Disclaimer: Seraph of the End and Hellsing belong to Takaya Kagami and Kouta Hirano respectively.
Previously: After having rebuilt after the Zeppelin incident, Seras, Integra, and a new addition to their family celebrate Christmas together only for catastrophe to strike.
'Italics denote thoughts or telepathic communication.'
Chapter 1: Everyone's Dead Dave"Happy Christmas, Seras," Integra said warmly.
"Happy Christmas, Integra," Seras replied, smiling.
...That's when everything went wrong.
The world seemed to slow before Seras. A wave of something ephemeral seemed to pass over the world, only just perceptible to Seras' senses. For some reason she thought she could hear the sound of an otherworldly horn in the far distance.
Her fellow Hellsing Members suddenly seized up all at once, and vomited blood, the smell striking her powerfully.
Her eyes locked on Sir Integra, hearing the rupturing of organs in her commander, and icy dread filled her undead stomach.
Integra's eyes filled with sudden understanding, and Seras heard her utter words she never thought she'd ever hear leave Integra's lips.
"Drink me!"
Knowing it was meant as an order, Seras instantly reacted, bolting towards her superior with all of her speed, catching her just as Sir Integra released a stream of blood from her mouth.
Seras embraced Integra, pulling her head to the side and slipped her fangs into the soft flesh of Integra's neck. As the taste of her superior's virgin blood hit her tongue, the reality of what she'd done finally hit her.
'I'm draining Sir Integra. She's giving me all that she is. And the others… what just happened?'
Integra's memories began to fill Seras consciousness. Her father's lessons. Her father's death, her uncle's betrayal, Alucards revival, and more. The memories kept coming. Then memories of her, of Seras herself, from Integra's perspective also appeared, as did Integra's feelings of love and affection towards her.
Tears of blood began to fall from Seras eyes. Feelings of confusion, mourning, love, gratitude, and even joy that Sir Integra's soul was being intertwined with her own.
The most recent of Integra's memories now filled Seras' awareness. 'I see... you chose to give yourself to me out of duty. That's so like you Integra.'
Seras knew it was selfish but she couldn't help but feel a pang of hurt that Integra hadn't stayed for her sake. Yet Integra's patriotism was one of the things Seras had always admired about her.
Integra's mortal form was giving out now. Seras sensed the slight shift of Integra's lips as she tried to smile at Jackie behind her.
Seras felt the last vestiges of life leave Integra's body. She kept drinking blood in languid sips as the flow slowed.
Finally Seras lifted her mouth from Integra's throat and let her legs give out, her perception of the world returning to normal as she slumped to the ground with Integra's body.
She sat on the grass cradling the fallen knight, too overwhelmed to do anything else.
"Seras… Big Sis?" Jackie called to her uncertainly.
Seras mustered up enough self awareness to absorb any of Integra's blood that had spattered onto her, as well as her own bloody tears. She straightened her posture and laid Integra's body on the ground before turning to face her little sister.
"It's okay… Jackie. I just… need to… process... what just happened.
Before Jackie could reply, a voice called out from the manor, "Seras! What just happened, people just started dropping dead in here…" Pip Bernadotte trailed off as he manifested himself from the portion of Seras' shadow she'd left to patrol the manor.
"Mon Dieu...Integra… Well damn, I guess this means we're roommates now," The frenchman quipped, trying to wrap his head around the situation.
"Okay Seras, let me go check on her. You focus on taking care of the little one." Pip said walking toward Seras.
Silently she lifted her shadowy left arm tendril to reabsorb her familiar. As he disappeared into her darkness, Seras turned to face Jackie.
"What… what just happened? Everyone just…" Jackie trailed off, not wanting to finish.
"I don't know, I swear I heard some sort of horn though, just before it happened," Seras answered.
"A horn?" Jackie asked, puzzled, momentarily forgetting that they were still surrounded by the bodies of dead soldiers.
"Yeah. It sounded really far away too, like it was coming from the other side of the world. So it was probably somehow related to... well... all of this," Seras concluded, gazing mournfully upon her fallen comrades.
Meanwhile, Seras could feel Pip 'poking' Integra in her soulspace.
"Hey, wake up Madam," the undead mercenary called to his new 'roommate'.
Integra's soul 'jerked' back into awareness within Seras shadowy essence.
She 'knocked' Pip's 'hand' away, before a wave of disorientation hit her as she found herself inundated with Sera's consciousness and their conjoined memories. Shaking it off after a moment, she addressed Seras and her fellow familiar.
"What's this about a horn?" Integra asked, before receiving the answer in the form of Seras' own memories of the days' previous events.
That was an unexpectedly convient aspect of being one of Seras' familiars.
Integra then focused on Pip, trying to see if thought queries would work on the other familiar. Specifically she wondered if anyone was still alive in the Hellsing Manor.
Pip 'stiffened' in surprise at Integra's mind reaching into his, but relaxed upon realizing she just wanted to assess the situation as quickly as possible. This WAS Integra after all.
"Only two?" Integra pondered. The two survivors in question being Lieutenant General Robert Walsh and a researcher, Liam Gummar.
It was good that a member of the Council of Twelve was still alive. However the room where the two men had been conversing when the 'event', for lack of a better term, had occurred, was rather telling.
The Occult Research Laboratory was a place where Liam could analyze paranormal samples without fear of any outside magic interfering with the results. In short, the lab was a highly warded room.
"I see you warned them to stay where they were, Mr Bernadotte. Good thinking."
"Oh? Now you talk to me after digging through my head without asking?!" the frenchman asked indignantly.
"No offence, Captain, but I believe I can be forgiven for forgetting my manners in this situation. I and all of my soldiers dropped dead all of the sudden," Integra replied curtly.
"I get it Madame, that shocked the hell out of me too."
Integra directed her thoughts to Seras and asked 'Can you have Pip go and tell Walsh and Gummar to put on hazmat suits before the leave the lab if they haven't already? Also get them to check for any surviving Council members out there, as well as the Royal family.'
Integra thought for a moment and added, "And get a surgical mask and gloves for Jacquilyn. I know she wasn't affected by this event itself, but that doesn't mean she won't catch whatever this was from the remains of the afflicted."
Pip 'straightened' his astral form and thought, 'You heard Integra. Can you let me out again?'
'Sure, go take care of that,' Seras thought as she released Pip back into the material world from the shadow tendrils extending from her left shoulder.
"Jackie I know you're scared, but we need to be strong now. Right now we've got to check on the Academy. You weren't affected by this so the other kids might be okay too," Seras said trying to get her adoptive sister to focus on work, rather than dwell on the dead.
"Also, as much as you might need a hug right now, don't touch me. I may have whatever caused this on me. I'll need to decontaminate myself and the rest of the Manor," Seras warned, holding a hand up at Jackie.
Seras, though horrified at the sudden loss of her comrades, had experienced this in some form or other before over her tenure at Hellsing. Though Integra's death had been the worst since perhaps Pip's during the Last Battalion's assault on the Manor. Then again the sheer suddenness of it had more or less left Seras more in shock than anything. It didn't help that there was no obvious enemy responsible that she could focus upon.
Draining a loved one would always an emotional experience, Seras imagined. Yet once Integra's consciousness had awakened within Seras, she not only felt relief that her friend was still with her, but was filled with Integra's own will and sense of duty.
It helped bear up Seras' own will, and Seras could tell her power had grown measurably from receiving such a strong soul that fully supported her.
The stench of death was beginning to fill the air, and Jackie wrinkled her nose in disgust, trying to breath through her mouth to avoid it. Though both had learned to bear this smell before Seras had much more experience at ignoring it.
'How embarrassing,' Integra thought at the realization that her body's intestines had released their contents upon her expiration. Of course this had also happened to the bodies of her soldiers, both now and in the past.
"Okay Seras, I won't touch anything," Jackie replied shakily before continuing, "Is Integra… you know… in your head now or something? That's how this works right?"
"Yes, Integra is within me. I can bring her out to talk to you if you want," Seras reassured the girl.
"Okay, I'd like to see her," Jackie answered.
Seras prepared to release Integra from her shadows before reconsidering. 'You want to take over for a bit Sir Integra?' Seras asked her late superior.
'Take over? What do you mean, Seras?' Integra asked her No-Life Queen.
'I've done this with Mr Bernadotte a few times. I can swap places with you as the dominant soul of this body and turn into you for a while. I still have control in the end, but you can talk to others and use all of my abilities as long as I let you.' Seras explained.
'That sounds very useful Seras. However I literally sold you my soul for England's future. I no longer have the right to command you anymore, understand?' Integra replied, not answering Seras query.
'Integra what are you trying to say?' Seras asked, a pit forming in her stomach at Integra's words.
'I'm giving you control over all of Hellsing's assets to do with as you see fit for England's benefit. As long as what you do is in service of the Church and Crown, you may do whatever you want with me,' Integra explained.
'So … yes I can bring you out then? Also does that mean I get your spot on the Round Table Conference AND control of Alucard when he gets back? Isn't he gonna be really surprised about all this?' Seras asked.
'Yes to all of the above,' Integra answered, wryly imagining Alucard's reaction to her being Sera's familiar, intentionally no less.
Integra could feel a strange pulling sensation on her being before suddenly finding herself back in the material world, facing an anxious Jackie.
Integra squatted in front of the girl and started "Hey there. I guess that Hellsing has some openings now. I'm sure Seras will let you join now, she's going to need all the help she can get now."
"Why does Seras have to let me join Hellsing? I thought that was up to you Sir Integra," Jackie inquired.
Integra stood and turned to face her own corpse on the ground, looking contemplative. "I'm dead, Jackie, and only remain in this world because I gave my soul to Seras. She owns me now, and along with me, all that I own also belongs to her now. I've entrusted everything to her," Integra answered.
'By the way Integra, you may want to retrieve any of your belongings now. Certainly your phone at any rate. We're going to have to cremate your remains. The soldiers too,' Seras thought at Integra.
"Right, better do that," Integra idly replied out loud, kneeling next to her mortal remains. Reaching into the pockets of her green duster, Integra pulled out her IPhone 5, pocket watch, pistol, ammo, lighter, cigar cutter, and a box of her favorite stogies.
She paused for a moment, gazing at the blood spattered silver cross that hung from her neck. Integra was now undead. She could no longer touch such things without burning herself. Ironic, that.
Seras picked that moment to interrupt Integra's musings, 'Really, you needed your cigars? Anyways, when said you were mine to do with as I wished, did you really mean I can do WHATEVER I want to you?'
'Yes… and yes,' Integra replied, feeling a bit nervous about Seras' line of reasoning.
'So I can do ANYTHING with you, even THAT?' Seras asked playfully.
Knowing what Seras was referring to, Integra blushed before answering, 'Yes even THAT. Damnit Seras, and I was just thinking of you as a daughter as I was dying too.'
'Tough Luck, you're my familiar now,' Seras quipped. Integra could hear the grin Seras was making now, if not see it.
"Alright, Jackie, I've got a medkit for you. There's a mask and gloves in it," Pip interrupted them as he left the Manor.
"Thanks Pip," Jackie replied as she accepted the plastic box from Seras' french familiar.
"Hold off on putting those on right now. Put on your 'OTHER' gloves for now," Integra asked the girl.
"Think that's really necessary, Madame?" the ex-mercenary inquired.
"I do. Seras wasn't harmed by this event, so other midians would have survived as well. It's only prudent to expect them to come crawling out of the woodworks at a time like this," Integra answered.
'Let me take over again, Sir Integra,' Seras requested.
'You don't need my permission Seras, just warn me that you're going to do it,' Integra reprimanded her new master.
'Okay then… Switch!' Seras commanded, once again resuming control of her body, shadows encompassing Integra's form and then pulling back to reveal Seras' true appearance.
"Alright Jackie, let's get ready to go to work," Seras ordered her little sister, before walking back the rifle bench where she'd sat down the M82. She took up the large rifle, picked up a custom 20 round box magazine, filled with blessed silver tipped .50 BMG high-explosive incendiary armor-piercing (HEIAP) rounds, loaded the rifle, and hung it over her shoulder by the strap.
Meanwhile Jackie slid on her black fingerless gloves, extending monofilament wires between her fingers experimentally.
"Pip, I want you to go back to patrolling the Manor. Make sure the two still alive inside stay that way," Seras ordered.
"As you wish, ma chère," Pip replied, turning back to reenter the manor. After crossing the threshold, he turned into shadows and seeped behind the wallpaper, ready to protect the Manor from any would be attackers.
Seras Victoria turned to Jackie Taylor and said "Time to move out".
Author's Note:
Hope you like this chapter. I ended it sooner than I was hoping to, but I want to get something out there.
I'm am looking for Betas for this fic, but weirdly I can't find anyone registered to Beta for both Seraph of the End and Hellsing, despite both series revolving around vampires.