Seras took a deep breath and blinked again. Off to the side, she could feel her master's glee practically radiating off him in waves as his body collected back to a semi-normal state.

She ignored it.

Instead she focused on what was happening to her own body. And by God, something was happening. Her gut burned and twisted, sending shocks of fiery pain up her spine to ignite a splitting headache in the back of her skull. Her arms and legs were numb and her chest hurt as she continued to try and breathe, but the gasps of air she sought were painful to take in, though a blessed relief to expel. Each time she tried to breath the air came in smaller and smaller puffs until she felt like she was choking. Her mind was blinded by the agony that beat at her from every part of her body and succumbing she closed her eyes and let her legs give out under her.

She hit the ground screaming as something started shifting inside her, like an animal trying to rip its way out from the inside. Something tore through her, a white-hot pain that rendered her mind utterly senseless and stole the breath from her lungs. She cried out as another wave of pain hit her, and another, and another. Her body shook uncontrollably as something started welling up in her gut, a surging and throbbing of everything inside her body. Her blood felt like it was boiling and she could feel little droplets of sweat forming on her brow as the world spiraled around her, blurring into a mix of darkened colours. A ringing in her ears started up, throwing her already confused senses further askew.

Quite suddenly the world went completely blank and the young vampires body started shifting again, this time on the outside. Seras could feel her arms elongating and shrinking repeatedly, like her body couldn't decide on a form it wanted to stay with, and her eyes itched from the back, like they were trying to accommodate something that wasn't normal. She could feel the ridges of her back shifting and pushing out against the skin pulled taut against them, and her hands were changing into odd shapes and changing back. Every part of her was shifting as she continued screaming and writhing with the overwhelming agony that consumed her.

Barely, she registered the touch of something soft against her cheek and, startled, her itching eyes snapped open to stare in wonder at an odd grayish light hovering around her, parts of it extending like hands, complete with fingers and even nails. It was these that she shrank from, the talon-like tips of the fingers brushing against her shoulders and face. The light seemed taken aback slightly, drawing away briefly, before returning to touch her cheek in an almost gentle manner. Seras shied away again, but the touch of the phantom light pressed at her more urgently. Somehow, through all the pain wracking her body, she managed to figure out that this wasn't something to be scared of, and as she realized this, the same thought kept pushing stronger through the pain.

Tentatively, she raised a shaking hand to brush one of the hand-like extensions of the light. It seemed to hover for a second, letting her touch it gently, before it suddenly lunged at her. She shrieked as it hit her, and through her open mouth it entered her body, its presence cold and sickening inside her body.

She screamed louder and panicked, thrashing about on the ground as if to somehow shake it out of her body. But it held firm inside her and prodded and poked at her twisted insides. She felt it consume her and take hold of every one of her limbs. Against her will, her arms and legs stopped pounding against the ground and flailing about her, snapping rigidly to her sides. Her jaw closed with a loud clacking sound, and all she could manage was more strained breathing and the occasional squeak of fright as she felt whatever it was that had possessed her touch her mind and explore her memories, both the ones of her life as a human and the ones after her death. She stared wide-eyed at the crumbling ceiling of the industrial freezer as she came to know herself again, her memories passing by in flashes. She could see her childhood, images of her father, of her school friends, of her teachers. She was growing up again. She was soon a teenager, experiencing her first kiss again, her first concert, the time she learnt to drive, her training as a police officer almost as soon as she got out of high school. And then her first mission, her first time in a large group of men, and soon after, the first time she had to fight for her life by killing her comrades.

She could feel tears prickling at the back of her eyes as she watched again as she was forced to level a gun at someone she had called a friend and shoot. Then there was flashes of trees as she ran towards the shadowy silhouette of the nearby church, surrounded by graves and broken fences. Inside the dark building with the vampire priest, in his arms, smelling the sickening tang of death on his every breath, wanting to get away but too weak to raise her gun with a steady hand, she learnt what it was to be truly afraid again.

Then the crash as her master broke through the door, his shadow cast along the aisle all the way up to the alter the priest held her in front of. But, it wasn't just her master this time; there was something else about him, with him.

There was a sudden jolt of recognition from the thing inside Seras' body.

As she watched Alucard approach her again in the dim church, felt the priests arm tighten around her neck, she saw the flicker of an ancient light inside her master, darker than anything she had ever seen. It was the same sort of light that held her body, but older and more powerful. The spirit of a true vampire. True Nosferatu.

The memory of her turning continued, the odd entity inside her watching as she accepted eternal life, as she was shot, as she fell to the ground in a bloody mess, as her master approached her, and as she died.

Everything stopped when she had died, the soul-like thing inside her having seen enough.

Everything was still on the inside for a moment, before something sharp and jabbing started hitting her limbs, setting her bones aflame again. Ignoring the hold on her body, Seras arched up and her mouth opened, releasing the most piercing shriek of pure agony that anyone could have ever imagined.

The vampire soul inside her was merging with her body.

EDIT!
Hehehe... I hate this thing... No, not the chapter.
Anyways, my sincere apologies to kinokokichigai who got up to this chapter, only to discover that it magically went --poof-- into nothing... --grumbles-- I seriously had no idea that it had decided to take a roadtrip without taking the other chapters with it (and I'm kinda really glad about that, otherwise I'd have a missing story right in this lovely gap...), and I still don't know how it happenned. So... Yeah... Um... Enjoy the Returned!Chapter Nine.

A/N: Eh, I'm really sorry for the lateness of this chapter. But, yet again, school got in the way. I just finished my exams though, so I finally had time to finish this. I was going to have it longer, but I was getting anxious about wanting to put this up and I didn't know how to write the next part without stuffing it up severely! So I'll get started on that tonight and hopefully have the next chappie up next weekend! (If I'm not going away, that is. I can never tell with my parents. I might get hijacked and taken up to Bundaberg... we'll just have to wait and see...)

Officially, this chapter is dedicated to teh Simple Whimsy because she gave me my 100th review! THANK YOOOOOOOOOOU!
And a special hug to everyone else that has reviewed because, nah duh, I wouldn't have made it to my current 103 if you hadn't!

Replies:
NyRoNiC, RenegadePineapple, Shadow-Sensei, deathsangel666, Bloodywolf, Kage28, megs626, The Sinner Of Anger, Black Mage Tsucasa, Midori318: Thankyou all so much! I hope this one is okay for y'all! I loved writing this chappie so much! You have no idea! One thing I noticed though was the complete lack of dialogue in it...--sweatdrop--

AttackingHentaiChibisLoveFluff: Happeh birthday to yeh! (I know it's super late. Sorry!)

Arrowfire: I kinda noticed how much my style changes too! I'm really sorry about that. I have a tendency to read books and then write a fic afterwards and just experiment with different styles! (That, or I write in different moods all the time!) Creepy. I'll try and be more consistent though.

Katsumi-Chan: Oh please, oh please! Get a computer quick! I love your stories! And yes, Anderson should show up pretty soon, hopefully in the next two or three chapters! And they'll probably come out fast seeing as I've now got nothing to do at school and I have holidays in two weeks!

LadyMoon: Thankyou for pointing out the problem in chapter six! I've seen the series too and read the manga, but... you know... --cough-- I'm lazy sometimes and... stuff... I might go back and fix it though... Um... Yeah. Thanks for reviewing though! I appreciate it!

Snake Bites,
Jinn.

xxXXxx