Hellsing: Amen
by Notan Rappa

Chapter 8: Found Walter...Now What?

Alucard took a step closer to the still figure of Walter. Walter muttered something that would have been too quiet for a human to hear as more than a groan.
"Go...away. Stay...back, I'm...warning...you." Alucard frowned. 'What have they done to you, Walter?' he thought. He lifted Walter's head and stared straight into his eyes. Five seconds later Alucard shook his head, blinking furiously, wanting to get out of Walter's mind as fast as possible. "Why would someone do this?"

Later, back at the Hellsing mansion...

Seras was at the indoor shooting range, seeing as it was light outside. She had been inspired to new heights of practice by Integra's words. The other men at the shooting range had all reacted to her arrival. Some got up and left as fast as they could, others had stayed, but clearly felt uncomfortable. Seras paid them no mind. She finished up with her target, and then went for a walk. One of the men from the shooting range ran up to her.
"Miss Victoria!" he shouted. Seras turned around. Looking into his eyes, she saw no fear, simply a nagging worry. "Have you seen my friend Gary? He's gone missing, and...well, some of the men think that you...you know...but I don't believe it for one second."
'So that's what all this fear from the men is about.' Seras thought. "No, I haven't seen your friend Mr..."
"Jason. You can call me Jason."
"Jason. If I do see him, you'll be the first to know."

"Thank you." Looking much relieved, Jason turned back to the shooting range. Seras felt something inside her longing for his fresh warm blood. But as time went on, her ability to resist the urge to feed for even a few moments more increased. Seras knew that anymore strange disappearances like the one with Gary would draw even more unwanted suspicion. She turned and ran until she couldn't take the hunger anymore. She killed and drained the first living thing she saw, which happened to be a cat.

Minutes later, in Integra's cell...

Integra sat bolt upright, pistol at the ready, when Alucard came in through the ceiling. Alucard smiled.

"Are you going to shoot me?"
"Hmph." Integra snorted as she lowered the pistol. "I might." Then her vision settled on the figure Alucard was holding. "Walter!" She got up from the couch and Alucard placed Walter down on it gently. They both looked at him in silence for a moment. "Is he all right?"
"Physically he should recover. I have faith in his mental fortitude as well, though the damage to his mind was rather extensive."
"What do you mean? How is his mind damaged? How extensive are we talking?"
"Someone forced their way into his mind and messed up the pieces. He then left a piece of his own mind in Walter's. So now, Walter's mind is a non-navigable mass of messed up goop which is trying to reconstruct itself. As to how bad the damage is, let's just say that even I don't want to be in there right now."
"Why?"
"It's so bad right now that if I got lost in it, I would never find my way out again."
"Walter..." The worries of Walter, the stress of running an organization from a jail cell, the anger over the red tape, and just the everyday emotional strain in general, all came to a head. Integra did something that she hadn't done since she was very little. She sat down and began to cry.
End Chapter 8