Disclaimer- Don't own Hellsing. Don't sue, please.
Special Thanks to ShdwAnna for the beta'ing, providing me with some information, and letting me bounce ideas off of her, and to Thess for the offer to beta and for letting me spam her while bouncing ideas and other spongey objects off her.
Days in Hell
By A Guy Named Goo
Beta'd by ShdwAnna
Prologue: Photophobia
"You'd better hope and pray that you make it safe back to your own world
You'd better hope and pray that you wake one day back in your own world
'Cause when you sleep at night they don't hear your cries in your own world
Only time will tell if you can break the spell back in your own world..."
"Stay" by Shakespeare's Sister
"Walter! Walter!" Integra's voice was loud enough to be heard out in the hall. This was unnecessary, considering the man in question was right in her bedroom with her, but her voice sounded panicked and urgent.
Walter stood from the chair he had placed next to her bed on unsteady legs, picking up the damp washcloth that had slipped off her forehead and onto the bed when she had begun to jerk in her panicked state. Her pressed it to her forehead again, trying to get her to relax. "I'm right here, Sir Integra," he assured her calmly.
Integra swallowed before drawing in deep, gasping breaths. Her eyes were sweeping her bedroom like it was alien to her, sweat dripping down her flushed face. "Walter, close the drapes! It's too bright in here!" she ordered, the desperation evident in her voice.
Walter looked in the direction of the French doors that lead out onto the balcony. The heavy hunter green drapes were already drawn closed, with the edges tucked in or taped in place to keep the sunlight from leaking in. The first thing Integra had said after entering her delirium was that the sun was too bright and ordered him to close them, and she had been repeating this order desperately for three days now. There was really no way for him to close them any further for her.
"They are closed, Sir Integra," Walter explained gently.
Integra was panting heavily now, her breathing growing more ragged. Her hands balled into fists around her blanket, and she squeezed her eyes shut tightly, turning her head to the side as if trying to keep from facing something. The washcloth started to slide off again, but Walter's scarred hand caught it and held it in place.
"It's too bright," she moaned pitifully. "Too much sunlight...close the drapes..." Her pleas tapered off, and her body seemed to relax as she lost consciousness again.
The doctor had already been in to see Integra that day. Although her fever was alarmingly high, all that the doctor could do was give her some medicine and tell Walter to keep an eye on her and make sure she stayed hydrated until the fever broke. The doctor had also reprimanded the delirious woman for not taking care of herself before her flu became so dangerous, but she hadn't understood him, which had probably been why he chose then to berate her in a way that few people dared to.
The remaining members of the Hellsing Organisation knew that recouping their losses would be most difficult after the Tower incident, especially since the public now thought they were nothing but a terrorist training ground. Hellsing was allowed to exist, but only as a sort of vigilante group without any government approval. The only "official" support they had was that while the police wouldn't call for their aid, even in the cases that Hellsing specialized in, if they saw the organisation's insignia on someone's uniform they weren't to attempt an arrest or impede in their actions. More "compromises" that were made (as if Integra had been able to plead her case instead of being incarcerated) were that while the British government wouldn't seize Hellsing's assets or property, they would only allow them these concessions if Integra promised not to use either of the vampires in her employ any longer. All of this was the government's way of saying that they knew Integra wasn't the traitor, and yet they couldn't let the public think she got away with the events leading to her very public fall from grace.
The days following Integra's release from prison were dark indeed: Walter had returned in such horrible shape that the Hellsing leader had found herself actually urging him to retire, and feeling guilty when she found herself relieved that he refused. Alucard had become increasingly irritable since being informed he wasn't allowed to go on missions anymore, which resulted in heated arguments between the vampire and his master so frequently Integra had finally told him to go out if he wanted, but if she found out he killed anything near anyone wearing a Hellsing insignia in a way that made it readily apparent he was Hellsing's "pet vampire" she would seal him once more where she'd found him. Adding financial trouble resulting from the government cutting off funding, the need to find new men who were willing to join the organisation for relatively little pay (and considering they were a "vigilante terrorist organisation", most British candidates thought joining would make them traitors), and a rumor that had begun to spread around London and beyond that Integra was a vicious, violent woman that people had to tread lightly around, and it was really no wonder that she ignored a comparatively small thing like the flu.
The shadows in the corner formed into a silhouette. The shadowy figure began to gain color until the red-clad figure of Alucard appeared. Walter didn't seem alarmed by this turn of events in the least. After all, he probably had been there quite a while.
"She's still on the sunlight thing," Alucard observed plainly, looking down at his ailing master.
Walter nodded, seating himself next to the bed again. "I wonder what's going on in her mind to make her fear the light so much..."
Alucard approached the other side of the bed. "Nothing is," he told Walter. "She hasn't shielded her thoughts against me since she's been like this. Quite the opposite, in fact: she's projecting. Her thoughts are the same exact things she has been saying out loud. I can't even tell what she is seeing, if anything. All I know is it is very difficult to sleep when you have to listen to that all day."
"I am sure Sir Integra will feel remorse over you losing your rest when she recovers."
Alucard chose to ignore the sarcasm. "You sound confident that she will recover."
Walter shrugged. "It's the flu. She should be find as soon as her fever breaks, which the doctor assure me should be very soon."
Alucard snorted, backing away from the bed. "Modern medicine has made humans far too optimistic."
Walter smiled at that statement, ignoring the spasm in his right leg. It had been a miracle of the same modern medicine that the vampire condemned that had saved his leg, and a greater miracle that it was still usable at all. "Nostalgic for the old days when a fever was possibly fatal?"
"At least people were more careful with their health in those days. They couldn't afford the risks that came with working oneself to death." Alucard wasn't facing either Integra or Walter now, as if he were talking to himself. "No wonder there is no sport left to be found in this world. With all this technology holding their hands, people have become foolhardy. Even the undead."
Walter opened his mouth to comment, but was cut off short by a blood-curdling scream. Alucard whirled around to face his master, and Walter stood up and leaned over her. Integra's scream seemed to go on forever, full of rage and terror, unlike anything either man had ever heard from the woman. Even Alucard seemed to be disturbed by this chilling turn of events.
Suddenly Integra was quiet again, sweat covering her face and soaking the sheets around her. Her entire body seemed to relax, and although she was panting at first, her breathing returned to normal. Walter sat back down, and Alucard approached the bed slowly.
"Master?" he asked, looking down at her sweat-soaked body.
Integra's eyes opened after a few seconds. She squinted at Alucard, then gave up trying to see without her glasses. When she spoke, her voice was still raw, although the annoyance was still apparent. "Alucard, what are you doing in here?"
End of Prologue
