The Hotel room was dimly lit. Light shining in from the active city below was the major source of light in the room alone. The curtains pulled over the windows blocked more the available light that came in. The constant traffic sounds and quiet rumbling of the closed refrigerator did little to give the room life. Only a tall man, sitting in one of the chairs near a longer couch and TV, right next to the balcony entrance gave life to the dead room. Ironically, he was dead.

Alucard sat in the comfortable yet firm chair, sitting slightly laid back, his right foot lifted up on his left, smiling to himself as he gently turned the glass of wine in his hands. The dark red liquid churned in the bottle, reflecting what little light there was to catch. Pausing his spinning of the glass, he took a sip, feeling more rejuvenated than he had in a week.

Before retreating to the Hotel room he knew his master had rented, he had retrieved the two coffins from the small jet plane and brought them inside the actual hotel room, somehow avoiding being detected or noticed as he did. People who ran this building didn't know he could phase through walls after all.

Sitting in the dark, he contemplated what had happened so far; the message from Seras, his departure from Hellsing Headquarters, finding Towers, the chase across two continents, and now this. Among his many adventures he had, this had to be one of the strangest yet. What was more, the people who had come from this journey seemed equally interesting.

But his enhanced sense pulled him away from deeper thoughts as he heard the group walking down the hallway to the very door. Their footsteps, their hushed voices, their very heartbeats, he could make out it all as they finally reached the door.

Leon unlocked the room door and pushed it open, flicking on the lights without hesitation and then immediately turning to Seras. They both were red in the face; a fierce debate had been clashing since they found the set of maps in the office.

"Regeneration is believable! Things heal- and bioengineering can make things heal faster," Leon groaned, still not believing in what he considered to be 'magic'," but this thing is impossible."

"Yeah?" Seras responded, pointing to the spot that he had got her with the Shotgun," what about that? You don't think that had some sort of unexplainable thing happen to it to recover like this?"

Integra and Walter walked past the two, Zohall following them with a large but very flexible case. Rather than following his boss, Zohall walked to the fridge, convinced he was going to starve unless he devoured anything with high calories.

"I've seen worse," Leon scoffed, tossing Seras's last offensive to the wind. She shook her heard and walked over to the bar inside the kitchen, not thinking about what she was doing. Leon followed her around, going around the opposite side, still convinced that he was right. "No, I'm serious. I've fought things where you can blow their arms, legs, even heads off, and they just re-grow and try to kill you! Maybe not as effectively as you," he permitted, and she grinned, feeling an opening in his offensive," but still-"

"And how I knew where you were behind all those places, how I could dodge almost all your attacks-" She started, but Leon already was prepared.

"If your such a superior magical being, how come I was able to get you on the ground?" he grinned as she frowned.

"I need my sleep-"

"After all, Mr. Kennedy," Alucard said, having Leon double take at Alucard having sat there the entire time," she isn't superior. You are a human, and she is not."

"How'd you get in here?" Leon stared, his distraction giving Seras her chance to escape, passing Zohall who was busily dissecting the fridge, and proceed to the bathroom.

Alucard smirked. "Magic."

Integra entered the common room once again, looking distressed. "I'll be outside." Pulling a small cigar from her pocket, she left for the balcony and close the door, he blurred image smoking outside. Leon still stared at the man sitting comfortably in the chair.

"What about you? You think this well sends people back to the past?"

"I have no idea," he started, adjusting his glasses with a push from his finger," however it seems too incredible to be impossible. After all, our enemy is interested in it, and its authenticity thus proven to be at most a liability."

Leon nodded half heartedly, and decided to sit on the open couch, landing roughly but it still felt good for him to sit after so much stressed had passed. Staring at the ceiling in his tired stupor, he couldn't shake the feeling that Alucard wanted to talk. Glancing down at the vampire, he followed the stare to the kitchen, and to the man still struggling to loot any precious food.

"Mr. Kennedy," Alucard stared, now facing him," You are friends with that man, Zohall Mercer." Leon nodded, feeling awkward while being interrogated. "Would you do me the honor of telling me about him?"

"What, Zohall?" Leon asked, still unsure of the conversations purposes. "Well, alright. Zohall Mercer one of the survivors of the Raccoon city viral outbreak. I call him kid because he never acts mature, and he's good with a sword." Leon stared, hoping that was what had been required.

"Raccoon city…" Alucard continued, covertly prompting the subject to continue.

"Yeah. A friend of mine found him in the collapsing city with this crazy man, and Zohall's infected friend. The crazy guy tried killing us, and we had to defend ourselves. From there, Zohall had to kill his friend, and I told him to come with me, and he told me he had to stop by the remains of the orphanage he came from. That's where he got his sword, and the rest…"

Leon's eyes lost their focus, and his mind was drawn to those events that night. He, younger and much less experienced than he was now, new in the police forces, meets this young kid, and he eventually met back up with him and Claire. But the events between, the monsters still shook him. They redefined reality and the world. Things as bad as that were possible.

But Zohall had also proven something- even the most unlikely person was able to pass tests like that. Shocking Leon to no bounds, he had performed far above anyone with skills of a fourteen year old. Zombies were dispatched like toys and bigger, badder monsters Leon and he were cornered against faced the shining eyes of Zohall.

"So you have no idea then?"

Leon refocused on the room, and the vampire next to him. "What?"

"How he acquired these skills?"

Leon turned away, giving his answer considerable thought. "No. I have suspicions, but I can't prove any of them." He faced the vampire again, sure about something he forgot. "All I know is this- when that thing happens- when the eyes glow- he became a new person. Stronger, faster, focused, not afraid; he became completely resolved to the fight."

Alucard raised his eyebrows, then grinned. It sounded perfect to him- an opponent that could do something as that would be an interesting one. "So, you still have no clue?"

"Nope. Might as well ask him, but I think he knows about it less than I do."

Zohall hadn't noticed anything around him since he stuck his head into the fridge, hoping for food. But after his search through the almost empty cold box, he found himself disappointed with the options. So rather than braving the foreign tastes, he pulled his head out, grabbed his Ipod he had left on the counter, plugged them into his ears, and started for the bathroom, checking the balcony to see that Integra was still outside, smoking. He wouldn't risk another event like before.

Again feeling the beat of an alternative metal band, he started for the bathroom, craving a shower like never before. The last event had scared him from the area, but with the chances completely gone, he could recover in the warm shower. Reaching the same door he had before, he shoved the door open again.

He was sure it was déjà vu, or he was dreaming; once again a heavy blast of moisture and heat poured down on him from the bathroom, and he held up his arm in surprise. Seeing past the mist, he spied a figure in the shower, washing her hair and arms slowly. The form however was… curvier and more outward. Even as his instinct told him to run and hide, he could no but stare. Even as the shower curtain was pulled aside suddenly…

"No, our priorities are more important than a several petty hours of sleep- and considering the importance of what could happen," Integra growled to Leon and Walter, who both insisted that they get sleep and continue in the morning. Even after smoking her cigar, she was irritable- they were close to him, but he was still out there and avoiding them expertly.

"Sir Hellsing," Leon groaned, rubbing on of his eyes, sitting down still on the couch as apposed to Walter, who was standing slightly behind Integra," we're all tired; Zohall and I have been traveling non-stop for three days, and your vampires are as tired as we are! We can't do anything useful if we're falling asleep on the job."

"And while we sleep, that creature is plotting something that could send him into the past- what if he was to alter history?" she proposed to him, firing up from the constant resistance.

"Even if that is possible," Leon sighed, exasperated," what makes you think he isn't needing that kind of rest too? And suppose he isn't- what do you expect us to do? I'm physically and mentally tired- both qualify for rest."

"Mr. Kennedy is making sense," Walter pleaded to his master," Please consider-"

"I cannot accept that we are helpless like this! This sort of behavior-" She began again.

"Hopeless?" Leon scoffed," We're helpless if we go out against him while we aren't able to aim straight! I'd rather give him a few-hour advantage and then come back at him at full power than a half hearted jump!"

"I will make that final decision, Mr. Kennedy, not you!" she stepped forward, nearly loosing her balance, and rubbing her face just as she too felt the effects of fatigue. Walter stepped forward, afraid she might topple over.

"Sir Integra-"

"I'm fine! Just feeling a little dizzy…" she started for the bar, wanting a glass of water. Just as she did, Zohall was sent flying out of the hallway again, much faster and harder than before, and actually stuck into the wall momentarily, only to fall back out and tumble to the floor. Seras stormed out in a march, her wet form wrapped in a tight pink towel, just as exposing as her actual uniform.

"Was it worth it, creep?" she asked, fire in her eyes and her mouth twitching in anger and embarrassment. For a moment, he simply stared back at her with dopey eyes. Finally after a moment, he came to, looked at her, and smiled, giving her a thumbs up. She proceeded to stomp his head rapidly, his eyes squirting tears and he groaned an 'ow' with each impact.

Integra, who had been caught completely off guard by this event, smiled. She smiled and chucked, weaving a hand through her hair. "I suppose it is late." She smiled at the two, and focused on Zohall only for a moment, sure that there was something beyond that immature person that captured her. Then she realized what she had just thought, and then retained her formal and hardened form. "I am going to retire for the night. At dawn we continue without hesitation." She blamed the strange moment of likening on her fatigue.

Zohall and Seras watched her walk into the room, their eyes as wide, while Walter seemed accepting to this change, while Leon watched it all happen with his eyebrows raised. After a moment, Seras noticed that Zohall was staring up at her, his eyes wide.

"What?"

"What did you do to her?" Zohall asked amazed.

"Excuse me!" Seras sputtered, feeling the accusatory tones.

"Did you hypnotize her or something? Because that was just cool…" she glared down at him, unsure how to respond, and simply turned around, and stormed back into the bathroom to finish the shower. Zohall slowly got back up, rubbing his head softly, looking at the shower room. He felt like he had been scolded for taking candy before dinner.

"Hey kid," Leon got up swiftly from the couch, leaping up," I'm going use the second bed in Walter's room. The couch is yours." He directed Zohall to the couch as if leading a king to his new thrown, bent low in mock respect. "Enjoy the comforts."

"What?" Zohall hissed in retaliation," why should you get the bed?"

"Elders always get the benefits," Leon said in a sage voice, and quickly disappeared behind the door, leaving Zohall staring at the blank door, fuming.

"Jackass," he breathed. Turning back to his new bed, Zohall spotted Alucard, still sitting and spinning the glass with interest. Momentarily pausing with discomfort, he walked around the low table to the couch, kicked off his shoes, and fell flat on the bed. Tired but not entirely exhausted, he reached over for a remote for the TV, and pushed the power button, flashing on the faint glow of the electronic box. News shows all in Japanese, strange entertainment shows, and other various channels passed by him as he surfed the selections.

"Leon tells me," Alucard suddenly said," you have uncertain skills." Zohall slowly focused on the vampire, unsure the purpose of the conversation or where this would lead to. "It is unusual for anyone to not know of their power's origins. Either it be technology, training, or faith. But you have none?"

"Why do you care?" Zohall said after a few moments.

"In all my years, I have yet to have found any one, vampire, human, or otherwise that astounded me as you did. I have been beaten before, but the speed at which you were able to force me onto my release powers was among the fastest yet," Alucard said, taking off the tinted glasses and revealing the frightening red eyes he had. "I am not surprised at your skills, but rather that you have no recollection on its origins."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I really don't know. I never had a clue, and I still don't." Zohall tried not to look at the vampire. It was very intrusive of this man to do what he was doing, even from simple curiosity, Zohall was not happy at all on how invasive he was being. "I just 'had it', ok?"

"Perhaps…" Alucard seemed to have the topic slide in his mind for the current being. "You have left America?"

Zohall sighed, beginning to feel the interrogations would not end. "Yeah. Since two thousand three to about a month ago, I was in the mountains in Asia. Mercenary for hire, you know?"

"You found something there." Alucard demanded the conversation to continue.

"Yeah. Wolf monsters. That answer your question?" the younger and now irritated blond said, casting Alucard a darker glare than before.

The vampire actually seemed to absorb this information and slow down, slumping against the chair. Zohall wasn't sure how, but he could feel the being in deep thoughts.

"You remind me of another at a time I thought there was a prodigy at a young age," Alucard finally spoke, nodding to the door where both Leon and Walter had disappeared behind.

"Who?" Zohall asked, unsure of who he could be talking about. "Someone… in that room? Wait… Walter?"

"He wasn't known as the Angel of Death for nothing." Alucard grinned at the shock expression on the young man's face.

"Angel of death? Damn…" Zohall understood the rock-hard handshake from day one. Walter hadn't survived from staying far behind the back lines, but from skills. What skills he was yet to discover, but was interested none the less. "What made him so good?"

"Maybe one day," Alucard said as Seras walked out of the bathroom hallway, in a tied up bathrobe," you will see for yourself what is left of the death god; shinigami." Alucard stood up, nodding to Seras. "They are on the roof."

"The roof!" Seras groaned, spotting her case of clothing the others had brought from the mansion. "Alucard, of all places, the roof?"

"I'd would have preferred to have us not draw attention, as Walter so easily put it. Beside, it is a very good view tonight." He turned to the wall, and as Zohall watched, he actually stepped onto the wall with one foot, and as he stepped with another, he lifted himself off the floor, walking directly up the floor. Zohall stood up, almost sure he was seeing things; Seras then too walked up the wall and to the ceiling.

"I can't wait for sleep!" Seras, actually standing upside down on the ceiling, suddenly was pulled up, seeming to melt upward into the ceiling, as Alucard slowly followed action, disappearing up into the ceiling.

"I look forward to another chat, Zohall Mercer." The top of his hat vanished. Zohall again was unnerved by the man's strange personality, and was even more surprised when he glanced down and spotted the pair of glasses.

"Forgot the glasses," he stared up at the ceiling," so much for the super-" looking back down, the glasses had vanished. "Man this is getting too weird." With that, he started feeling the sleepiness catch up with him, and laid on the couch. "At least sleep is normal."

Alucard stood at the roof of the hotel. Seras had climbed into the coffin sitting meters behind him. His own coffin was right behind him, the white letters of his own summon graved onto it.

The Bird of Hermes is my name, Eating my wings to make me tame.

Yet Alucard's mind was pulled and brought on one subject that puzzled him. Zohall Mercer.

This young man- so naive- so young; yet whenever Alucard looked at him, something kept hitting him. This person has something Alucard has rarely seen before. He couldn't put the mental pin on what power it was, but knew it was extensive. The power hadn't emerged- but if it did, Alucard would have someone to call a match with. He stood there, trying to fit together what it all meant- then the pain hit him again.

He clasped at his heart, it was the third time it happened to him. It was as if part of his heart was trying to jump away from him.


After a moment of his eyes closed, Zohall already could tell something was wrong.

The bright white light had returned. Opening his eyes, he felt the brightness pushing back all around, again like in a weird space of existence.

"White… does it always have to be white? I liked the beach-"

The same beach appeared. White sands, dark-blue ocean with white-tipped waves with clear light blue sky appeared in front of him. Glancing behind him, he spied nothing but sand dunes all around with sections of green plants.

"Hey, I'm here… I bet you knew that though…" he stared around looking for that same being that had always been here. This kind of dream, although unnerving as always, felt less dramatic. If anything, it felt more normal. The heat from the sand felt real, it felt natural, and the wind itself felt just right. "What a nice day."

"You made it."

Zohall spun around, and spotted a figure far off in the sands. In the same one-piece bathing suit, the woman held up the same umbrella he had seen her sitting underneath before. Long ends of jet black hair stood out just by the back of the legs. The legs themselves, along with most of the body seemed thin, slender, and feminine.

"Oh there you are," he started walking to her," what is it now? I keep coming here and you're here, so what is going on, Huh?"

"Well, you certainly have changed pace," the German voice called out, still sounding like it emanated from everywhere," from last time."

"Yeah, some serious shit has happened since we had a talk… whoever you are." He stopped, close enough to make out the form behind the umbrella. "So, what do you want? I want my sleep."

For a while, all he heard was the waves, lightly breaking on the sands.

"Look in the shack."

"Huh?" Zohall asked, unsure of what she really said. "What was that?"

"Look in the shack."

"Shack? What shack? Look in what?"

She turned, but still couldn't be seen; as soon as she face him, bright light from a sun behind her blinded him.

"I don't know. You where the one who told me after all."

His eyes shot open, and he was still on the couch. The ceiling above him reminded the strange scene of both Seras and Alucard vanishing upward.

"Something tells me," he said as he laid back down," that his is going to be one hell of an adventure."


"Hurry up Kagome!"

"Will you just relax Inuyasha? I need to bring these school things. I still am in school you know."

Sitting on her desk, Kagome Higurashi, a middle school student stood at her desk, stuffing books and supplies into her new massive backpack. In her usual green and white school uniform of a skirt and shirt. Her back-length black hair over her shoulders, she scolded the young man sitting awkwardly on her bed, crouched like a dog sitting.

Inuyasha had long white hair that fell past his shoulders and back even further than Kagome's, he had a pair of white dog ears protruding form the top of his head. Wearing red worn garments similar to a monks, but the cloth was rougher, being that from a 'fire rat'. To the side of a sash belt, a worn katana inside a sheath was tied to the belt.

Grunting his signature 'huh', the half-demon pointed his gaze to the window, deliberately drawing his attention elsewhere. "If you just left it all we would get around much faster!"

"This stuff," Kagome growled," is what is keeping me from failing school!"

The half-demon didn't get the point. "Well, if you failed then you could put all your effort onto getting the Shikon Jewel, right?"

Kagome grasped the strap of her backpack tightly. Gosh, does he always have to be up in arms? It's just four books! So what if they're over four hundred pages each- I need to study! "Inuyasha…" The half dog-demon could feel it coming; one of his worst fears. The terrible 'sit command'. He actually let out and audible gulp.

Once he did however, he caught something in the air. With that a rustling of bushes outside of the house caught both their attentions, Inuyashas' ears actually turning to catch the sound more efficiently.

"Inuyasha!"

"Stay put- I'll check it out!" as he leapt out of the open window, he couldn't explain why he felt this smell was dangerous. It just smelt weird. Like something dead. Slowly drawing his Tessaiga sword, which as it left the average sheath burst into light and became a massive scimitar and katana hybrid of an oversized sword. A large mess of light material at the blade guard, it was a strange sight to see someone hold it so easily.

What would have been even weirder was the fact that he was sniffing the air around him. Turning to the shack that led to the Bone Eaters Well, he spotted that the door was completely open. "Huh, great." Stepping down the short ladder that brought him level to the well, he found the smell much more fresh inside here; especially on the well itself.

"What is it?" Inuyasha glanced around, momentarily ignoring Kagome. "What is it Inuyasha?"

"…Nothing, just-" he stopped, noticing that she had followed him, dragging her massive backpack, that seemed a total of three, if not four, feet tall," No way!"

"What?"

"There is no way you can bring that with us! It will hold us down like a boulder, and If we want to-"

"Sit!" Kagome barked. A necklace of violet beads around Inuyashas' neck glowed, and he was suddenly forced into the ground, face first like he had gained a thousand pounds. Kagome waited until he got back up, a nerve lightly twitching in her temple. "Ready?"

"Y-yeah! Sure!"

With that, they both vanished into the well, sliding over the edge, as a flash of light flashed off behind them. The shack was empty, and what was more, it was dark. Yet the two didn't realize that this would be the last time they could ever visit the past using the Bone Eater's Well.