A/N: I must say I'm pretty proud that my fanfiction is doing well so far. Gives me encouragement as a writer to know that I'm able to write an effective story. Thank you to all who have made it through the first chapter with me.
It seems like in the English dub that Seras' voice actress was trying to mimic a Scouse accent (at least to my ears), so naturally I headcannoned her original hometown as being in Liverpool.
Hellsing (c) Kouta Hirano
Lydia Palmer (c) Myheartstillbleedsforyou/KoroMarimo
The Beatles rights belong to Sony/ATV
…
There were no more nights spent shaking in fear from Lydia's noises. Seras at last was finally able to focus solely on sleeping and honing her skills for each uncomfortable "cleaning spree" Sir Integra sent her on. The following months were nothing but guts and gore, Seras accompanied Alucard on various trips in order to clean up the newest outbreak of what he called "ghouls", reanimated bodies of non-virgin humans which had a penchant for eating human flesh. Fighting these disgusting members of the living dead was taxing both mentally and physically. Some mornings Seras would stumble into her bed and sleep until the dark of the night stirred her from her bed and out of her quarters, forgetting that her blood soaked uniform was still on and staining the lovely sheets.
As the summer months progressed a heat wave had struck all of the English countryside, never mind any respite in the form of an English Summer filled with rainy days spent indoors. The daytime hours were brutal even in the dark depths of Hellsing Manor where the groping hands of humidity reached even further down than Seras thought possible. She couldn't sleep at all during the day as time progressed later into the month. The heat cooked her and caused her skin to emit a rather nasty sort of smell that Walter informed her was due to the fact that she was merely a walking corpse, not yet a true vampire which would have allowed her to be free from such awful side effects. To prevent her from rotting any further, Sir Integra ordered the young woman deeper into the chasms of the basement where the heat still had not managed to reach, and her lovely bed was discarded in favor of an old coffin lined with the soil of her hometown in Liverpool.
"This is where we keep both Lydia and Alucard." Walter told her as they walked, sidestepping to avoid a small crucifix which hung over the threshold, separating the lowest level of the basement from the upper, "I understand you have finally been acquainted with our resident thief."
"Yes, I have met her." Seras said, shifting the weight of her coffin which she held with ease. She was slightly angry that she would have to trade her blessed silence and wonderful bed for Lydia's disgusting habits again. For a moment she wished that she could just cook in her old room.
"But Walter, isn't there any other place I might stay that's not so… Batty?"
She indicated to the thousands upon thousands of bats hanging on the ceiling, many of which stared down at her and the old butler as they progressed deeper into the basement. The bats were too quiet; none of them exhibited the usual chattering or movements, save for one or two who swooped overhead to find a more preferable roost. Most stared at Seras with such intensity lingering in their red, beady little eyes that she couldn't help but feel uneasy. It was as though they were judging her.
"Not to worry, Lydia's familiars are docile unless threatened. They shouldn't be too bothersome." Walter responded nonchalantly.
"These all belong to her?" she asked, awe evident in her voice as she continued to stare at the massive hordes of furry little creatures. How could any vampire keep track of so many? It must be a chore to feed all of them, she decided, perhaps that was why Lydia was always stealing from her.
"Yes… It's a dreadful task to clean up after them, and they share the insatiable appetite of their mistress. Anyway, here we are. Please come in, I'll give us a better light."
He stopped at an open door which lead into Seras' new chambers and invited her in. The police girl entered the room, marveling at the chill and the spaciousness of the new room when Walter lighted the lamps one by one.
"You'll be staying next to Lydia," Walter said, wiping the simple furnishings with an old rag, "Alucard is within earshot if you need him. Make sure you lock up properly at night if you do not want to be bothered. Sir Integra does not usually keep Lydia shut up in her room during the summer months, and she can be quite the noisy neighbor when left to her own devices."
Seras turned to close the door and, speak of the Devil, saw the child peeking at her through the darkness of the hallway. Lydia's worn shoes never once crossed the threshold, however. Instead she stood waiting, always hanging back in the shadows and looming back into view, squinting as though the light was hurting her eyes.
"Why doesn't she come in?" Seras had wondered aloud.
"She is afraid of me." The old butler replied. He had only to take one step forward to prove his point.
When she caught sight of the movement, Lydia suddenly dropped to the floor on all fours and arched her back. Her spindly fingers were lost in the large sleeves of her sweater as she covered them, shielding them from the light within the room. She proceeded to wrinkle her nose and hiss, showing the old man her teeth as though in feeble warning. With a scuttling noise she then began crawling backwards into the shadows, and both Walter and Seras heard a large door slam shut.
"Barmy little creep isn't she?" Seras murmured. The butler nodded in agreement, straightening out his gloves as though he had just come out of a scuffle.
"That is unfortunately what happens when you let a child wander for years with Alucard as a father." He responded.
"She's his child?" Seras asked, incredulous that the king of the vampires had sired that shriveled little corpse. The resemblance was faint, if Lydia had just an ounce more of weight perhaps then the features would come into focus.
"Not necessarily," Walter said, "They are not of true blood relation. He found her orphaned many years ago, though where that spawn of the devil came from I don't know. There was not an ounce of humanity in her when I began my service to the Hellsing Organization, and frankly I don't believe there ever was any to begin with. She could have come from anywhere, wild as she is."
"Is that why Master doesn't really control her?" The police woman set her coffin down in a lone corner of the room and perched upon it, "He seems to just let her do as she pleases. I've never really even seen them doing anything together, save for her feeding off his blood."
"My dear, he does not bother with silly things like control when it comes to Lydia." Replied Walter rather sardonically, "He is accustomed to letting her have her way most of the time, the neglectful sort of parent when she isn't bothering him for food. But I will admit she is handy when it comes to any large scale outbreak of ghouls, so I suppose his unorthodox parenting has some merit after all."
"Oh… Well… I suppose that can be useful." She said, and became silent.
Walter handed the young woman her sustenance for the night, moving to and fro making things tidy as he went. He left rather abruptly after his job was complete, saying no more on the matter of Lydia and not even bothering with a goodbye he retreated into the darkened hallway. Seras looked up to see Lydia scurry past the open door, pursuing the old butler on hands and knees like a spider. All was silent for a moment and Seras thought that was the end of poor old Walter, when suddenly Lydia let forth a chilling screech.
The child crawled passed the door again, her fingers stuffed into her mouth and blood leaking out of her lips every time she opened up to whimper. Seras was horrified, what had he done to that little creature?
"Oi! You're bleeding!" Seras called out. She went towards the child and extended a hand. While common sense would have normally told her not to approach, her overwhelming good heartedness won out and she felt compelled to help the little girl. After all, she still had that much of her humanity. She may as well keep it in use for the time being.
"Here, let me help y-"
Her words were drowned out by Lydia's hissing, flecks of blood came forth from her mouth in a spray before she continued her crawling and disappeared into her own quarters. For an hour the police woman simply perched back on her coffin, listening to the mournful wailing happening in the next room over and becoming lost in a sea of conflicting morals. On the one hand, she was somewhat giddy that the little beast had been put in her place. This could mean that whenever Seras felt threatened she had only to call on the butler who bore so much ill will against the child. Then again, Lydia still was a child, vampire or not. Perhaps not having a proper upbringing had made her so terrifying.
I can relate to that… Seras thought bitterly, So who am I to set myself up as judge and jury?
Eventually, her empathy got the better of her. Seras approached the child's room with blood pack in hand, wishing to make a peace offering to the child who was probably still very much hurt judging from the whimpering noises she was making.
The door to Lydia's room was slightly ajar, and in the dim candlelight Seras could see childish scribbles (in what she suspected was dried blood) of various figures which resembled men in suits. There was one figure in particular that had various arrows pointing to it, and underneath the figure in a five year old's sloppy penmanship was the word "Linon" written, along with an aged newspaper clipping taped bellow.
With much curiosity, Seras peeked into the pitch black room. The light of the candles illuminated Lydia's back, she seemed to be holding something and sitting on the dark wood of a coffin. The child rocked back and forth, still crying softly before opening her mouth to speak.
"Sun sun sun." said Lydia.
Seras shook her head in shock when she heard Lydia's soft voice. Was she addressing someone in the room?
"Sun sun sun." insisted Lydia.
Sun? Why would she keep repeating that word over and over? The child was just an overload of curious behavior. Even more curious was when the child inhaled deeply and let forth another soft, mournful howl from her throat before repeating her word again.
"Sun sun sun.
Sun sun sun.
Awoooooooo."
There was an unmistakable sound of guitar strings being strummed, wailing as they were tuned to the right pitch. So the child was playing guitar... That was almost too normal of an action for Seras to believe. How could someone so abnormal take interest in an everyday hobby, especially one that was so uniquely human in nature?
At first, Seras thought the child was merely strumming the strings for fun, with no intended purpose behind the sloppy notes she played. She was almost ready to leave the blood pack and let the child resume her playing when suddenly the guitar made a purposeful series of notes, forming a tune that made Seras freeze and nearly tear up. It was that song. Again, after all this time… How many times had she thought of that song since her youth, or avoided it every time it played on her radio back home? It was her mother's favorite song, the last thing she sang aloud to with the radio the morning of her death day. The very sound of it made Seras think of her mother's warm smile, the smell of breakfast cooking on the stove, the soft squelching noises of an eyeball being gouged out with a fork. Funny how one simple tune could bring so many memories flooding back into consciousness.
When at last it seemed as though Lydia was pleased with the guitar's sound, she ended the loop of the first few bars and began to play the song in its entirety. It took her some time to speak again, but when she did her childish voice was surprisingly refreshing.
"Here comes the sun, du dun du du. Here comes the sun when I say-"
"It's alright…" the words were out of Seras' mouth before she could stop herself.
But this did not deter the child from playing out the lovely melody. Instead, she merely continued to sing in her high pitched squeak of a voice while Seras had to strain to keep up, covering her mouth sometimes when the emotion was just too much to bear. They sang the first half of that lovely Beatles tune without qualm, the lyrics of a long cold winter filled with loneliness contrasting the hot summer night that permeated the upstairs levels. Lydia kept her eyes on her guitar and Seras had her eyes screwed shut as she tried not to cry. How hard it was to keep herself steady when deep down that damn song made her want to rip apart into a thousand pieces. It wasn't until the notes began to quicken that Lydia's eyes closed as well, turning towards the open door and letting her nimble little fingers pluck from memory as she continued on with her solo.
"Sun, sun, sun… Here it comes." Lydia sang, letting her voice die down as Seras repeated after her. The police woman got as far as repeating Lydia's last line for a fourth time before she stopped abruptly, choking on a sob that caught in her throat.
"I've forgotten the rest." Seras murmured quietly, tears running down her face.
Lydia said nothing, the guitar playing stopped abruptly. She merely watched with glowing red eyes as the police woman broke down before her, the blood pack falling forgotten to the floor as she sobbed into her own hands.
Eventually, Lydia's powerful stench seemed like it was right under Seras' nose and nearly made her choke. The fumes stirred her out of her stupor, and when she looked up she found that it stank so because Lydia was inches from her face. She was watching her cry, the ghost of a mildly interested look lingering on her face.
For hours it seemed like they stared into one another's eyes. Seras was slightly afraid that if she broke eye contact something awful would happen and struggled to keep her gaze steady, while Lydia merely frowned as she looked into the other woman's deep blue eyes.
"Little darling…" Lydia murmured.
Seras was much too overcome to even try and understand what Lydia wanted. The child was relentless, and repeated the words once more while nimble fingers played out the tune.
Nothing. Lydia hummed softly to get back on track, yet there was still no response from the police girl. This was obviously making the child very angry.
"Little darling." Lydia insisted, then stopped the guitar when she realized Seras wasn't going to sing anymore.
The connection was instantly broken, Lydia dropped to her hands and knees. The guitar made a mournful sound as she let it drop to the hard stone floor, though miraculously it stayed whole. She hissed and lunged forward, sending the older woman scurrying out of the doorway and back into the safety of her own room. Lydia's door slammed shut again, and Seras could hear her continuing the song without her.
Without another word, Seras settled into her own coffin to sleep off the horrible memories. She nearly forgot to shut the door and made move to do so, then at the last minute thought better of it and left it ajar before settling down to a fitful sleep.
The music was still upsetting, but she had to admit; it was the most wonderful feeling in the world to hear it sung by someone else.