Ich Will
Chapter Four
A/N: Thanks again to all my reviewers! Sorry it took so long, but my grades have been lowering and I was banned from the computer…Well, their up once more and I'm no longer banned…Did you know my computer's name is Enrico Maxwell? …I like naming stuff from my favorite anime's… Any ways, here are some questions that I thought you guys would like to have answered!
Binding with Briars my Joys and Desires
Oh, deep. Lol. I kind of figured out the whole hair thing, since Alucard's turned from silverish to black, Integra's should be the opposite. I love the whole swear thing, and I have some awesome ideas for that... but shh, that's up to you to show us your brilliant ideas. Update soon! Oh, and is Walter going to be in this as a vampire taking Seras role?
NLH: Thank you! And to your question, Seras is most definitely going to be taking on Walter's role, but I'm not too sure about Walter becoming Integra's childe… Please give me your opinions on it!
krazykris ()
Like the story so far but I will admit the whole Alucard falling for Integra does seem rushed and as a righteous protestant knight isn't he supposed to resist her for at least a full chapter? Maybe throw in some angst w/ the tragedy?
NLH: A very good opinion, but please remember. Everything is reversed (not exactly EVERYTHING…but I think you get what I mean). The real Integra has resisted Alucard from the first day they met till she was twenty-three. Now think of my story… (A little spoiler I suppose).
A/N: That wraps up all of the most intriguing questions. Thank you Death's Integrity, darkangel-allways, Binding with Briars my Joys and Desires, Kigern, Kiya, Reis Nailo, Twilight of the Shadows, and everyone who asked the above questions!
For disclaimer, please read chapter one.
Integra had been patrolling the vast hallways of the Hellsing Manor for the first half of the night. Alucard knew because he was too excited to fall asleep and had decided to join her. Seras, his retainer, was due to come home at any given time and he was eager to greet her when she did.
Three days had passed since Uncle Richard's death and one day since he agreed to Integra's Oath, but Seras had been gone right after his father's death to deal with problems in South America.
She should be home if nothing went wrong.
Concern swept throughout Alucard's entire being. His smooth skin on his face had scrunched together, whilst he struggled to not think of her. She's served Hellsing for more than fifty years as the organization's Trash Woman, but the last thirteen she's been his caretaker. She was only mere inches away from being his mother, since she had died at the day of his birth.
Thinking of Seras aroused memories of sleepless nights that still plagued Alucard.
"You killed her!"
His father had just come home from one of the average three month meetings with the Knights of the Round. Lionel's breath reeked of a foul substance; though what it was he did not know. Seras pleaded for him to cease his mad ravings, but he had thrust her to the side. He stormed straight for him, latching tightly to his pajama top and managing to lift him above the ground.
"You should have heard her talking about you! "He will be glorious, Lionel!" or, "I'm so happy to have you, Alucard!" that's all a bunch of rubbish! She loved you before she had even met you, and you killed her!" His hand quivered tightly, a hint of tears showing from his blazing eyes.
"Please, Papa! I'm sorry!" Alucard whimpered, struggling against his father's hands.
"Sorry won't bring her back!" He threw him to the ground and swiftly turned, storming out of his bedroom with a slam of the door.
Seras crawled over to his weeping form, cooing to him softly. Whenever she was around, it seemed as if the world wasn't as much of a scary place…
His father always blamed him for his lover's death, but Seras always said that God had told her it was just her time to go. Without Seras, he would be completely alone; none of the maids, tutors and servants that brought him his food and cleaned his room would ever speak to him, besides asking him for their orders.
But not anymore.
He stopped walking once he realized that he was the only one in the dimly lighted hallway. Turning around, he caught sight of smooth transparent hair feet away from him. If not for her hair, Integra would've been completely invisible from her naturally dark skin and dirty brown bindings.
He returned to her side by stepping through a door that led to his father's old office. There a large picture of his father hung with his vampire staring wide eyed at it.
"Something wrong, Integra?" he asked, slightly hoarse as he slipped his hand into her blood stained glove.
She didn't reply for a minute, but he waited patiently for her answer.
"Lionel was a good friend of mine, just as I was a good pet to him," she whispered, her voice contained no emotion as for her face.
He nodded, "Did you ever meet my mum?"
She grinned, but it wasn't pleasant, "Yes, oh yes!"
She finally turned away from Lionel, "Perhaps I'll tell you about her later." Through the office windows, a light broke through the night sky.
"Seras!" Alucard shouted, delight clearly evident in his tone.
He pulled Integra along with him while he ran out of his father's office, through the barely lit hallways, down the two sets of joined stairs, and finally made it to the two large doors in the entrance hall.
Integra looked disturbed, yet amused when Alucard told her who Seras was to him. Then the two large French doors slowly opened and a woman, no older than seventy stepped inside. Behind her the two doors slammed shut and she locked them tiredly.
Before Alucard could greet her in any way, Integra had stepped forward with a large smile planted on her face and a chilling, "Welcome back, Goddess of Death."
He was speechless when Seras looked as if she had experienced a small shock. "Count…" was her whispered reply.
"There is no need for pleasantries," Integra had interrupted, placing her index finger upon Seras lips.
His retainer looked very fearful till she stared down at him then back upon his vampire. "May I have a word with you…Integra?"
Her grin grew and she bowed mockingly, "Certainly, old Friend."
Alucard remained where he was; a small smile planted upon his face as he wondered what on earth had spooked his servant, Seras, so badly.
As soon as they had entered the basement of Hellsing, Seras had slammed Integra into the brick wall with such a force that would've permanently crippled any normal woman.
"You did it again!" she screamed, drawing her face closer to Integra's.
The vampire was laughing crazily while nodding her head up and down the wall, "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! What are you going to do now, Goddess? Didn't think Richard would betray my young master as he did before to our old one? You didn't think my young master would ever dare to let me out, did you?"
"You tricked him…" Seras growled in her throat, withdrawing her hands away from her and resting her head against Integra's shoulder, "Just tell me why you did it," she asked quietly.
Finally, Integra laughter fell silent, barely aware of the silent tears Seras cried.
"Why, Integra?" She asked again with more stress.
She still remained quiet, sliding down across the brick wall onto her bottom with Seras kneeling down beside her.
"Why, Count?" Seras screamed, shaking Integra's shoulders.
Easily, she allowed Seras to release some of her stress upon her by a backhanded slap even though Integra could have stopped her. Her crimson eyes landed upon Seras' blue ones.
"He wanted it."
She backed away from the vampire and held her hand across her own face, "Wanted it? How? He knows what you are! He's been trained since a child to kill your kind!"
"It's him…I know it," Integra murmured, drawing away her gaze from Seras.
"Him?" Seras asked.
"Him."
The woman shuddered and turned away from her, "You're not serious, you can't be. Oh, not Alucard!" She ran away from the vampire, missing the bloody tears that slid down Integra's face.
Alucard was sprawled across the stairway when Seras appeared looking slightly flustered.
"Seras!" he cried and finally hugged the woman.
She nodded. Patting his head, she pulled him away and knelt down to his size which was only a couple of inches, "I need to talk to you."
"Alright."
He followed her throughout the hallways of his home when he finally blurted out, "Where's Integra?"
Seras flinched, "It nears dawn, so she decided it'd be best if she were to sleep."
"Oh," disappointment, yet relief filled his voice.
They stood in Alucard's trashed bedroom. The sheets of the bed were lying across the floor; the drawer was knocked down and cracked, the air ventilation door broken.
"I know you went through a lot after your father died, Alucard," Seras started, turning to face the boy, "but you need to tell me why you agreed to Integra's Oath."
Her deep blue eyes chilled Alucard to the bone, but he would not refuse to answer her, "It felt right." He shrugged slightly.
"Alucard, this is serious! Do you have even the slightest of clues as to what you've done?" Seras's voice reached a higher pitch.
Anger flooded through him, one that he could not understand. Why would Seras question him? He was now Lord of this house? He was the one who made decisions for both himself and for the good of the organization!
Seras went on before he could say anything more, "Like father like son, they say!" She chuckled slightly and shook her head.
"What?" Alucard haughtily asked.
"Your father fell into the tempest's hands too! Long before you were born, Lionel was Integra's master as well as her lover. A perfect duo, they were. He would assign her to an assignment to destroy vampires, werewolves, hybrids, created fiends, even the Nazis. As she defended England and himself, he returned to her a promise of everlasting love. But after a certain mission that she and myself had completed, right after the war; Lionel had found a new love."
Alucard couldn't hide his shock from his face.
"She was from Africa, as we had soon found out, and she needed money to help save her dieing parents. He was instantly engrossed with Hellsing's new maid. Following her spellbound as she cleaned. But Integra soon found out. We don't know how, since our new maid cleaned during the afternoon and Integra slept during the day. During one of the Round Table conferences, Lionel came home to see blood stained sheets with a very frightened woman atop them. The night after that, Integra had tried to kill Richard."
"Good," Alucard interrupted abruptly.
Seras sat down on his bed, crossing her hands over her lap gingerly and spoke, "Integra told me something that dealt with Richard. Will you tell me what happened between you three that posses you with an icy hand?"
He stared evenly at her, "He tried to kill me, Seras! He shot me!" he smashed his hand squarely upon his shoulder, pulling at the clothing that was once his father's, yanking it down roughly. The bloody cloth that had been wrapped around the wound by an unknown source was loosening with dry blood caking the edges.
"Richard actually tried to take over than," Seras said with neutral emotion when she slid forward and began unwrapping the wound with care.
"Yes," Alucard agreed, trying not to wince with pain.
She fell silent as she went on with her work. Once the tan cloth had been removed, she sat with quiet observation before announcing, "It is infected. We'll have to call Dr. Trevaltie to tend to it."
Alucard too, sat with silence with guilt in hic conscience. Seras only cared what was best for him, but he wouldn't allow her to tell him that making the Oath with Integra was a wrong decision.
Instead of telling her this, he said, "Please go on with the story."
Seras nodded slightly, "Alright. I'm not sure if this is the correct truth, but this is the version that everyone saw. After Richard came prowling to Lionel to tell him, even showing him some of his wounds, your father made off to send Integra immediately to her cell. Lionel loved his older brother dearly, and he wouldn't allow someone who tried to harm his wife; kill his brother. That night, Integra was talking to me about freedom and what she would go as far as going to achieve it. I nodded with a simple stillness when she suggested that she had enough of the world of the living. She told me that once she was rid of the Hellsing organization, she too, will banish to wherever damned creatures such as her go. After she told me that, she left the basement to the higher levels of the manor; myself following behind with a childish curiosity. Just when she had reached the doors, footsteps assembled to the sides and behind us. Lionel had called me back to join the ranks of the soldiers and I had agreed. Her cold laughter came slowly and rose to an ear shattering pitch. She turned around and looked up to see her ex-lover up on the second floor staring back at her. 'Love is only love, I suppose.' She declared, 'And that you found love in someone who is living is the definition of human love. Though did I not warn you before, that you should find one that is alive? Did I not?' she shouted, before another rally of laughter, "God forgives all of his children who sin and break his law, he gives them another chance. So tell me Sir Hellsing? Will you take my offer of becoming one of the childe's of the undead?" Your father was a proud man, Alucard. He denied her with a sort of kindness, before giving the signal for us to open fire. That we did, and with my help, we had gathered Integra into her bindings and sent her to a cell blessed from God and the Hellsing seal. And there she slept for twenty years." She took a deep breath and patted Alucard smoothly on the back.
"That is why I warn you, Alucard. I believe that Integra is still insane and wishes revenge against the Hellsing family for keeping her locked away for so long and breaking her Oath," she lent down closer to Alucard's ear, and whispered softly, "Thou agreed to thy's Oath, so thou shalt not break it, unless thou wishes to suffer."
He listened intently, feeling a small sense of fear.
Seras leaned away from him and smiled "If you want a more accurate version of the story, I suggest you talk to Integra. For my memory isn't as good as it used to be."
Alucard returned from a dreamlike state and asked, "Integra was in there for twenty years?"
A chill slept throughout the room and the familiar shadows gathered to form a being that was Integra. Her face was hidden beneath her silvery hair, but her bindings were clearly visible as the loosened bindings touched the floor. "Twenty years, thirteen days, and six hours to be more accurate," she affirmed.
Seras agreed.
"Master, you should listen to Seras and go see the kind Doctor," Integra stated.
He shook his head, "It's not that bad, it doesn't really hurt now."
"It's not a matter of whether it hurts now or not, Master, it concerns the future and if you'll be able to kill the leagues of the undead, as well as putting up with Her Majesty and the Knights of the Round," she snapped irritably.
Alucard shakily stood up, bid the two a good night before leaving them.
"A nice kid, a little dense around the edges, but has great potential," Integra murmured, gaining the response of a small laugh from Seras.
"I know someone else who is dense," Seras said innocently.
"Whom?"
"A certain someone who finally gets to see a good friend after twenty years wearing garbage," Seras snickered lightly while taking one of Integra's hands and leading her down to her quarters.
To Be Continued…