This chapter is sort of short, I know, but I did not want to include the contents in chapter 5 at the end of this one squeezed in. Reviews would be appreciated. I would like to know what you all think of my little story.
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His step was light as he made his way back into his room at the Organization.
"My God, what have I done?" Alucard chuckled and smiled into the darkness. He walked like a schoolboy in love, with hands in pockets, and chin stuck out proudly.
"I hope she doesn't scare off. I quite like her. Yes, she's proven to be the one. How the fairies treated her tells me everything I need to know. I guess it was true, what Lina told me all those years ago about the one I would meet. Who'd have thought that—"
"And just where have you been all night? I had your little pet Seras looking for you, and she reported that she couldn't sense you anywhere near the compound!"
Alucard's grin slid right off, like it had never been there in the first place. He clenched the fists in his pockets and looked up at Integra Hellsing through the shadows.
"Just what concern is it of yours where I spend my time? You've never cared before, why should you care now, little Hellsing?" Alucard leaned back against a wall and brought out his hands from his pockets, crossing them in front of him in the process.
Integra growled low in her throat and quickly stepped in front of him. "It was no concern of mine before when you didn't actually go anywhere, or when the farthest you'd leave was to the outskirts of the property. But now, you've been disappearing for the past week, leaving the troops unprotected, and coming back now at the early hours of the morning, it is my business."
Alucard pushed off the wall and had Integra trip on her own feet in the process.
"I think it's the perfect night for a stroll in the moonlight." He said as he moved closer and closer to her and then just walked past.
"Alucard! Alucard! Where are you going? Oh this is so useless!" Said Integra as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
She would find out where he'd been though. The next time Alucard left she'd have Walter follow. Yes, that was the best tracker she could set on him. God knows Alucard would sense his little pet miles away if Integra decided to send her to track him instead.
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"Seras, come to me."
Alucard sat on the ledge of the Hellsing Organization's roof. He swung his legs up and down as he waited for her to come. Tonight he'd tell her. He was sure that Amaya would say yes to him, but even if she didn't, he was sure that he'd stop his work for Hellsing after Friday's dinner. He sighed and turned his head as he heard Seras approaching from behind.
"Yes master?"
"Come sit next to me. There is something of importance we must discuss." Much like Amaya had done earlier in the night, he patted her intended sitting place next to him.
"I know it's important." She said as he hopped over the ledge and sat.
What do you mean you know?"
"You called me Seras instead of Police girl. Whenever you have something important to say, you call my name."
Alucard chuckled. "Is that so, Police Girl? And here I thought you hadn't noticed. But to be serious, there is something that you need to know."
"Yes master. Go ahead."
"Tonight I don't feel like playing games, so I'll be very honest with you. I...I don't think that I'll be working for the Organization for much longer. I—"
"But!"
"DO NOT INTERRUPT ME AGAIN POLICE GIRL!" He roared. And just like nothing, he assumed the tranquil face he'd held before her interruption.
"Next Friday I will have dinner with someone very special to me. She is to give me an answer to a question that I will have given all this week starting this morning on Saturday to think about. No matter what answer she gives me, I am going to leave here. During this week, I need you to decide whether you would like to take my position here, or whether you want me to finally break Integra's patience and relieve you of your duties here. You will then be free to go wherever you like. You have already drunk some of my blood; I have no power over you except as your mentor. As I told once before, it is to be your choice. Whatever you decide is fine with me. I will not judge you."
And with the he fell silent. She had only seen him this serious once before, and that was when he had made her. Seras looked to her master, but found him staring out at the moon.
"Master, may I ask who she is?" Alucard turned to her and said, "The only possible salvation I have left." He was smiling, but she'd never seen her master so sad. Seras did the only thing that occurred to her. She shifted closer and put her arm around him.
"There, there master. I'm sure that everything will turn out fine."
"I hope so. For my sake and everyone else's but yours on this compound." And he was off in a black vortex.
Seras sat on the ledge for a long time after thinking of his words. Leave his position to her? "He must be completely off his nut now." She thought. But he'd also offered her the freedom she'd thought about from time to time. Just what was out there for a baby like her? She'd been undead for only a little. The basics she knew, but what was she to do all by herself? "Enough!" She thought, and stood. She had a whole week to think about this, she would not torment herself with the decision on the first night. Seras made her way down to her chambers, completely unaware of the camera that had been watching her and her master during their entire conversation.
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Amaya sat cross-legged on her couch in sweat pants and a sports bra. In front of her was a mug of hot chocolate and in her lap laid one of her photo albums. Tiersen was back on her stereo and she was caught up in the nostalgia of old photographs. Her and her friends in high school, her and her friends in college, her and her parents at home during some party, and finally, her and Marcos sitting down on a bench somewhere laughing about something that had probably been very funny at the time. And that's when the sobs began. She cried for her old self, and she cried for the person she'd become. She cried for the outcast she'd let herself be. Amaya stood and put the album down, then began walking to the window. She hurried her pace and pulled apart the curtains with all her might, and sobbed against the glass.
"I can't do this anymore. Maybe I'm crazy, maybe he's crazy, but I cannot keep killing myself at this agonizing snail's pace. Who ever he is, I don't care. He seems like a good man; maybe a bit loopy, but certainly very good. And I think he wants me just as badly as I need him. And wow, every time I see him I feel like my heart will fly out of my chest."
She stared at her reflection in the glass, and really took a good look at it. Pretty hair, pretty eyes, pretty mouth, pretty nose,-maybe some dark circles around the eyes-, but those could be dealt with. Amaya took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. She felt she was good enough for him. Why not? Determined eyes looked out to what was slowly becoming Saturday morning. Her wristwatch told her it was 3:00 AM, but she did not feel tired in the least, so she stood at her window, legs slightly parted, arms at her sides, and back straight, looking out into her world. She realized that she did not want to live by herself, or live inside the many novels that lined the walls of her apartment. She would let herself fall into this fantastical world that had opened its doors to her. If tomorrow they came to lock her up, then at least she'd have enjoyed the night she'd spent with him in the London Summer Carnival. If no one came, then well, she'd continue seeing him; he who had showed her a little sliver of the magic in this world. Starting Monday, if he came, she would try to find out more about his tastes, about who he was, about what he liked, and any other tid-bits he'd be willing to let go of. Amaya still thought it was tad odd that she wasn't allowed to ask personal question until dinner Friday night. She could wait though. What was a week? Nothing at all, and an eternity in itself.
Amaya smiled then, and turned back to her apartment. She took a look around her and shook her head.
"What a mess. Tomorrow. Now, sleep." She blew out the candle on the coffee table and shuffled to her bedroom.
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When he left Seras he hadn't mean to end up on the same ledge as before, the one across from her building, but nonetheless, he was here again. And she was crying. Was it about him? He hoped it wasn't. They'd had such a great time together, and he didn't want to think that it was because of him that she had been pressed against her window crying. But then she'd smiled after some time. Women! They were entirely different creatures. It still frustrated him to no end that he couldn't tell what she was thinking. He sat at the ledge for a little while longer to see if anything else occurred of interest. The most he got was Amaya walking back in a robe to turn off the lights. After that, he pushed himself off the ledge once more and through the black vortex in the air landed in his quarters.
Sebastian's letter was still on the writing desk, and it was a good time to answer it as any. He took off his coat, boots and gloves, and sat down. Sighing, he dipped his pen in ink and began his reply:
Dearest Sebastian,
It's wonderful to hear about Lucia! I wish the best for you two. I hope you will be attending the Opera this year; I plan to attend myself, but don't tell anyone this news. I would like it to be a surprise. Yes, I am resurfacing once again, maybe this time for good. Depending on how certain plans go next week, I'll have either have an extra surprise for you or I may not. We have so much to catch up on. You'd laugh if I told you were I was tonight. Anyway, we'll leave that for later when we meet. Oh, and you should send me a recent picture of yourself with your wife, I need one for my album! All I seem to have is old dusty pictures. Until the Opera...
All my love,
A.
Alucard looked at the letter one final time, folded, and sealed it with wax. He wrote Sebastian's name on the envelope in big intricate letters, and left the envelope on the writing desk to be mailed the following night. He could have taken it to the mailbox now, but he did not want to run the risk of running into Integra again. He'd rip her jugular vein out of her neck if she so much as uttered one word to him. So instead, he climbed into his coffin, shut the lid, and stopped thinking for the rest of the night.