A/N: Well, there were several replies to my 'proposal.' The score so far?

Do AxI: 2

Do AxS: 1

ANYTHING BUT AxS: 2

Actual plots: 1- (AxS)

AxI people, you're fallin' behind! –AxI crazed smile- Thanks to Glor for being the only person to send me in a plot so far. I'll consider it. (That's a lot coming from an AxI nutz fan)

Darkfighter000: Funny? Oh, well, I'm glad you love it!

Necrophiliac: I actually share your sentiments exactly, and that's why I was originally opposed to doing the pairing. I reconsidered a little, because I don't believe in completely cutting myself off from a topic. Doing that makes it had to grow as a writer. Hence, I remain open-minded.

NH and DI: Yes… she rocketh. DI, I'm afraid so, aside from the Epilogue.

Shadowbright: I try to be different. ; ) Thanks!

Disclaimer: I don't own Hellsing, or any of its characters. Hellsing is (c) Kouta Hirano. However, this storyline, Eva and The Staircase are (c) me, MZM

IMPORTANT (Please read) As for this chapter, it is technically the end. There is going to be a rather important Epilogue coming either tonight or tomorrow, so don't stop just because you see those words. PLEASE!

Integra did not move from her position by the window. She ran over a thousand lines, a million excuses, and came no closer to explaining Seras' immanent re-appearance. The vampiress' powers of regeneration were formidable indeed, but she has returned with friendly intentions. No, only Alucard can regenerate from ash. She… ah…

Absolutely hopeless.

Still, she thought on into the night.

Alucard let go of the bleeding woman, and, eyes glazed over, she limply slid to the floor. He listened to her faintly beating heart with detached interest as he tried to remember where the hell Dock Street was. His tongue flicked over his bloody lips. 72 Dock Street. It's an orphanage. Pathetic, really.

He looked down at the mortal. "Pity."

He strode to the window, and threw it open. Dock Street wouldn't be difficult to locate. He disintegrated his body and mind into a hundred creatures, and flapped away into the night on leathery wings.

When one is a swarm of bats, nothing is too hard to find.

"When is Seras going to get better?"

"I don't know; these things take time."

"I want her to be better now."

"I know, Michael, I know."

The child turned and shuffled out of the room to inform the other children for the fifth time today. Sherry watched him go, and looked down at Seras' unseeing eyes. The girl had come down with a strange sickness about a month ago, and had become delirious. Eva, that woman, had come in every night with some sort of 'medicine' that Seras had to take in complete privacy. This seemed to keep her from falling into this 'unseeing' state. Unfortunately, Eva was late. She'd called a couple hours ago, and talked about a meeting with someone named 'Harold' that might run a bit late, but usually she was here by now.

Sherry shivered as the air in the room dropped ten degrees, and she looked about in confusion. In a sudden gust of wind, the window blew open with a resounding crash. Sherry leapt to her feet in shock and annoyance, and reached over to close it.

Then the bats swarmed in.

They squeaked and chirped, brushing her with black wings and perching upon her with sharp claws. Mercifully, she fainted quickly. The creatures then flew together, like they would collide, but took shape instead. Alucard, No-Life King and Nosferatu looked down at his lost fledgling with disgust. He reached over and backhanded her. "Wake up. There's no point in wasting your energy shielding now."

She blinked, and sat up. "M-Master?"

"Yes, you little simpleton."

To his surprise, she leapt out of bed, away from him. "How did you find me?" Her face was a mix of anger and fear. Her hands had been clenched into fists, her teeth gritted.

"Your shielding was… good, Police Girl... No, some mortal led me here."

She narrowed her eyes. "Mortal? Nobody knew I was here but-" Her eyes snapped open, and she looked like she'd been hit with a hammer. "Eva told you I was here?"

"You could say that."

"She… wait. What do you mean by that?" She shifted her weight, and he could feel her mind working on overtime, and he picked up some valuable pieces of information. For one, she was convinced he was here to kill her. Two, she was drinking regularly. Three, the second was all "Eva's" doing. How interesting.

"She herself resisted me as best she could. But then again," and at this, he grinned, "Blood has no such scruples."

All of the blood Seras had been drinking left her face. "You… killed… her?"

"I imagine so, Police Girl." His tone mocked her.

In the most unpredictable thing he thought she'd done in her life or death, Seras flew at him with rage. "YOU BASTARD!" He laughed crazily as she tore at his throat, finally disconnecting it, and flinging it to the floor. Shadows took ahold of her heart, and her innocent humanity faded away to release the creature within. She slashed at him with steely fingers, and ripped at him with vicious fangs. "STOP LAUGHING!"

The door was thrown open, and six children burst into the room. "Seras! You're awa-!"

One slipped and fell in the layer of gore on the floor, landing on her bottom and then staring at her red hands in shock. Two others screamed and began to cry, clutching at each other. Then as one, they looked at Seras, and ran.

Seras watched them go the fear on their faces horrifying her. She stared down at herself, and then at her Master. He melted himself down, and then slowly pulled together once more. "Why, Police Girl, you've gone and found yourself a temper."

She clenched her fists, and whispered, "Just kill me now."

"Why the Hell would I kill my own fledgling?"

She whirled to look at him, and blinked. "Isn't that what you're here for?"

"No."

"Oh." She trembled. "What are you here for, then?"

"To take you home."

"Master, I am home."

"You call THIS home?" He gestured to the room. "Don't be absurd." She looked down at her feet, then her head snapped up to him.

"You killed Eva. I'm not going with you."

Alucard grinned. "You don't have a choice, Police Girl. Besides, if we hurry, you might catch the tail-end of her life."

She ran to the door. "Then Let's GO!"

He caught her up with an arm, and sighed. She could really be stupid sometimes. Without a word, he faded away, taking her with him.

"MASTER, PLEASE!"

Alucard only twisted his lips into a dark smile.

Seras fell to her knees, and cradled Eva's bleeding body in her arms. All her senses told her that she was holding a dying life; her hunger had no use for it. She quietly wept bloody tears, and they fell onto the human woman's pain wracked face. This was the woman who had taught her to be independent of her Master. This was the same Eva who had made her drink the blood. This was the Eva who taught her that a curse could be a gift.

And now Eva was leaving her.

Seras growled. No. I'm not going to let her go. I'm not letting Master take her away from me. I'm done begging. "Master, you've done this, so, for Chrissakes, fix it!" She turned her determined, bloody face to him, and found that he was looking down on her with an emotion that she couldn't place.

"I only destroy, Seras. That is my essence. You should know that by now. But…" He grinned, while she stared at him, shell-shocked by the use of her name. "… Although that is a piece of you as well, it is not your whole." She blinked, unsure of his meaning. "No, Seras Victoria, for some reason, you feel the desire to try and heal the wounds of others. Personally, I find this disgusting, but you seem to enjoy it." This was met with another blank blink.

He sighed, and held out his arm. "You're finally ready. For some incomprehensible reason, this… human seemed to have brought you to your senses. You're ready to become what you are truly meant to be."

"A No-Life King."

He smiled, and she closed her eyes, turning her head away. Seras heard him crouch down beside her, with a creak of leather and rustle of cloth. "Why should I take this from you, after what you did, Master?"

"Because, I have killed many, and will kill again. That will never change. You need to get over it, Seras. Because you seem to care for this pathetic human. Because you can't avoid it forever… and because fledglings cannot create fledglings."

Her eyes flicked open, and Eva's fleeting pulse beat feebly against her skin. Fledglings cannot create fledglings. He's right. I can't make him do it… and I won't let Eva die because she was trying to protect me. I won't let her die.

I won't.

It had worked out perfectly, and he hadn't really even planned it. The idea had occurred to him when he realized the human might still be alive. He'd known from the moment Seras'd stood up to him. She was ready. How the hell this human readied Seras for the next stage of her unlife was again, beyond him, but the mortal'd done it and that was all that mattered. He was actually proud, in his own, perverse way. In his opinion, fledglings were worthless anyway. Once they stood on their own feet, then they got interesting. Enjoyable to be around, even. It was like that transition from child to adolescent. When they're young, they have nothing to say, but talk too much, and then when they're older and interesting, you have to pry it out of them. He would actually be interested in Seras' take on her own living death, once she had an opinion to share.

Not only that, but when he'd torn into the mortal's… ah- Eva's throat, he'd seen into her heart. It occurred to him that this woman was prime for the Blood. She had the sense of self-pride, viciousness, and elegance that he looked for in candidates. Seras had passed that test… and so had his Master. They each had their own special qualities too, he supposed. Integra was righteous and full of fury. Seras was a calmness that denied the storm beneath. And this… Eva had a snakelike cunning to her. Personally, he approved of Seras' soon-to-be fledgling. Not only that, but it seemed the moral had vampirisim 'down,' so her soon-to-be Master couldn't accidentally screw her up. Just as he'd realized, it worked out perfectly. Seras would be on her own feet, and bring a new, worthy-enough member into the family.

Alucard was jolted from his thoughts by his childe's voice. "Master?"

"Yes?"

"I'm ready."

-End-

IMPORTANT (Please read if you didn't before) As for this chapter, it is technically the end. There is going to be a rather important Epilogue coming either tonight or tomorrow, so don't stop just because you see those words. PLEASE!

Proposition:

I'd love to write another Hellsing fic, but I have absolutely no clue what to write about. So here's where y'all come in. Send me ideas! I'll accept plots in reviews, by email, whatever. I'll pick one I like, and do it. I won't do smut, or AxS. Okay, I MIGHT reconsider the AxS, but you better have a damned convincing argument. (If you leave a suggestion in a review, please leave an e-mail address if yours isn't in your profile. Thanks!)