Author's note: this was supposed to be a part of the first prologue, but it ran a little long. So here it is, a much faster update than usual.

Twisted Fates —A Hellsing Fanfiction

Prologue II: Setting the Stage

Rome, 1981

"I'm going to grow up and become a priest," she stated stubbornly. "Just like Father Alex."

"Girls can't be priests, Stupid," Enrico replied with his superior twelve-year old intellect. Mussing the hair of his five-year old companion, he grinned at her affectionately. "But you can be a nun," he said consolingly.

She gave him a mutinous glare before stomping her foot. "No!" she declared rebelliously. "I want to be the leader."

He smirked. "Hah," he taunted. "More like I'll be the leader and you'll be my servant!" He watched as her blue eyes caught and waited for the retaliation. He did so enjoy tormenting the little runt.

When retaliation came, however, it came in the unexpected form of her fist connecting to something very…sensitive.

Doubling over in pain, he tried deep even breaths to hold back the cry of pain threatening to escape his mouth.

Looking down at him smugly Integra said, "Father Alex said that if someone was mean to me and tried to scare me, that I should do this." She looked at her fist, fascinated. "It works!" she cried delightedly.

A burst of laughter escaped from the doorway.

Embarrassed, Enrico looked up to see Father Anderson watching them with interest. "Nice trick you taught her," he said ruefully, once he caught his breath.

"Ye probably deserved that, ye brat," he replied. "What did ye do this time?"

"Nothing," he said defensively, watching Integra jump up and down the room.

"Ye should stop teasing her, ye know," he scolded, though not harshly. "She's just a child."

"Huh," snorted Enrico, "and my uncle is just a priest." He turned to watch Integra again. "We're being groomed for something more," he stated. "I know it even if she doesn't yet."

Anderson glanced down at the youth, noting the seriousness of his expression. "All in good time, my boy. All in good time."

Just then, Integra bounded up to them and smiled. "Father! You're back from training?" she asked precociously.

"Yes, my child," he replied.

"Did it hurt this time?" she continued to question, unaware of the undercurrents that suddenly appeared between her two companions.

"Not particularly," he answered easily. "Now how about we talk about yer training? What have ye learned while I was away?"

"Not much," she responded solemnly. "Because you told me not to touch the bayo…bayonets while you're away."

"Bayonets, huh?" Enrico muttered. "And you tell me that she's just a child."

"We all have our roles to play," Anderson stated. "Ye know as well as I."


Rome, 1989

"'Rico!" she greeted, seeing the blond-haired man enter the study. "Or should I say 'Father Maxwell'?" she teased.

The youthful priest blushed and retorted, "That is correct! Learn to properly address your betters."

She began to shriek with laughter. "Say it again," she dared. "With a straight face this time so I won't laugh."

He grinned. "Pest," he called her with affection. "Still receiving lessons from Uncle?"

She nodded and with mock solemnity replied, "So that I may better serve you and the Iscariot Organization."

Enrico blanched and looked around. "Shhh…" he muttered. "People could hear you!" He stepped outside and looked at the hallways just to make sure. "This is no laughing matter, brat!"

"Relax," she said. "There's no one around who would hear." She gave him a superior grin. "I can tell, you know." She smirked. "Besides, I do take the Iscariot Organization seriously. However, when I think that I would have to serve you—"

"Very funny, runt" he said, exasperated.

"Resorting to name-calling, are we?" said a voice from the door.

Enrico slowly turned to see the familiar face of his uncle. "Uncle!" he exclaimed. "I mean…Father Ronaldo," he amended, glaring at his companion.

"Well I'm glad to see that you two are getting along well as usual," he said drolly.

"Just dropped in to see my favorite trainee," he replied.

"Just dropped in to torment me, you mean," the trainee interjected. "It is good to see you, Father," she said slyly.

"Enrico has various duties which keep him busy, as you well know, Integra," stated Father Ronaldo. "In fact, he has duties which should be keeping him busy right this moment," he hinted.

"Oh," said Enrico. "Yes, of course!" he exclaimed, again blushing furiously. He gave Integra a nod, before bidding them farewell.

"Now, Integra," Father Ronaldo began, "let us start off today with vampires. Do you know why vampires are considered to be the most dangerous monster of the night?"


England, 1989

"Are you sure about this, Arthur?" Walter asked his long-time friend and comrade as they slowly made their way to the dungeons. Their progress was hampered by the fact that he had to almost carry Arthur against his shoulders for most of the way.

The Hellsing director nodded as he coughed up more blood. "We are surrounded by my brother's men, Walter," he rasped. "He's been planning this for years, but I've been too blind to notice. You tried to warn me, but I refused to believe it. Been too wrapped up in my own grief this past decade." A few more hacking sounds escaped before they reached the cell.

The sounds of footsteps behind them made Walter turn.

"Brother," rasped Arthur.

"I'm tired of waiting for you to die, Arthur," Richard declared. "You've lingered too long."

Just when he heard the gun shot, Walter opened the door to the cell, throwing him and Arthur down the flight of stairs that led to the one man…one monster he never thought he would see again.

Alucard.


Rome, 1992

Integra ran down the hallway of the orphanage, Enrico's words ringing in her ears.

I got word that Father Anderson is back, he informed her. I need you to find out his condition. Everyone's keeping a tight seal, but what I'm hearing is bad. Find him, Integra, before they do. They speak of executing him on sight.

And so she ran, and checked the orphanage from top to bottom. She had to find Father Alex. Enrico was doing his part in attempting to sway the Organization, but she had to give him time.

She ran back down and outside the building. She'd searched the grounds already and found nothing. She couldn't think of anymore places…

Her heart skipped a beat.

She had not looked there.


"This is preposterous!" he thundered, or as much as the youngest member of their gathering could thunder. "We cannot destroy the one ace we have against the undead! After years of research—"

"We understand that you have sentimental feelings towards Father Anderson, Father Maxwell," replied Father Thomas. "I understand that he helped raise you and your sister—"

"That has nothing to do with it," he spat. "Alexander Anderson is the epitome of our research. To destroy him is tantamount to destroying our most powerful weapon against the vampire."

"He is a weapon that cannot be controlled," replied his uncle steadily. "What use is such to us?"

He glared at his uncle, trying to decipher what lay behind those eyes. Father Ronaldo had a plan, he just knew it. If he could just figure out what—

"What if…what if I can control him?" he asked.

And suddenly, he found himself the recipient of eleven pairs of eyes.


"Father?" she called out as she swung her lantern in front of her. "Father, it's me, Integra. Are you here?" she called out again. "Because I really hate it here," she whispered to herself. She proceeded slowly, wincing at the squishy sound her feet made as she walked in the catacombs. Struggling not to remember the last time she was here, she ventured further down the tunnels.

"Father?" she called to her left. She could have sworn she heard something. "Father?"

"What are ye doing here, Integra?"

She jumped, dropping her lantern.

"Father Alex," she said, relief evident in her voice. She turned to face him.

"Don't look at me!" he ordered from behind her.

"Father," she said uncertainly. "What's going on?" With only the moonlight through the holes of some of the ceiling to help her see, her eyes had trouble adjusting to the darkness. "'Rico told me to find you," she told him. "He said there's trouble."

She heard the sloshing of water behind her and the sound of metal. She started to turn around.

"Don't, Integra!" he ordered.

Heedless of his orders, she turned…and found two blades against her throat.

"Father Alex," she said carefully, "please. Tell me what's wrong."


"You think you can control Anderson?" voices of disbelief were raised around the room.

"I think that his concern for me and my sister will help hold his humanity in check," he stated with more confidence than he felt. "He is loyal to our God. What more could we ask for?"

"Enrico," his uncle's voice rose from the chaos. "Father Maxwell," he corrected himself, "are you willing to risk your life for this?"

Enrico stared at the man under who was both a teacher and a father to him and Integra. He thought of all those times this man had placed him and Integra under the care and tutelage of Father Anderson. Was it all towards this? All those years in the orphanage…was it all for this?

"I would trust my life with Father Anderson," he replied slowly. "As I would trust the life of my sister and the future of the Iscariot to him."


"Run, Integra," he whispered. "Run from this monster."

"What—what are you talking about?" she demanded, albeit with a little less force than she would have wanted. Bayonets against her throat had a way of doing that. "Father," she said tentatively, her hands going up to touch his wrists, "you're hurting me." Gingerly, she started to un-wrap his fingers from his weapons, all the while looking up to his face. "Please," she said again, "give these to me."

Once she had the bayonets in her hands, she heard the quick his of metal drawn and found herself blocking the thrust of swords with the two that she had.

"Kill me, Integra," he threatened, "or it will be yer death instead."

"Don't be ridiculous!" she exclaimed. "You are not going to kill me, Father. If you had wanted to, you would have done so already. We both know that despite your training, I am no match for you in sword play." She pushed against him with all her might. "Now tell me what's going on. Why did Enrico claim that you may be in danger? Not only that, that you may be a danger to us?"

He backed away from her, staring into his hands. "They made me into a monster, Integra," he stated. "I'm no worse than those undead we seek to destroy!"

"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice low. "What have they done?"

"I—I don't think I can die, Integra," he whispered. "Like those vampires."

"That's foolishness," she stated. "Vampires die in our hands all the time." She looked at him closely. "You're not…you're not claiming to be a vampire, are you?" she asked. "Even the Iscariot would not stoop so low as to create a vampire to fight vampires!"

"Nay," he said, "I'm no vampire. But, I don't think I can die." And with that, he turned one of his swords against him and pierced his heart.


"Then we shall wait," Father Ronaldo stated.

"Wait?" asked Enrico, unsure where this was heading.

"I assume that you had your sister find Father Anderson," his uncle told him, informing the people in the room.

He gulped and nodded.

"Then we shall wait and see," he explained. "If your sister can bring Anderson back before our soldiers can, you would have proven your point."


"Father!" she almost shrieked, running to him and knocking him down. Pressing her hand on the wound to keep the blood from flowing out, she started to call for help.

"Hush, hush," he told her, covering her mouth with his free hand. "Look, Integra," he said gently. "Look at me."

With a dazed expression, she looked at the wound she had covered with her hand. The blood had stopped flowing. In fact, if she didn't' know any better…she took one of the bayonets and tore a part of the Father's clothes, the part covering his heart.

There, where the wound should have been, was an unmarked chest.

She gasped and stumbled back, staring at Father Alex as he stood before her.

"Do ye see now, Integra?" he asked softly. "Do ye see?"

"It's…it's…it's a miracle," she said, her eyes shining.


The room had been quiet for some time. The only sound that disturbed the peace was the ringing of the bell outside, signaling the start of morning prayers. And yet, all twelve men remained in their positions, waiting.

As dawn's light began to shine through in the windows, Enrico found his uncle's eyes looking at him through the rim of his glasses.

"Are you still so confident, nephew?" he asked.

"Father Anderson would not harm Integra," he stated. "She is his student and his charge the moment you brought her to the orphanage."

Father Ronaldo smiled.


"No monster, this, Father," she said, her voice building with excitement, "but a miracle from God!"

"These are man's tools, Integra," he spat, "hardly a work of God."

"Then it is God that made it possible," she insisted. "For nothing is above the will of God."

"Ye…ye don't think I'm a monster?" he asked. "Ye're not afraid of me?"

"I will never be afraid of you," she said. "Never."


The door opened with a loud bang, jostling the occupants of the room from their waiting silence.

Looking up from where he sat, Enrico saw the entrants and smiled. They were a little ragged around the edges, but they were alive. What's more they were together.

"Father Enrico," she called to him.

He stood, approaching them slowly.

"Your servants," she said, her voice low as she bowed her head and kissed his hand.

He almost laughed. He had a feeling that the little hellcat was probably seething at this act of obeisance. But his uncle had trained them all well and Integra knew which face to show for this meeting.

"My child," he heard his uncle's voice behind him.

"Father Ronaldo," she greeted, "I had thought to help bring Father Anderson to this room. He seemed out of sorts."

Enrico covered his grin and watched the face of the other members of Section XIII. He had a feeling that this would be the dawn of a new order. His eyes met those of his uncle's and he read the gleam of approval before he turned to talk to dismiss Integra from the room.

Yes, a new order.

TBC.