† ‡ †

Lucy shook her head once more and laid back down on her bunk. Her eye lids closed before her head hit the pillow. She hadn't really been able to get any sleep, since Ariah kept having those nightmares. It seemed to be happening almost every night now. Ariah had been rooming with her for almost four years. Yet, she hadn't shown any signs of distress in her sleep until this last year.

Lucy turned and sighed, while whispering to herself, "Ariah, what is going on with you. Why won't you tell me what you're dreaming about?"

Lucy and Ariah had become really close friends, which Lucy hadn't expected. Her mission really wasn't to be friends with Ariah, yet Ariah had turned out to be something else. She couldn't help but smile at that thought. She knew she was to keep an eye on Ariah and study her, but friendship just ended up happening.

Ariah had seemed normal from the start, which had thrown Lucy off when they had first met. Ariah was strong and silly at times. A really good friend in the end. Lucy actually felt bad about all her lies she had to tell Ariah. Yet, it was her job to find out what Ariah was and who she was. If they could use her or not, but even Lucy could tell Ariah was hiding something.

Ariah's psychological evaluation had shown an extremely complex mind. Her background showed a massive amount of trauma, which normally would of put anyone else out of their mind. Yet, Ariah showed a sound mind, until recently with these current nightmares. Lucy knew of the experimentation that Ariah had gone through when she had been a child. She was getting worried that these nightmares might be of those memories coming back to Ariah.

Lucy yawned quietly as she pulled her cover over her shoulder, "Don't worry Ariah. I won't let them hurt you anymore."

† ‡ †

Ariah laid back down onto the bed, her head hitting her flat pillow. She slowly placed her arms behind her head in a criss cross fashion. She knew that eventually Lucy wasn't going to take another nightmare as an answer. She hated lying to Lucy, since she was basically the only real friend she could depend on. Sighing, Ariah stared at the back board of the bunk above her.

-Why is it that every time I dream, it always has that stupid helmet with that stupid symbol on it? What or who are those guys? I mean I can tell that they're or it or him or whatever the fuck that was, was literally slaughtering a family. Is this a real memory? God, this doesn't make any sense. Lucy can't find anything wrong with me, but apparently there must be, seeing as I'm slowly driving her insane with my screaming in the night. -

Ariah sighs and looks at her watch, "Great, 0405, might as well get up."

Sighing again, Ariah got up and tried as quietly as possible to make her bed. She then walked over to her trunk, grabbed her cleanest looking uniform, and headed towards the showers afterwords. Promptly, turning on the shower head, Ariah was then assaulted by ice cold water.

"FUCK!"

Ariah jumped out of the shower and instantaneously went towards the slightly opened bathroom door to check on Lucy. Seeing as Lucy was still sleeping, she then moved back towards the shower, this time waiting for the hot water to start up.

-Got to love the military's cheap way of lowering the water and gas bill costs. Cold fucking water definitely makes you not want to shower often. Geez-lu-wez, you'd think they'd want clean soldiers, but apparently they want to offend the noses off of their enemies instead.-

Hot water slowly blended in with the cold waster as Ariah lathered herself up with the soap. She found she liked the militaristic environment, since she had gotten into the military. There was order, grumpy old men, crappy food, and lots of things to kill and blow up. What wasn't there to like?

Ariah quickly washed out the soap and shampoo off of her and put in the conditioner while grabbing her toothbrush from the soap holder. She quickly proceed to brushing her teeth.

-Really wish they would change the cook. I don't understand how they can let Sergeant Bradley keep being on the list of who gets to cook this week. Yuck, just thinking about it makes my tongue curl. That man can make water burn.-

She got out, dried off effortlessly, and put her uniform on. Ariah grabbed her hairbrush off of the sink counter and put her medium hair up into a military styled bun. Making sure everything was straight in the mirror before her, she then walked out towards the mess hall.

† ‡ †

0440 hours

Ariah had just finished eating the slop that could be called breakfast and was standing in front of a door. She knew that this next mission might be a pain in the ass. She could only hope she had a decent team this time. Lately she had been pulling short straws on the last eight missions when it came to teams.

Sighing, Ariah opened the door and walked into the room. It was a standard cargo bay. She could see trunks open, ready for everyone to grab their gear. A few planes sat on the run way not to far away. Some of the soldiers were already loading some of the closed trunks.

Ariah proceeded down the line-up of her team. She looked at some of the trunks that were close by. She noticed that they were going to be using P90's, P99's, M4A1's, and some trunks held CM901's with suppressors, instead of the Famas they were normally given.

-Apparently, this isn't going to be the old run of the mill mission. What is General Gregor not telling me. My team and I have already been briefed, but what I don't understand is why we're helping out the Brits. What is going on that the Brits need our help?-

General Gregor walked into the cargo bay. His uniform impeccable. His face sour as a sour lemon candy.

"Attention!", shouted Ariah as General Gregor came up next to her.

Everyone stood at the ready.

"At ease, men.", General Gregor stated. He looked down at the men and women standing before him. His sour face twisted up as he spat out the next words,"Today, you will be under a new command." He paused as he let this statement settle.

"The United States has decided to send two of her best capable units. I'm not able to inform you on what type of "special" situation this might be, but that I know that you all will be able to handle something like this. That is why, you, of all people, were chosen. I, of course, have no say as to who would of been chosen. Yet, you all were chosen by what was in your files and how well you did on the last mission."

Ariah glanced about as General Gregor paused while he looked at each soldier in front of him. Almost as if trying to remember each face as his eyes went around at the two units.

"Now, some of you will be separated and handed over to the British officers, while others will be given to a private sect. You will follow your commanding officer, who has been assigned to you by them, but I also want you to follow the orders given to you by your squad leader. Any questions?"

….silence...

"No, sir," stated Ariah as she looked at General Gregor.

General Gregor nodded his head, "Alright, dismissed. Good luck and make America proud." He turned and walked away.

Ariah turned towards her unit, "Alright, you heard the man. Complete suiting up and lock up, we're heading out in 0500."

With that, Ariah moved away and grabbed her gear. Her hand picked up a Karambit, two boot knives, M4A1, CM901, and a P90. She then moved towards her units plane and boarded it. She looked over at her seat and then at her team. Ariah saw half of them were already locked and loaded up. She sat down and locked herself in.

"Hey, Lieutenant Colonel Sânge?", inquired a young man, looking barely twenty. His face barely held a shadow of a beard. His eyes were brown and close to the nose. The helmet on his head looked as if it would slide off of his thin face.

Ariah looked at the young man in front of her, "Yes?"

"I'm new to this squadron. Major Lyon wanted me to transfer to your squadron and he stated that I was to report to you, Ma'am.", he stated nervously. His voice shook a bit.

Ariah nodded her head, "Alright, what's your name?"

"Ah, it's Private Harker, Ma'am, Private Jonathan Harker."

Ariah raised an eyebrow and snorted at him, "Did your parents like sorrowful books?"

Harker looked puzzled by this comment. His face scrunched up as he tried to figure out what Ariah had meant. He shrugged his shoulders as he stated, "I haven't a clue, Ma'am."

Ariah shook her head, "Very well, are you done suiting up?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Then get in your seat and lock up."

Harker saluted Ariah and shuffled past some men. He quickly sat down in an empty seat and buckled in. Ariah shook her head. Rubbing her eyes, she leaned her head back against the head part of her seat. Sighing she closed her eyes.

-This is going to be a long mission. La sigh. I just had to go and prove myself, nope, couldn't stay back and be lazy. I just had to do all those hard, specialized and classified missions. I really need to stop being so easily enticed to help eliminate enemies.-

The engines roared and hummed as they lifted off into the air. The ever repetitive hum sounded like a lullaby. It quietly sneaked into Ariah's mind, letting her unconsciousness come out to play as she fell asleep.

† ‡ †

I don't own Hellsing, Hellsing Ultimate, or Dracula. I only own Ariah. Please let me know what you guys think!Thanks again for taking a chance on Ariah! Hope you have enjoyed so far! Remember -bold- stuff are thoughts.