"In more than fifty-five years of acquaintance, I believe this is the first time I've seen you wear anything other than your usual attire or a business suit."

Walter glanced down at his clothes. "What surprises me more is that the Major, despite not expecting to capture me, had still planned ahead enough to have this waiting." He shook his head in admiration, "You must give him credit for exceptional long-term planning."

He rotated his shoulders and cracked his neck. "Your new look didn't last very long. I'm surprised. The warlord appearance was very martial."

Alucard laughed and looked down at his familiar red coat and the two guns in his hands. "I indulged myself in a bit of nostalgia, but I am not that man. I am not a man at all."

Walter nodded, a sardonic smile played across his lips and he looked down at his own hands with their familiar gloves and rings and fine crosshatching of whisper-thin scars. "I believe that I understand. Nostalgia for what is no longer within my grasp strikes me as self-defeating."

"Self-defeating Walter?" Alucard looked at the vampire who had been Hellsing's Angel of Death with a mixture of scorn and something that might have been empathy if a monster like Alucard could be capable of empathy.

Walter held out his right hand; a string of beads wrapped around his right wrist. He pointed then to Alucard's gloves. "When did you stop fighting your seals? Long before I knew you."

"Yes, but I chose to stay and serve –"

"For your own reasons. Yes, I know." Walter interrupted him unapologetically. "I'm going to die, Alucard." He looked again at the beads around his wrist. "They aren't as dramatic as your gloves," he commented while he studied them. "But at least I don't have to keep my hands covered all the time. Doc does some remarkable engraving work. After you kill me, do take a look at the sigils he has engraved on each of the beads."

"Why are you so certain that I'm going to kill you, Walter?"

"Because if you don't, I will fulfill my orders from my master, the Major, and you can't have that." Walter's tone was calm, his face was calm, but his eyes were tormented.

Alucard's voice was soft, "And your orders are?"

"I wish I could tell you, but…"

"Your orders don't allow it?"

Walter didn't answer the question. "Tell her I'm sorry I failed her."

Alucard nodded. "I will."

"Shall we dance?"

The drums of war set the beat.