashing down around him and he was falling. He was confused and wet and shivering in his own nakedness. The air exploded with horrible sounds of metal against metal and what was left of the floor was slick with blood.
Everyone was dead and he was newly born.
There was a rush, a vacuum of air that pulled at his body and he was helpless to resist.
That was why he is falling.
The dark world that was the London airspace spun around him as he tumbled through nothing. Somewhere in the same airspace was a torn zeppelin, burning bright and illuminating the sky. Together they fell, he and the blimp, only he fell much faster, the zeppelin still struggled to maintain flight. Ultimately it was a useless effort.
A wave of heat ran over his body as the balloon suddenly exploded, the force pushing him closer to terminal velocity. Chunks of burning materials rained around him like little comets, extinguishing in the water of the Thames below.
It was cold and wet once again, as he too fell into the river Thames. The current jostled his body this way and that and in a panic, knowing what this blood red river now contained, he forced his way up to the surface, finding no need to gasp for air. Hurriedly, the man made his way to shore, pulling at the earth to have himself out of the poison.
Resting on all fours, dripping with watered down blood and the toxins his comrades left behind, the figure, the only survivor of the crash, reflected.
What now? Where could he go? What could he do?
Wait. He knew what he wanted. He knew quite certainly what he could do.
"Hellsing."
Integral Hellsing lit one of her few remaining cigars. The tiny flicker of her lighter provided a brief comfort, being the only source of light in the room, not to mention the entire fortress that was the Hellsing Headquarters. With a click, the leader of the now defunct organization extinguished the flame and inhaled the acrid smoke from her vice. The burning sensation in her lungs was more than welcome. Teeth gritted in pride and irritation as her inhale was cut short, transforming into a series of hacking coughs.
The coughs marched from her body like well trained soldiers, the sound ringing though the cavernous office. Once Integra managed to reign in her functions, she sighed, listless and stoicly. That is when she noticed the metallic taste upon her tongue. Blood.
"Damn them," she hissed, drawing a kerchief from her trouser pocket and patting at her mouth. "I can't believe this. How could we allow this to happen?"
Her fists clenched accusingly at her moment of weakness. Berating herself would not help, Integra knew.
Integra knew many things. She knew, for instance that she was dying just like the rest of London, which fell ill. She knew that it was because of the Millennium Group that her once formidable Organization was decimated. She knew that the Group had contaminated the Thames in one way or another. She knew this poison could destroy anything, living or dead. All it required was time.
Hellsing was running out of time.
He had expected ... something. Stares, screams, laughter, cops. After all, he was a naked man walking through the streets of London. He didn't get what he expected.
There was nothing. No sign of life at all, even the corporately planted trees that lined the streets were brown and soft with impending death. His stomach churned and he felt blood well in his mouth. He turned his head and spit out a red glob onto the sidewalk. It was creeping up in him --whatever the Doc did-- and poisoning his insides. That dip n the river took its toll.
He was dying, just like everything else.
"Daaaamn..." the man muttered under his breath. "when the Doc does something, the Doc fuckin' does it right."
He walked, retracing the path he remembered walking with his brother, Luke. Luke was gone now, though. Something about Alucard killing him. The nude man wasn't there, so he was fuzzy on the details. Wait...
He stopped in his tracks, flames flickering in his minds eye. A memory.
Wasn't he supposed to be dead too?
Right. He took his own life when that Hellsing woman tried pathetically to torture him for information. He had such plans for her too!
"That Bitchwhore!"
Finding himself, finally, at the front gates of Hellsing Manor, he began to climb over the ornate iron bars. Dropping down onto the lawn, he merrily continued on his way, knowing full well his destination.
"Have I got a surprise for you." he laughed.
Nothing worked any longer. The security system had no power, and the generators had long since ceased to work. Resources were used and overused in an effort to stay alive. Integra was wise and cunning and managed to sustain herself this long. She could survive a little longer.
Yet with all her focus on her own survival, she did not notice the figure casually walking into her home.
In an effort to keep her mind off the current state of things, Integra plucked a book from her bookshelf. She settled herself in her chair and touched the embered end of her cigar to a candle upon her desk. Coaxing a strong flame out of the candle, Integra then stamped out the now useless cigar into her tray, before opening the novel.
'Les Miserables' was a story she had read many times. Her father would read some of the simpler passages when she was younger. Though Integra would never admit it to anyone else, she often found herself identifying with the character Javert, the police officer.
In the story, Javert becomes consumed with tracking down a fugitive, Valjean, yet Valjean committed all his crimes selflessly: he stole bread to feed his dying nephew, he blasphemed and stole silver from a church to feed himself. Ultimately, Valjean redeems himself many times over by saving many lives and putting himself in mortal danger. And yet, Javert pursues him evermore.
Integra constantly found herself drawing parallels. Vampires consume mortals in order to feed themselves, but it a natural need for them, they are just trying to survive. Other then that loathsome need, are they fundamentally good 'people'? Was she, at the prime of Hellsing's existence, obsessed?
"Hey bitch!"
Integra snapped her head up from the book, her blue eyes large and wide with shock and confusion. In one swift move she managed to grab the small gun from under her desk and point it at the intruder.
"The Valentine brothers?"
"Nah. Just me, Jan," Jan answered, pushing the large door more open and chancing a step onto the tiled floor. "surprised to see me alive it looks like." He smirked, his fangs glinting in the candlelight.
Truth be told, Integra was surprised, and somewhat relieved to see anyone still alive, even if it was this boorish pseudo vampire freak.
"What are you doing here?" Integra snapped, thumbing back the safety on her gun. "How did you survive? We destroyed your ashes ourselves."
"Yeah, I know. I dunno. I remember something about being in a tube, and overhearing the doc sayin' something about cloning. S'all a bit fuzzy," Jan narrowed his eyes suspiciously, gazing at Integra at length. "now you. How are you still alive?"
"I simply haven't given up." she answered after a long, prideful pause.
"Sweet," Jan replied in a tone that may or may not have been genuine. "so, we're all that's left?"
"It seems that way." She said, begrudgingly.
Another smile came from Jan. "Really, that would be why I wasn't gangraped by your army or Big Red or any other assholes as soon as I set foot on your turf."
"And where is the rest of the Millennium?" demanded Integra.
"Dead," he answered with a careless shrug. "Something got fucked up on board the zeppelin. I think either the Doc or the cat thing of his broke something somewhere. Anyway, 'oh the humanity' and shit."
"Why are you here?" Integra pressed, her aim never losing its target.
"I'm not here to kill you if that's what you're thinking. Maybe I started out that way though." Jan snickered, taking another step closer.
"Stop."
"I don't want to fight, okay?" Jan told her, walking forward still, but holding his bare hands in the air. Having stepped clearer into the light, Integra was now aware of Jan's nudity, something he seemed unashamed of.
"If you're suggesting some sort of survival of the species deal-"
Jan's laugh echoed off the office walls, before dissolving into a fit of coughs. He doubled over, spitting out the blood his lungs had accumulated. Integra realized that he too, was dying.
She remained unfazed. "Revenge, then? For killing you before?"
"I told you, I didn't want to fight." Jan replied with a tired exhale. "Fuck, you really are a natural blonde."
Integra's blue eyes narrowed in offence.
"Okay. The Major would have killed me before if he heard this, but there's no more Major so...I admire what you've done."
"Very nice." Integra dead panned.
"In some fucked up way, I mean, yeah, we tore it to shit but before that, you had an iron choke hold on this whole vampire thing. Hell, until the Major got his hands on me, I was convinced they were just myths. This cloak and dagger stuff was pulled off really well."
"This is bull."
"Fine," Jan shrugged again. "I ain't spending your last hours trying to convince you. You wanna die alone, fine," Jan turned to go, before looking over his shoulder at her and once again smirking. "Though I've got a better idea."
"You swine!" feeling a surge of indignance and sick anger, Integra found herself squeezing at her firearms trigger. She could not stop herself.
click
"Empty?" Jan turned towards Integra once again, realizing now that all the once impregnable leader of the Hellsing Organization had left was bluff and bravado.
In a dark blur of movement, Jan was upon her, his hands on her wrists, the chair on the floor and he straddling her stomach. He grinned a devilish grin down at her.
"Now, we can do this one of two ways, Hellsing. One is the obvious and dirty way, or option two."
"You will release me now!" Yelled the woman, struggling against the superhuman freak.
"Or what?" Jan teased. "we're all that's left. Which brings me back to option two."
Integra seethed below Jan, glaring murder at him and baring her clenched teeth.
"You're dying. Fighting me will only make you weaker, and that means you'll die sooner. We could either fight each other or fuck."
"Go to hell!"
Jan continued, patiently. "Do you really want to die a virgin? You worked hard, you should be able to relax and let go for a bit. And hey, if you want to pretend you're fuckin' Alucard or Prince Harry or Brad Pitt, who am I to give a fuck?"
"How dare you insinuate that Alucard and I-"
"Oh, so it was the little police bitch?"
"BASTARD!" Once again, Integra fought against Jan's hold, fruitlessly.
Jan wanted to continue this vein of tormenting her pride, but he realized that ultimately, it would not help his case and would keep him from getting what he truly wanted. He licked his dry lips before continuing.
"Listen, from what I know about this virus or poison or whatever, you don't have a lot of time left. You've given you're whole fuckin' life to this place. If you're ever going to relax and be a normal person, now's the fuckin' time."
Jan could feel Integra soften and go lax beneath him. "You need this."
She refused to admit it out loud as she shut her eyes tight and let out a tiny nod of consent.
Integra tried to put her mind elsewhere, she even took Jan's inadvertent suggestion and tried to think she was with someone else. Prince Harry was not a bad suggestion.
But, it did not work. Integra could not help wondering what she had allowed herself to become. What if her father or her men could see her now from where they rest in heaven?
Her father would be so disgusted with her actions and ashamed at her failure. That sudden realization galvanized her.
Jan never moved to kiss her, that was too personal and too intimate. He was not about to push his luck with Integra now, but as he touched her, he noticed that tears began to stream from the corners of her eyes. He tilted his head to one side, while his fingers unsnapped her dress pants. Integra shuttered under Jan, before quite unexpectedly throwing her arms around him. Jan blinked, but let her retain her hold on him. The freak vampire figured she was just dealing with her own mortality and shame, and that this was pretty much comfort sex anyway. After all, he certainly did not want to die alone and he needed her as much as she needed him, probably even more. Not that he would tell Integra that.
Jan was not what one would call gentle, but nor was he forceful or cruel. He was eager with Integra, greedy and selfish, but he never outright harmed her. Never hit or bit or pulled at her, never going past unspoken boundaries. Integra herself just held onto him and allowed herself to silently weep, swallowing down emotion along with ever present blood which collected inside her.
The two enemies sat side by side, Integra's suit was disheveled and undone in places, but her modesty was hidden, and Jan was still nude. They did not speak.
For some reason Jan could not identify, Jan had every intention of staying with Integra until she was dead. It was the least he could do, and he did not wish to die alone either.
Integra was the first to break the silence.
"I hate you."
Jan turned his head to look at her.
"I hate what we did. I hate what I've become. I hate that I was powerless to stop all this death from happening. I just wish I would die already instead of it being drawn out like some foolish television drama. Most of all I hate you and the feel of your disgusting hands on my body."
"Well, lucky for you that won't be a memory you'll have to live with much longer." Jan shot back before rising to his feet.
"Where are you going?" Integra demanded.
"Relax, bitch." Jan walked to her desk and picked up a cigar box, opening it gingerly. Within the box lay one last cigar. Jan tossed it to Integra. "Smoke 'em if ya got 'em."
Integra caught the cigar and examined it stoicly, before silently putting it in her mouth. She retrieved her lighter from a rumpled pocket and lit the object, exhaling the comfortingly familiar smoke.
"This is the end of the Hellsing line." Integra said dully, eyes focused on the rising smoke from the end of her cigar. "A clandestine family devoted to protecting this country and sovereignty. There's nothing to protect now. There is nothing left. This is the end of the secret lineage."
Listlessly, Integra plucked the cigar from her lips and tossed it to the side with intent. The embers touched the window dressings and birthed a cheerful little flame which quickly grew.
"And it will remain secret," Integra watched the flames upon the drapes grow and consume. "long after we are gone."
Jan could not resist. He grabbed the candle by which Integra had earlier been reading, and hurled it into the large oil painting above the mantle. The fire quickly began to destroy the portrait of Abraham Van Hellsing.
"Like it never existed at all."
-Nov 14 2007