She facefaulted. "Hmmm..." Her feet dangled and she started down at them. "I wonder what animal I would be..." She thought mostly to herself.
He looked at her and hovered closer; if there were room, he would sit. But he was hovering as if he were sitting next to her, sitting with his feet cross-legged; side glancing under his glasses.
"That's something you have to find for yourself, Seras...It took me awhile to find it...All you have to do is meditate, listening to the sounds around you and feeling your environment..." In a solemn voice, he continued. "...Your animal is your protector, it will help you...it will find you, not you finding it, but you have to let it in, open mindedly...mwahahaha...It's not easy, but all vampires have to do it to achieve their true selves."
Her eyes scanned the surroundings, finding this a little more difficult than it was supposed to be. He looked at her, seeing her struggle. He spoke in a deep and soothing voice.
"Hmmm...You're thinking too much, Seras...close your eyes and be absorbed in your environment...The creature will make itself known to you...Just concentrate on yourself, if something, or nothing at all...The void in yourself, that is where it will find you..."
She tilted her body sideways to the left and rested her head on the side of the tree, closing her eyes to relax her mind, almost feeling it deflate; it was unusually easy this time to empty her mind. Alucard noted her concentration and hovered nearer, moving behind her; more on instinct of getting out from the open than anything.
"Feel the energy, Seras...The tree is alive and so is the animal...alive within side you..." He spoke in almost a whisper, eyes growing hazy with the memory of his own trial; each must face alone.
Seras' head had fallen forward a little, as if she had just fallen to sleep as her chin rested against her collarbone. She was in a rather deep trance; behind her eyelids she saw just plain black, just like it looked when her master went out of control, one difference being the absence of the evil aura.
As a matter of fact, everything was absent. All except for an incredibly low voice, or growl; it couldn't be distinguished, that spoke to her. She felt herself growing with anticipation as she strained to make out what the voice was saying...
Alucard just hovered in place, sitting on air more like with his hand against the tree. His red eyes still fogged over; the knowledge of what she was going through had returned to him. He wondered if it would be too much...but knowing Seras, she would manage. She had too, he had all but whispered in his mind.
"You will do this, Seras...you must..." He noticed the darkening of the scenery; the meeting was taking place...her meeting...
Seras' body swayed on the branch a little as she became deeper into her trance. From inside the darkness, she felt as if she were walking deeper into it, determined to find the source...and to make out what it was saying.
As she made herself deeper and deeper and even deeper, flashes of pictures that seemed to come from a reel came in and out for a split second, the pictures moving a little and in a grayscale.
Her memories. Things were getting just a little strange.
On the outside, Alucard was useless. But something told him that she was doing it; his insides turned and he grabbed his stomach-area in pain, his face wincing slightly.
Why? He didn't know why. His face dropped and his eyes became into focus, as he spoke to himself.
"Of course...The ceremony, if she manages it...I will be forced into dog form...he he he...Well, it's a good sign then..." Underneath the gloves his knuckles turned white as he gripped the tree.
Seras' eyes shot around wildly as these images flashed one after the other, then stopped. The images came together as one in front of her, playing in slow motion. The memory was only a half a minute long, but it showed the most important of the situation at hand.
In slow motion, she witnessed the body of her father slowly falling backwards, his arms thrown up into the air limply. Blood flew freely, spouting from the wound in his chest, and afterwards, fell to the ground, bouncing twice and then lying still.
The memory ended and it was dark again; she seemed to stare ahead in complete silence, her mind fighting itself immensely to keep itself clear...
For a brief second all went foggy for Alucard, his vision blurred as well. In his mind he saw a vision of Seras alone, huddled in a corner, fighting for whatever sanity she had left in her. He shook himself out of it, his eyes deep red with his own struggles.
His teeth bared and he growled low in his throat. It was Seras; her trial...He wondered why he was seeing it; but he remembered their connection of servant to master...one that lasts even in ultimate death.
This is also the reason of my body changing on me; the witness of her acceptance from the animal...but to see it, I have to be my animal form, as no human is able to witness it...
Seras slowly felt herself reach for the sides of her head, gripping the strands of her hair from the roots and holding them hard, almost pulling. Slowly the image of her dead father was taking affect on her once again, slowly hitting her in the face; she quickly shut her eyes in haste to bring it away.
Just as she was on the verge of ripping out her hair from the roots, she heard herself talking back to herself in her mind, slowly and faintly, her own voice easing her into the realization that it was all but an image, and nothing more...
...Not the real thing...though, it did happen at one time. It happened in the past, and she had to put it behind her, however, not totally forget about it, and move on from there. She slowly relaxed her finger's hold on her hair, apparently listening in closely as if it were the only thing she had left for support.
Alucard drooped slightly as he grasped his sides more; he could still feel what was happening. He knew that it was what had to happen, but not as harsh as it was...
He gritted his teeth as his eyes slunk back into a daze, blurring the image of Seras in the tree and bringing forth that of her crouching, surrounded by unnatural light. He screamed in mind, words to her.
"Seras...Get up...Fight it..." He felt himself descending to the ground; he could not stop it. Losing the altitude he soon reached the floor, crouching in a similar position, as he was Seras...
It was as if her hands lost all feeling and became numb as they fell from the strands of her hair and fell to the sides of her legs; sitting on her knees, her back was hunched over a little from her previous position.
On the outside her eyes blanked out, pupils gone from her eyes as she was in a deep trance; she murmured incoherent words here and there. Inside of her mind was fighting with her, slowly convincing Seras that it was all just an image coming back to her.
Eventually, after quite a bit of persuasion, she lifted her head up and opened her eyes, frowning at herself that she could be so gullible to think that she just witnessed her father's death...all over again…
She shook her head violently over and over; on the outside her eyes flickered back to normal and she could see. She gasped violently, seeing a faint image of a large animal…
Crouched on the floor his head swarmed with noises and images. He glanced up through the trees and saw, hovering above Seras, a black shape; one about to take form.
Before he could do anything, a sensation of searing pain filtered through his head. He half grinned at it, trying his best not to look up at it.
Having much difficulty, his hands started to melt in front of him, and his skin crawled and burned in fire. His mouth elongated into powerful jaws, and his eyes split into many for a better view; his back becoming furry and his tail grew miraculously from his back.
He was now in dog form, huddled to the floor.
The hazy form slowly revealed itself as a huge animal; afterwards recognizing after staring at it to be a large catlike animal. It growled low on instinct, talking in between; it hardly spoke anything at all, but it's few words meant a whole lot.
/...When you are in need, call upon me inside of you.../ It seemed like it was cut off as it finished, dispersing into the air, jumping back at her and seemingly crawled into her skin to be inside her again...waiting.
The big, black shaggy dog peered up, his 6 red eyes focusing on one thing: the blackness behind Seras that seemed to engulf her; becoming her. It was, as he thought, a spirit. His big mouth grinned in a dog-like way, revealing a row of deadly teeth.
The blackness was gone, and the wind felt good against his face as it blew his ears back.
Seras seemed to be in some kind of trance still, and yet, sleeping in peace, all at the same time.
Hmmm...How to wake her up this time... He thought as he stared at her, and started to paw heavily at the tree; stopping only when he realized that he might knock her down, and a sleeping Seras awoken that way would not be a good one.
He opened up his mouth and let out a loud howl, the sound bouncing off the tree and vibrating all the way up.
Her trance was broken as the loud howl of a certain black dog on the ground made her jump, look around insanely and then grip the trunk of the tree to steady herself. Still gripping onto the tree with her arms, she stared down at him frowning, still in a mind boggle.
"Oi!! I guess I never again will wake up normally..." Her arms came from around the tree and continued staring down at where the Alucard dog stood, wagging his floofy tail.
She got up, balancing nicely on the narrow branch and took a few steps, then jumped from the tree and landed next to the dog, standing up and shaking her head, rubbing it a little. The dog looked up at her, three of his six eyes diverted around elsewhere as the rest were glued on her; he laughed low in his throat strangely, sounding more a like a growl.
He tilted his head back slightly to yawn and then pawed the ground as if testing it. Without warning he jumped at Seras, knocking her to the ground, but not very hard. His front paws dug into her stomach as he stood on her.
His tail now wagged heavily, looking more like a puppy than the vicious dog he portrayed himself to be.
"So you're a cat, Seras...mwahahaha...Tiger more like...MEEEEEOOWWWW..." He screeched, sounding incredibly odd. Something was wrong with Master.
Seras tried sitting up, and she did, laughing with wide eyes as she just witnessed a dog yelling 'meow.' She picked up the heavy dog as it was on her, weighing her down, and put the dog down on the ground and scratched behind the ears.
"You'd better not chase me around...You know I won't like that too much..." She said, with a smile on her face. Even in the dog form, the evil glint of his eyes could be seen well, through all six of them at variations of times.
The doggy smile on his face widened and his tongue hung out slightly as she scratched his ears.
"Chasing you around...hmmm...I thought that you were chasing after me."
Seras laughed and flipped him over suddenly, having the size advantage a little, and attacked his tummy, scratching it like crazy. Much like a dog, he howled while he was scratched, one foot and paw twitching.
"Well tigers ARE bigger...than you...so I can chase you down instead." She gave him one last scratch before standing up. "So it's settled then."
When she stopped, he looked at her and rolled over, standing up and rubbing his head on her leg in appreciation, now acting like a cat.
"Hmmm...You would like that wouldn't you? Well, I'm not so easy to catch..." He started running across the grass, weaving through trees and running up to the castle. Seras walked briskly, but not running back to the castle; not really feeling much like running. She didn't feel up to it.
"Hmmm...So he can beat me today...Just wait..." She talked to herself, laughing, and entered the castle. She walked down the corridor lazily, tired.
Slowing to a walk, the Alucard dog panted down one of the corridors wagging his tail. Seras came into view a moment later, looking just as wearily as he did. He walked a little farther and collapsed just outside his door, and rolled onto his side, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. His eyes, all of them bright red in the spirits of being a dog, stared directly at Seras as she wearily followed. He had his legs sprawled out limply to his side.
"Ahh...I think I died again, Seras..."
She stopped and eyed the unusually melodramatic dog that was, indeed, her master, and knelt down, raising both of her eyebrows.
"Dead, hm? Then I'll help you up to Integra...I think it's about time you went and saw her...and maybe you should get it over with." There was heaviness in her voice as she spoke, like she dreaded this far beyond anything else; she heaved him up from his position, holding his back with his legs up in the air, and started walking further down the corridor.
The Alucard dog watched the floor upside down as it went slowly by. The grip Seras had on his legs was pretty strong, keeping him from twitching his legs. The blood rushed to his head as he was upside down.
"Hmmm...So you like holding my legs, eh Seras?" It was his own way of settling the dread that ran over him when thinking of his master: talking senselessly. They were almost there now, just another corner...
She scoffed; rolling her eyes and spoke with sarcasm.
"Uh, er...ya, sure, master...especially when you're a dog...makes it all the better." She laughed and looked down at the furry face to see his reaction; only about two steps away from the door to Integra's study.
"Seras, you know you like it doggie style...mwahahaha..." He stared at the door and started to waver a bit. Little did he know he caught her off-guard by his statement and she snorted loudly and abruptly, shaking with hysterical laughter that she tried her best to hold in. She couldn't believe he had just said what she thought he said.
She stopped at the door, barely able to suppress the laughter so she could speak.
"Should I let you in by yourself?"
He looked at her seriously again, half of his eyes looking at her in earnest, the other half on the door.
"Well, you said you wanted to piss Integra off...mwahahaha...Drag me in, if you like...I probably would not go if you didn't...You'd have to pound after me as I would go running through the corridors."
She thought and realized what she hadn't contemplated and made her decision right away.
"Al right then, I'll come too..." She heaved the massive dog body under the crook of one arm and used the free arm to open the door, walking inside; she looked quite disgruntled and worried at the same time.
Alucard stared up at Seras steadily. "Hmmm...Be ready for anything, Seras..." As they walked in father, they noticed Integra staring out of the balcony at the moon. When she realized they were in the room...
"Back again to report, Aluca-" She stopped mid-sentence as she saw Seras holding something black, resembling a dog, but not so as it had 6 eyes. She could only see 4 of them, the other two were too far behind to see. Her eyes widened a bit in surprise, the half grin she would have had fell to an expressionless face. Behind her glasses her eyes were vivid with surprise.
"Wh-what is this, Alucard?" She said, contemplating and starting to become her old self again, her pale red eyes somewhat returning to normal...
Alucard stared at his master, as Seras now walked at least two feet away from her. His eyes laughed on the inside, but tried not to; with the sound of amusement in his voice, he spoke.
"I'm only being held captive, master..."
AN: Well that was very interesting ^_^ Not to mention long…@_@…See ye all next chaptah…