I do not own Hellsing, or any of its related characters, this is a fanfic.
Welcome all, this is the re edited version of Clipped Wings. Its a work in progress and I'm currently working out the typo's and some plot holes up to the current final chapter before fresh chapters are added!

Three figures walked up the path of the Hellsing manor house, the leading woman was Integral Fairbrooke Wingates Helling, following at a respectful distance behind her, quiet and calm, was Alucard who carried the prone figure of a boy no older than fifteen. The boy was Walter Dollneaz, former butler, ex Trash man and traitor to the Hellsing family.

Following behind this group of her superiors and their captive was Seras Victoria, the newly blooded draculina of the Hellsing Organisation. She was loath to enter the mansion, but she had no choice. She'd witnessed terrible things inside that house not a few hours ago when the Millennium soldiers attacked it and now she had to go back and see them again whilst the memories were all too fresh, she was not looking forward to it.

Integra paused outside the house; she took a deep breath and opened the door. What met her was a charnel house, the smell of blood and buzzing of flies. Carnage littered the corridors of the house, bullet holes and blood had defaced the walls and pictures, the remains of bodies both friend and foe were everywhere where they had fallen.

As they made their way into their battered headquarters they found a small unit of men doing what it could to dispose of the dead properly; these few were all of what remained of the mercenary force called the 'Wild Geese' that Integra had hired to protect the grounds and interests of her family's affairs.
They stopped their work and saluted her as Integra came in, she nodded a quiet respectful acknowledgement back to them; she knew words could not do justice to the comrades they had lost or the events that they had been forced to endure.

Seras came in slowly behind her boss looking like a lost puppy, with her head down. When she finally found the courage to look up at the squad, they immediately stood to attention in front of her and she gave them a tired, but reassuring smile that they all returned.
Alucard ignored the men, and simply walked past them admiring what had transpired here. For a few moments Seras was angry at him for not showing these brave men the respect they deserved.

"Master!" Alucard said "He's waking up!" the two ladies turned and saw that in his arms the young figure of Walter was stirring and his eyelids were fluttering open. He gave a small moan like an overtired child and Alucard's lip twisted in distaste.
Integra pointed at the tall vampire "Alucard, lock him in your cell! Don't let him out of your sight and don't let him wake up!"
Alucard nodded and marched quickly down the corridor to the sub levels, as he did so he gave the boy a firm strike to his temple.
Walter sighed and his breathing grew heavier, he was out cold once more.

Walter had been pushing Alucard for all he had in these last few hours in London, every ounce of the strength and skill of the 'Angel of Death' had been devoted solely to the task of fighting and destroying Alucard whilst the Major had turned his secret weapon on the Nosfiratu. Alucard had nearly lost that fight to the weapon, the trickery and subtlety had nearly cost him his unlife, the poison of Schrodinger was still within his bloodstream, trying to kill him even now. Alucard had to focus very hard to keep his mind from blending into the first officers and becoming trapped in an eternal loop.

Alucard finally reached his cell and dumped the boy unceremoniously onto the floor, and then he marched out and slammed the door shut. Then he waited as he had been instructed to, keeping his eye fixed on Walter whilst within he set about the task of undoing the mess that the Schrodinger had made of him,
A while later Integra came down, Alucard barely registered her; he was so busy plucking his own memories and self out of the mixed jumble that was spinning around inside of him.
Integra face was carefully composed and she looked into the cell at a man who in one evening had gone from a very aged man to a boy in his prime. A man who had been prepared to die for her and her beliefs, and who had in a few short hours been transformed into a vengeful creature of wanton destruction.

"You'll have to move your coffin out of there Alucard." she told her servant.
Alucard nodded in assent but said nothing.
She sighed and ran a long finger down the doorframe "I'm going to have to put a spell on this door…" she sighed bitterly "God I can still hardly believe I'm doing this for Walter..."
Alucard finally stirred from his reverie and smiled at her. It wasn't a very pleasant smile, but in a strange way she was comforted that he'd given it to her.
She sighed again and looked up at the No Life King, her mind racing through options… one of them suddenly came to her and for a second her heart felt lighter.
But Alucard read what going through her mind as she thought about it and he shook his head at her to dissuade her from following the impossible hope.
"That is an impossible task my Master. His involvement was too public for us to hide from them all now. In fact, the Knights have probably already put two and two together that Walter was the traitor in our midst."
She grimaced as the reality hit her. There was no hope of salvation; there was only duty.
Besides which she'd seen first hand tonight what happened to people who indulged in their own personal desires before doing their duty. Iscariots finest had all tried to take advantage of what had happened over London and in doing it they had damned themselves in the end and left nothing but martyrs and corpses.
She turned on her heel and resolved to do her duty.
"I'm going to make a report to her majesty." She informed her servant.

Seras met her halfway to her office and doggedly followed her all the way to her, pestering her for knowledge on what she was going to do about Walter.
"Sir I know this whole thing has been bad, I know Walter's going to get punished, but whatever all those other people say about it… well surely you'd never condone a death sentence?" Seras tried to get her point across as subtly as she could, and as quickly possible as she followed Integra up to her office.
When no answer came from her master Seras tried once more to get an answer. She took a hold of her bosses shoulder and stopped her at the door to her study. "You surely wouldn't want him dead now that he's our prisoner, right Sir Integra?"
Her boss finally looked at her and her glance said she disagreed completely with that notion.
Seras gasped in horror and released her arm "Oh no, Sir! You - you can't be serious!"

"Well, what do you expect me to do Seras?" Integra snapped back testily and shook herself free "I can't very well let him go, can I?"
Seras paused, emotions conflicted within her, there had been too much death here... she felt tears threatening her again and she wiped them away angrily. When she looked up she saw that Integra had gone into her office.

"Sir wait!" Seras called out and ran inside after her "What about a lesser sentence like life imprisonment or house arrest? Doesn't he get any mercy?"
Integra sat down at her desk to look Seras in the eyes as she replied with an air of finality "The penalty for traitors to her Majesty and the crown is death Seras. Even if I wanted to be merciful, I can't change that." she looked down at her desk and began to write a report.

Seras took her cue and left, she made it to the end of the hallway before she had to lean on the wall. As tears fell down her cheeks she slid silently to her knees and curled over as she silently let her grief flow out of her.
There's got to be another way she thought bitterly There's got to be – hasn't there been enough death for one damn night?
"There aren't any other options left police girl." A familiar voice from the shadows whispered to her.
She opened her eyes and found she was staring at her master's boots. She slowly looked up into his pale aristocratic face and wiped her face dry.
She rose to her feet and scowled at him.
"So I've heard! But I want to know why there shouldn't be!" she shouted angrily at her Master.
Alucard sighed and beckoned her follow him.

He led her down into the house, they walked in silence all the way to the sub levels, finally stopping at what had previously been his room and now served as Walter's cell.
"Look inside Seras Victoria." He commanded her "and tell me what you see when you look at him?"

She used her 'third eye' and information flooded her senses. The heartbeat within the room was strong, perhaps too strong for it was pounding as though it were under incredible pressure. She followed the heartbeat deeper into the soul and finally broke into the mind of the individual.
There should have been more within him than she saw, but there was nothing more inside that man than vague intentions and muddied thoughts.
She'd known this man for a short while now and she'd been very fond of him, but the man she'd known was not the person within that room.
Whoever was within that room was a complete stranger to her… the only way to say it was that Walter Dornez didn't feel like Walter Dornez anymore.
Alucard nodded "Yes. He is a lot more like the one we used to call 'The Angel of Death'; he is no longer the person we knew."
Seras shook her head, her blond hair bouncing softly behind her ears "I don't believe that. There must be something left. You can't just undo everything that makes someone human in one night!"
Alucard smirked at her for that comment. "Wrong." he replied.
Seras growled at him and snapped "You bloody know what I mean! Whatever they did wasn't like what you did with me - they messed up his head and they put those weird chips in him! He admitted he'd been brainwashed before you two stated fighting! Why won't anyone even consider that we could change that?"

Alucard sneered "You want to show mercy because Walter might have been forced to do something he might not have chosen to do? You're a fool Seras Victoria, you still have a lot to learn."
Seras snapped "I show mercy because it's deserved! How can you just punish him with death when you don't even know the whole story! It's a cowardly choice - you haven't even tried to think of a better solution, have you! Oh no, with you it's always 'just the way things are' and that's that!" she scornfully accused her Master.

Alucard regarded her silently. He clapped his hands in approval after a pregnant pause.
"Well said Seras Victoria." he commended her. "A very passionate speech. But I can tell you this; I do know why Walter betrayed us. I also know that death is really the only choice we have."
Seras frowned and humphed "How so?"
Alucard looked into the cell and spoke softly "Walter Dornez had reservations about fighting against any of us, but they were removed so that he wouldn't hold back. You're right about that; we have his word he was brainwashed to fight us and I see no reason not to believe him.
"But we know that he also chose to become their tool by accepting that artificial vampirism so he could fight me for the sake of his ego. He willingly accepted their surgery for a chance to fight me and that's treachery enough. That is why we judge him so harshly."

Seras looked confused "But, but I don't understand! He seemed fine with you before this so why would he do that?" she asked looking into the cell again.
Alucard explained "Pride perhaps? It could have been a moment of weakness, or perhaps he was simply afraid to die and took an option that would save his life?"
"I don't see him doing that Master…" Seras argued.
Alucard shrugged "Walter as a child was a different man. A brilliant fighter and a brat who much like me used the challenge of battle as a means of relief from boredom. He was arrogant, brash and very very talented. However Walter has always judged his own worth against others - it's his greatest weakness. He's never grown out of doing that."

He leaned back against the wall and continued as Seras listened in silence.
"In youth he compared his talents to mine, in his old age he compared himself to you. In his heart he has envied both of us our strength, and he's never been satisfied being second best - Millennium offered him a chance to be the best for once in his life. That is why he betrayed us, and if he did it once then why not again? So you see all we can really do is choose how Walter Dolneaz deserves to die because we can't trust a man who willingly chose to switch sides."

Seras stared back at Alucard, part of her dying to shout at her Master that he was mistaken, but she knew that what she was told was the truth. She just didn't want to accept it.
Seras head dropped to her chest and she shook her head slightly. "Did... Did I do this...?" she whispered as guilt entered her heart "Was it me?"
Alucard patted her head, not unsympathetically. "No. Understand this Seras; just as the choice of becoming a monster or accepting death was all yours to make, so his was as well."
The tall vampire turned and walked away. "Think on it Seras Victoria. You will understand in time that this is what must be done."
She was left standing alone outside the room, and Seras Victoria planned to stay there for a long time. She wondered for a moment if Walter wasn't getting the better deal - the world seemed almost too cruel to live in sometimes.

Okay, re-edited the first chapter and I'm much happier with it!
Please R&R!