Written as a birthday fic for Dreadnot, posted with her permission. Set between volume six and volume seven, spoilers for volume seven.
Hellsing and the characters are owned by Kouta Hirano.
Voices cut through the darkness
"Well, Doc? Is he ready?"
"Yes... yes, my Füher, he is ready."
"Excellent. Wake him up."
As Walter opened his eyes, he was greeted by a dark, damp, unfriendly world that was fuzzy on one side.
Gradually shapes started to resolve, and even without his monocle he could discern the smiling face above him.
"Oh," he said. "It's you."
The Major chuckled. "Hello, boy. I always knew I'd get you in the end."
Walter squinted, trying to make out the Major's face through the fuzz clouding his eyes.
"You look… you look the same."
"Yes, it seems that time has been kinder to us then it has been to you,"
Walter blinked and tried to struggle against his restraints, but his old muscles refused to respond. Dead weight. He was dead weight.
"Why haven't you killed me yet?"
"Yes, Walter my boy," the Major said as he wandered out of Walter's view, "I knew I had to have you ever since I heard your code name. I heard it and I knew in my heart that this was a sign for me. You were the only thing I lacked. After our initial meeting, I tried to replace you with another but-"
A voice cut through the Major's speech. "Zorin's dying, Herr Major. The young vampire is destroying her."
"Schrödinger!" the Doctor shouted from somewhere behind Walter. "Have I taught you no manners at all?"
"It's alright," the Major said calmly. "It's actually perfect. As I was saying, Walter, I tried to replace you, but my replacement, it seems, was less than satisfactory."
Walter suddenly heard a crunching sound, as if someone were eating an apple.
"It is strange, but even after my transformation, I still hunger for food. It provides no nutrtion, of course, but I still hunger for the sweetness of an apple."
"You're going to eat the world into a famine one of these days, Herr Major."
The Major chuckled again. "I just may, Warrant Officer. Go. Go and tell Zorin how displeased we are with her performance."
"We're ready, my Füher."
"Good. Give him the gift."
"It's hardly a gift," Walter spat. "It's a plague, a pestilence on the world."
The Doctor laughed raspily. "I might almost be offended by that."
"Captain! Take a moment away from the war, will you? Alucard will come, have no fear. We need you to hold down the butler. We can hardly have him hurt himself during the procedure, not after we've searched so long for our fourth."
Walter felt a faint pinprick in his arm. His vision started to cloud over and he, as if from a far off distance, felt strong arms holding him down.
A voice, so distant now that Walter could hardly tell who was speaking, whispered in his ear. "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."
