Yes, I'm aware that the name is rather crappy, but I can't think of anything truly suitable. Rawrgh!
This series of disconnected chapters illustrates my view into Alucard and Integra's complex relationship throughout the time the actual storyline takes place and mentions. Every chapter represents a different aspect of their relationship (pretty easy to guess, cuz of their titles =P). It's about 11 at night where I am right now, so if you see any grave grammatical errors, they'll get fixed, don't worry. Enough of my blabbering, let's get to the story!
The little 12-year old girl always tried hard to be on her best behavior all the time, but it was sometimes difficult. All the other Knights of the Round Table were old men, well into their 30's and 40's. Her faithful butler, Walter, watched over her during meetings, but it didn't stop the feeling of being left out and sometimes uncomfortable. He was unable to speak for her or giver her advice, so she often felt alone among the adults.
After a particularly lovely evening discussing a werewolf uprising in Wales, the little girl wandered up to her room. There, she picked up a small picture of herself and an older man from the dresser. "Father," she began. She removed her glasses to wipe a tear away, sparing it from a great fall. "Why must you be gone? I miss you more than ever and I feel so lost without your guidance."
"Master, if I may say so, you always have me." She gasped and whirled around to see her vampire standing behind her.
"As your servant, I must watch over you and care for you."
"That is true, vampire," she replied in her strongest, most commanding voice. But the quivering betrayed her façade. The vampire smiled gently. "I'm here for you. I wasn't there for my wife, so I will be there for my master." The little girl looked down. Her face was flushed. "Don't call me that," she whispered. A quizzical look came over the vampire's face. "Then what shall I call you?"
"I don't know," she whispered, her head still down. His shadows reached out to her in a consolidating move. She did nothing to shoo them away and let them glide soothingly over her shoulders. "It's such a… barbaric word." She narrowed her big blue eyes at 'barbaric' and put her glasses back on. "But what am I to you, if I'm not… that? I'm so confused. Not just about this, but everything. Why me?" She slumped down to the floor, still clutching the photo to her chest. The shadows followed her movements and gently took the photo away, putting it back on the dresser. Her head was in her hands as she sighed.
"I'll be here for you no matter who you are," his voice insisted. She looked up briefly from underneath her glasses and tried her best to give an appreciating little smile. The vampire's face suddenly turned solemn. "It's the least I can do to make up for last time." He closed his blood red eyes sadly. "Fighting the Turks left me no time for my dear wife. It seemed I was always gone, off fighting some war that, in the end, didn't even matter. Then-" He stopped abruptly. The little girl looked up to see his head bowed. But underneath the raven hair that hung in front of his white, flawless face, she saw the grimace that twisted it.
"Then," he continued, "I came back one night to find she had- had died." He stopped once more, but this time she granted him privacy of his emotions and didn't look up. "I don't remember very much of that night. I must have laid right there on the floor next to her for an eternity until the priests took that beautiful body away."
The girl was still too young and inexperienced to be moved by a story of the loss of a spouse, but she did say "I'm sorry." The vampire looked up and smiled weakly. "Don't be. Nothing was your fault. It was all mine, being an unfaithful husband. But this time I won't be so preoccupied with my affairs that I neglect you." He stood, leaned over and hugged her, picking her right up off the floor. She giggled through her red, swollen eyes now smiling. He smiled back and put her down. As she was straightening out her skirt and fixing her hair and glasses, he suddenly exclaimed, making his shadows recoil, "That is who you are! Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing!" He held his arms out with lighthearted grandeur.
"Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing," she repeated, putting her hands on her hips proudly. "Thank you Alucard," she said, giving him a hug around the waist and smiling, finally as a contented child would.
"You're welcome, Integra."