Disclaimer: I do not own Trinity Blood or its characters.

Enter Vanessa Walsh


9. Poor Little Rich Girl

"Congratulations, Sir Victor! You have a bouncing baby daughter!"

"SAY WHAT!?" The bellow shook the hospital to its foundations. Judging by Count Victor's reaction, one would have thought the doctor made a grievous blunder.

Eighteen years after his birth, Virgil was confronted by his newborn sister. She had black hair and eyes like the Count. The siblings were as like as chalk and cheese. From their mother's arms, the sister looked at him solemnly before crinkling her little face and shrilling her tiny lungs out. "Shut that creature up!" Victor bellowed. "Victor! She's our daughter!" His wife retorted even as she tried to soothe the baby.

"Her wailing's giving me a migraine. What kind of mother are you?" The quarrel escalated until the Count stormed out of the ward.


The baby girl was christened Vanessa Walsh. The name was reluctantly given to her by the count over the phone. Vanessa proved to be a colicky baby, often rousing the household from sleep with loud screams. The Count grew more short-tempered and spent more time away. He made no secret of his dislike for the new baby. The hassle of caring for a difficult baby took its toil on the Walsh household.

"Try music, Virgil. My nurse said babies like music," Bridie suggested. Virgil felt silly playing the piano while his sister lay looking at him solemnly from her carry-basket on the piano bench next to him. He started playing For Elise. Vanessa gurgled with delight and waved her baby arms… Halfway through Home Sweet Home, she dozed off. Virgil sighed. Trouble was brewing. His parents have grown distant once more. This time, Aunt Vespesia was not around to play peacemaker. Virgil's worries were not unfounded.


"That man wants a divorce?!" Camilla Walsh shrilled. Muttering angrily, she thrust the two-month-old infant at her son, grabbed her hat and purse and blustered out to confront the Count in the factory. Little Vanessa shrilled her protest. Virgil rocked his sister and sat down on the piano bench. With all the trouble recently, he had not seen Bridie.

"Sir! There's an anomaly in vessel C143. Temperature and pressure soaring off the charts!" A panicked technician blundered into the office. He was greeted by the sight of the Count and Countess squabbling.

"Sir! This ain't time for domestic spats!" he screamed. Warning sirens sounded, finally getting the attention of the couple. It was too late. The blast that ripped through the factory shook the Ghetto and registered on the Albionian University's seismographs as a magnitude 5 earthquake.


Though they were a good distance from the factory, the blast shattered the windows, showering Virgil and Vanessa with glass splinters. Instinctively, Virgil shielded his tiny sibling from the deadly shrapnel. Pain assailed him as numerous splinters stabbed into his flesh. He passed out as they fell off the bench…
"Lord have mercy," the rescuer murmured as he took in the bloodied and mangled remains they excruciated from the smouldering ruins of the Ghetto's main factory. Both the count and countess were dead, along with fifty or so technicians, engineers and factory staff. Scores of civilians were also caught by the blast. Mercifully, the secondary factories in the East and North Sectors have been spared. With luck, they could be running up to production with the aid of the survivors.


"Vanessa!" Virgil screamed and sat up in his hospital bed.

"Mortimer, where's my sister, Vanessa?" he recognized their former butler. The elderly Methuselah rubbed his eyes as he roused himself from his chair by the bedside.

"The little mite's unhurt, Master Virgil," he reassured Virgil. "Careful, now. They removed about twenty or so glass pieces from you earlier. Someone's here to see you…" Mortimer stepped aside…

"Bridie?" The princess cradled the newly-orphaned baby tenderly. "Not a scratch. She's got an angel watching out for her, Virgil. I came as soon as I heard of the blast."

"Father and Mother?" Virgil asked, hoping against hope. His worst fears were soon confirmed.


"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. From the dust we were born, to dust we will return…" The Ghetto's chaplain droned on monotonously. Vanessa slept on. Pale-faced, Virgil Walsh watched with disbelieving eyes and unshed tears as the closed coffins bearing their parents were finally wheeled on the short journey to the crematorium. When the service was over, various members of the Ghetto community came forward to offer their condolences to the orphans. Vanessa opened her dark eyes and bawled.

"She's hungry, I expect…" speaking to no one in particular, Virgil took out the still-warm baby bottle from the thermos. Baby Vanessa screeched and choked on the milk. Finally, a matronly woman offered to help the beleaguered young man. Dazed, Virgil seized this opportunity to slip off to the side chapel of the Ghetto church. His thoughts whirled in confusion. He was Count of Manchester, even though his father tried to disinherit him in a drunken state some days before the birth of his sister. King Albert of Albion has made it official. He was now Sir Virgil Walsh, Count of Manchester. Like it or not, they looked to him to restore the Ghetto after the devastating blast.

The chief engineer, who had survived the blast, had reassured him that given the expertise available, the factories would be up and running to capacity in three months. Yet… Trembling, he sank to his knees before the statue of the Blessed Virgin and Child. What did he know about negotiating the murky world of court politics above? What did he know about managing a town like the Ghetto? To top it, what did he know about bringing up his orphaned sister? Maybe it would've been better if he had been killed instead…

He cried like a little boy. Count Victor's shoes were way too large for an eighteen-year-old to fill.

Warmth. Warm arms around him. The faintest hint of rosewater on English lace. Red hair. Soft blue eyes… He couldn't recall anymore…


Author's Notes:

Poor Virgil. Bridie needs to give him a hug or two. I just orphaned Virgil and his baby sister.