Thank you to my reviewers: JashinsPriestess42, Jo, fandelivres, KuroNeko513, Viper82897, xMiss Shizaya Michaelisx, for your words of encouragement! Thank you, also, to those who added this story to an alert/favorite list!
It's been almost a year since I started writing this story… and it's still going! My, how time flies. Or I'm just a slow writer.
Oh, these past couple of chapters have been such a pain to write! So much writing, editing, and deleting (especially editing and deleting)! Nevertheless, I would be lying if I said I wasn't happy with the final product of each.
Please read, review, and enjoy! : )
I do not own Hellsing.
"She hasn't woken up yet?"
"No. Sick people tend to sleep."
Amelia stirred slightly under the sheets, becoming aware of the voices around her. Recognizing both and not up to dealing with either, she decided to keep her eyes closed.
"So boring," Schrödinger moaned, the volume of his voice suggesting he was in close proximity to her. The mattress beside her head creaked.
Ignore him. Doc will probably kick him out soon anyway.
"Haha, I can see her eyeballs moving beneath her eyelids! Is she dreaming?" If she was awake, he would talk; if she was asleep, he would talk. It was a no-win situation.
"Perhaps," came Doc's terse reply.
"She looks so peaceful." Schrödinger let out a dreamy sigh. "Like Snow White or the Sleeping Beauty."
"Now is not the time to discover hormones, Schrödinger."
"Do you think she would wake up if I kissed her?" Amelia's eyes immediately opened at the comment.
"Do not touch her." The doctor warned, his back to the teenagers. Mumbling under his breath, he walked out the door, sweeping the curtain aside and leaving the two in silence.
Schrödinger was on his knees, elbows propped on the mattress next to Amelia's face. He was watching the door with his lips puckered comically, but looked down at Amelia when he saw her move. His mouth spread into a wide Cheshire grin.
"D-don't you dare!" Amelia pulled away from the cat-boy, her face turning red. Sadly, the wall prevented her from getting any more than a foot away from the other teenager.
Getting to his feet the young male turned towards the door and shouted. "Hey, Doc! It worked!"
"Schrödinger!" A pair of feet stomped across the lab, heading back to the room. When Doc burst into the room, his shoulders were rising and falling quickly with angry pants, teeth grinding as he laid eyes on the grinning boy. Storming their way, Amelia thought the doctor was going to strangle the youth.
"He –," Amelia swallowed, "he didn't…do…anything…" She hid herself further beneath the covers as her voice got smaller, fearful of the doctor's wrath.
Clenching his jaw, Doc glared at Schrödinger, who retreated from the bedside but refused to excuse himself from the room.
Amelia sat up warily when the doctor approached the bed, pulling out a pair of scissors from his pocket and setting his clipboard down on the dresser. He had been willing to have someone inflict pain on her, so she could no longer rule out the possibility of him doing the same.
But the anger ebbed from his expression as he pointed the scissors at her left arm. "Let's see what we have under those bandages."
Hesitantly, Amelia extended her bandaged limb. Getting a better look at it in the light, she was surprised, if not a little disturbed, at how thin the bandages were. There wasn't even a cast. Is he treating my injuries seriously?
Doc began to cut at the bandages, making no excuse for the light wrapping as he peeled them back from her arm and discarded them on the floor. He smiled as he finished pulling away the last strips of cloth.
"All healed, I see. Much better," he commented as he prodded at her forearm. "Can you make a fist?"
In shock, Amelia curled her fingers, staring at her arm as she did so. It was as if the bones had never been broken. There was no damaged skin, no bruising or swelling. She opened her mouth, but shut it after no sound came out.
"We'll take an X-ray later." Doc muttered to himself, picking up his clipboard and writing. "Lie back down. I'm going to need you to lift up your shirt."
Her face heating again, Amelia lay back on the bed, aware that she was wearing only one shirt. She glanced at Schrödinger, who had begun to sneak closer, peering around the doctor to watch him work.
When Doc lowered his clipboard to see that Amelia hadn't pulled her shirt away from her bandaged chest, he sighed, trading the clipboard for the scissors again. Catching the glances she sent in the cat-boy's direction, he turned to the youth. "Leave. I don't remember giving you permission to come in here."
"But the Captain isn't here, so you need someone to be on guard, ja?"
Amelia couldn't help but glance around the room at Schrödinger's comment. He was right: for the first time in several days, the Captain was not watching over her.
"Rip is in the lab." Doc answered matter-of-factly.
"I don't hear h –"
"I've forbidden her from singing in here." The doctor cut him off, shooing him away with a wave.
Schrödinger let out a grunt, crossing his arms and turning his back to Doc before disappearing.
Only when she was sure that the young male was gone did Amelia reluctantly lift her shirt.
Doc gave a disappointed hum as he removed the bandages. "A bit of scarring. I'll check again in a few hours. Do you feel any pain if you breathe deeply?" He adjusted the stethoscope around his neck listening to her heartbeat.
"N-no." Amelia answered, quickly pulling her shirt back down when the doctor allowed.
The wound wasn't even stitched up. But it's like… She sat up and poked at her left arm. It's impossible. "W-what does this mean? Why…?"
"It means that you have regenerative capabilities," said the doctor, his eyebrows raised in surprise, as if she should have figured it out on her own. "However, I'd like to speed up the healing process. It's been over twenty-four hours and as you can see, that chest wound hasn't completely healed."
Amelia looked to Doc, wearing an incredulous expression.
"She was able to regenerate faster." Doc explained, pocketing the scissors and picking the wrappings off the floor. "But then, I must take into account that you are not She. Regeneration may be a consciously controlled process, which would mean your inexperience is to blame. On the other hand, after repairing itself so many times, the body may begin to react on its own, as it did with She. I only gave you the injection a day and a half ago, so time could also be a factor…" He trailed off thoughtfully.
"In-jec-tion?" Amelia sounded out the word slowly, as if it was foreign to her tongue.
"Yes, the remainder of She's blood." The man's mood soured and he stuffed the pieces of cloth in his pockets before crossing his arms. "Understand, Miss Harker, that it was not my intention to have you impaled. Not all lung injuries are fatal, but even with my medical knowledge and skills, you would have died if not for that injection. Can you imagine how much information could have been lost? Everything would have had to be pushed back…" He exhaled, waiting for some of the tension to leave his shoulders before continuing in a level tone. "Fortunately, once I gave you her blood, your body began to repair itself at a significant rate until your life was no longer in danger; at that point, regeneration slowed. Quite an intriguing reaction, don't you think?"
Scary, more like. Amelia looked down at her lap without giving him a reply. Whether she wanted to admit it or not – and she didn't – Millennium was making progress with her. She was far from willing to cooperate, but her escape was hindered as long as she was in her room or in the laboratory and under watch.
"I am going to hold off on any further analysis until tomorrow. Your fever has lowered in the past few hours, and you should be in good health by the morning." Doc shook his head, as though his own decision saddened him. "Although the thought of getting started early tempts me, I must consider your health as well as the Major's future plans."
"What plans?" Amelia recalled the Major's talk of war and vampires, but she was still unsure as to what was expected of her.
"The Major did say during your first meeting, yes? Or were you ignoring his little speech? If you were, you are in luck: such monologues are common." Doc cleared his throat. "As the Major said, you are the grandchild of She, which means your blood is also tainted by Alucard's."
"Alucard?" Interrupted Amelia.
The man shrugged. "Alucard, Dracula – there are many names given to him: the first vampire… The reason you are important is because of your – let's call it a 'relation' – to Alucard. A part of him, his essence, power, is inside of you, having remained dormant up until yesterday. She's blood served to awaken yours, and now those abilities of the vampire Alucard will begin to manifest in you. With your abilities, we will prepare the battalion for war, creating stronger, better, soldiers. The powers of a vampire, accessible to humans! The human race could move forward to overcome its weaknesses, advance, and become something great!" He coughed to clear his throat, realizing his voice was growing louder with excitement. Adjusting the spectacles on his nose, he picked up his clipboard, getting ready to leave.
"I will be outside, should you need anything. Rip is also out there, though I suggest you just ignore her." He reached for the curtain.
"But vampires are dead. I'm not dead." Amelia spoke up, although her voice held a degree of uncertainty. Her father had told her stories. How much truth had there been to the monsters in them?
"No, you're not dead. And I am not referring to you as a vampire, if that is what you are assuming," Doc paused on his way out. "Vampires linger between death and life, being neither fully alive nor fully dead. It is true that I injected you with a vampire's blood as you were dying, but you must recall that your blood was already unnatural from birth. No one has heard of a vampire giving birth before, and I believe it is common knowledge, even to the oblivious inhabitants of the outside world, that vampires are not created through intercourse. To be frank, I don't know what you are, Miss Harker. And that is why these upcoming weeks are going to be so interesting."