He walked calmly to his destination, the cool night breeze ruffling his red coat and wide brimmed fedora as he mused over the newest spate of attacks troubling the United Kingdom.
A little over a month ago reports of violent attacks began to reach their ears. Unlike the normal issues such as vampires and the ghouls they spawned, these attacks were committed by bestial monsters that seemed to be made of darkness given form. The fact that the creatures dissipated into nothingness once dispatched only added to the mystery.
At first they theorized that this was a new capability of whatever group was behind the recent uptick in vampire attacks, but that was disproven when they came across a fight between those creatures, which were currently codenamed Shades, and a vampire and its ghouls. Which meant that now they had no leads as to where they were coming from, only that the attacks were becoming more frequent.
They'd received a report of another attack on a small town on the Scottish side of the England/Scotland border less than an hour before. The call was cut off pretty quickly and abruptly, but 'shadow monsters' was rather clear in what there was to hear. Thus the Hellsing Organization dispatched their resident monster to kill lesser ones.
Alucard glanced up at the full moon through his sunglasses as the town came into sight. Unusually for one of these attacks, however, he could not make out the sounds of any Shades still prowling the area. Indeed, people could still be heard and seen moving around. Was the attack repelled without his intervention? Or was this whoever was behind the monsters doing something in the town? He focused his inhuman sight to make out who it was, seeing what appeared to be the townspeople moving around under their own power, some helping the wounded or weeping over the dead. His attention was immediately drawn to the figure standing at the entrance to the town on the main road, arms crossed as he stared directly at Alucard with glowing emerald eyes.
He appeared to be in his mid-teens, though Alucard knew better than to believe that was his actual age, or that it indicated what his combat capabilities were. He had pitch black hair with streaks of white in it that did not look like the sort of dye job kids tended to have. He was fairly pale, but had eldritch markings on most of his visible skin. He wore a tight forest green t-shirt and sturdy looking jeans under a long leather coat of odd black leather, the outfit rounded out by the steel toed combat boots on his feet.
Alucard paused ten feet from the boy, waiting for some sort of reaction. Said boy seemed to come to a decision because his stance shifted ever so subtly, his hostility increased. "If you're here to harm these people, then I'm afraid I'm going to need to destroy you." He said pleasantly.
Alucard grinned, eyes glinting behind his glasses. "What makes you think I'm here to hurt them?" He asked with light amusement in his tone.
"I could feel you coming from a mile away." The boy said, green eyes piercing. "A mass of darkness and barely restrained violence and bloodlust. Anybody attuned to the shadow would have to be dead to miss it."
Interesting. Alucard had not heard a human describe him that way before. It indicated that there was something off about the boy, different than the usual trash he dealt with. The markings on his skin were apparently more than just a fashion statement.
"And how do you think you could stop me if that's the case?" Alucard asked as he drew his .454 Casull, getting ready for the upcoming fight. As the boy drew two longswords Alucard knew he'd get an earful for getting into an unnecessary fight when he could have prevented it by just informing the boy he was here to see to the citizens' safety.
But where was the fun in that?
Seras Victoria heard the sounds of her Master in combat coming from the direction of her target, which made her increase her pace as she lugged about her massive 30mm Harkonnen Anti-Tank Cannon through the woods that surrounded the village.
She'd been ordered by Sir Integra to make her way to the village through said woods in order to eliminate any hostiles inhabiting it while Alucard performed the primary assault. It had become pretty standard procedure since the Shade attacks had begun, and so far worked well.
Curiously enough she did not encounter any monsters as she made her way. Usually they swarmed her as she got nearer, something about her and her Master's natures drawing them in, which was useful for making sure they were all dealt with.
Reaching the treeline the fledgeling vampire moved up a small hill and dropped prone into a sniping position. What she saw made her tilt her head in confusion.
She couldn't see a single Shade in the town, and the townspeople looked… well, not fine, but alive. They'd definitely been recently attacked, if the wounded and few dead she saw in the streets around what she presumed to be a doctor's clinic was any indication, but they didn't seem to be in danger any longer.
Shifting her enhanced gaze she saw various oddly dressed and armed people throughout the town. At first she thought they'd finally gotten a lead on whoever was behind the Shades, but then she saw a young woman in a blue late 1800s dress gently comforting a woman crying over a sheet covered corpse and the idea lost weight.
Finally, after her initial observations, she let her gaze be drawn to the spectacle occurring at the main entrance of the town. Her Master was fighting a teen that was darting around, launching bolts of colored light and spears of shadow that looked unsettlingly like Alucard's. In his hands he held two longswords, which he was using to swipe at the vampire whenever the opportunity arose.
Her Master, for his part, was firing his guns at the teen even as he constantly regenerated the wounds that were inflicted on his body with bursts of dark energy, a large, fanged smile on his face. Not that his bullets were doing much, considering their sheer stopping power. As far as she could tell they weren't penetrating the boy's skin, though he definitely felt the impacts, if the way his body jerked with each shot was any indication.
Shifting in the bed of grass she was laying on, Seras aimed her cannon at the teen, trusting that her Master had to be fighting him for a reason. She highly doubted that whatever he was doing to ignore the bullets that hit him would stand up to a 30mm shell.
She was just about to pull the trigger when she briefly caught the sound of something rushing through the trees before the barrel of a gun was placed against her head. She froze, wondering how anybody had managed to sneak up on her.
"Who are you!?" The voice of a young teenage girl asked angrily.
Seras slowly turned her head in order to look up at whoever had her dead to rights. She was surprised to see a young looking girl in an odd dress of blacks and reds, a red hooded cape on her back. She was holding an odd weapon, the very large barrel of what was obviously a firearm aimed directly at the blonde vampire's head.
"Seras Victoria." She said slowly, using her police training in talking down people to try to keep the girl from blowing her head off. Just because her Master could recover from that like it was no worse than stubbing a toe didn't mean she could. "I'm with the Hellsing Organization. We received a report that this village was under attack and were dispatched to deal with it."
Another girl came out of the woods then, slightly older than the first, dressed in shades of white with touches of red, with white hair and light blue eyes, one of which had a scar over it. A Pembroke Welsh Corgi trotted happily at her heels, tongue lolling out of his mouth. In her hand she held a lethal looking rapier with an odd revolving chamber in the handguard full of multi colored dust. "It makes sense that there'd be some sort of response to the Grimm, Ruby." The girl told her black and red companion. "Especially if we're no longer home."
Ruby shrunk in on herself at the other girl's words, for some reason, before she turned back to Seras. "Then why were you about to shoot Harry?"
Assuming that Harry was the boy fighting her Master, Seras answered honestly, not sure what was going on but unwilling to alienate potential allies, or at least non-enemies, without good reason. "Because he's fighting my Master and I assumed that meant he was an enemy."
"Reasonable." The white girl allowed, though her grip on her weapon didn't lessen. "That doesn't explain why they're fighting, though."
"I don't know." Seras said slowly, looking back at the fight which was continuing unabated, both sides continuing to attack each other.
The girls glanced at each other before Ruby motioned with her odd gun for Seras to stand. "Come on, we're going into town where the others are. Don't try anything funny." The girl was trying to be intimidating, but not quite managing it. Still, Seras slowly stood up, picking up the Harkonnen and strapping it over his shoulder before beginning to walk in the direction of the village, the dog leading the way.
Upon entering the town Seras found herself led to the area of the town nearest to the battlefield, where several more odd individuals were gathered, watching the fight that raged on. A teen with green skin and hair standing next to a massive man in futuristic looking armor glanced at Seras and the Hellsing patch on her chest, a frown on his face, before his gaze turned back to the fight, eyes following Harry as he launched a blast of fire at Alucard, whose arm got blown off before instantly regenerating. "So who are you, exactly, and are we going to have to get violent?"
"I'm with the Hellsing Organization." Seras said again in her most professional voice, trying to keep from betraying her nervousness and to keep things from escalating. "We're the ones charged by the Crown to deal with any supernatural threats within the United Kingdom."
The green boy hummed thoughtfully as the soldier beside him tracked Alucard's movements with his rifle, ready to fire. "Alright, I'll buy that. So, he with you?" He asked, motioning to Alucard. At her nod he pursed his lips. "Damn, what a freaking mess…"
The girl in blue that Seras had seen earlier approached, green eyes concerned as she watched the ongoing fight. "Why haven't you tried to intervene?" She asked the armored man.
Green Boy was the one to answer indicating to a line of charred grass and dirt a short distance in front of their position. "Harry made a barrier when we tried to keep us back. Something about this fight is personal to him."
Blue Girl rolled her eyes, murmuring about stupid men. Seras almost smiled at the reaction.
The group gasped when Alucard, whose form was currently a mass of red tinged darkness, launched a massive wave of that energy in such a way that Harry would be unable to avoid it or blast it all away. It enveloped him, and Blue Girl let out a scream of "Harry!" as they watched him lose the fight decisively.
Thus they were surprised when the energy the now human looking Alucard had attacked with was drawn into Harry's body, flowing into the markings on his skin like smoke through the crack in a door.
They were all relieved to see him alive, at least till Ruby gasped in horror and Blue Girl raised a hand to her mouth in fear. "What is it?" White Girl asked, hand clenching on her rapier.
"Harry can absorb demonic energy, but it affects his mind." Blue Girl said fearfully. "It emphasises his darker impulses and feelings. The more he's… corrupted… the more he becomes a… a…"
"A monster." Ruby said in a shaking voice as they watched Harry hunch over, his eyes wide as he began breathing heavily, Alucard having stopped his attack and stepped back to observe.
Armor Man began to step forward, intent on stopping things one way or another, but Alucard held out his hand in a stopping motion even as his gaze never left Harry. "Don't move, any of you, unless you want him to kill you." He said, red eyes glittering with interest and something Seras couldn't identify.
The man stopped, rifle at the ready, aimed at the space between the two supernatural beings, ready to fire on either one of them at a moment's notice.
Alucard refocused on Harry. "Is that it, Harry?" He asked calmly, and Seras was struck by how disappointed he sounded. "Is this the end of your journey? Is this where you break?"
Seras stared. What was going on now?
Alucard stared at Harry, his glasses missing, allowing his curious crimson eyes be shown, taking in everything he'd learned.
Harry had been absorbing small amounts of Alucard's power for the last few minutes of the fight, which had an unintended side effect due to their natures. It formed a connection between them during the moments his energy was being absorbed, which allowed Alucard to see Harry's history, to understand the young man in a way he doubted anybody else would be able to. It was a rather novel experience.
Alucard knew how close Harry had been for some time now to losing himself to his powers. His friends couldn't see it, but every day he had to hold himself back from doing unspeakable things to them.
So Alucard had 'gifted' Harry with a large amount of dark power, to finally push him over the edge. He wanted to see if the mage would succumb or not.
Harry, in their brief fight, had become one of the few humans Alucard respected. He was a shining example of what the vampire had always wanted to fight. A human with the will to face beings a thousand times more powerful and not only spit in their face but rip out their heart. His victory over Samael may have come down to a fluke of trickery, but that didn't diminish the act of facing the fallen. Alucard had felt it. The will, the determination, the knowledge he would lose but the courage to fight anyway. 'Indomitable' was the only word he had for it.
'Only a man can kill a monster.' He reminded himself with an inward smile as he watched Harry struggle. The young man was hunched over, clutching his stomach, the markings on his skin pulsing with power he was losing control of.
"You faced beings that should have destroyed you, Harry." Alucard said calmly as he watched Harry's body begin to jerk around. "You fought a being that would likely surpass me in power, and you won." Harry looked up, and Alucard could see thanks to the fact the boy had his mouth open as he panted for air that his canines had lengthened to look like the fangs of a stereotypical vampire. "Is this the point when you finally lose yourself?" The boy's eyes were changing color, from glowing emerald green to deep, malevolent crimson, and back again. "Are you going to fall to power you still deny is yours? Are you going to become a monster, or remain a man?"
Alucard could tell Harry's friends, and his own Police Girl, wanted to intervene, but he prepared himself to force them back. He wouldn't let them ruin such an important moment.
His eyes refocused on Harry when rasping sounds escaped from his throat. Like a man who hadn't spoken in decades trying to do so for the first time with a parched throat. The still shifting eyes stared into Alucards as he finally managed to form words, his voice rougher than some of the ghouls Alucard had killed as he struggled with what he was saying.
"Out of the night… that covers me…
Black as the… pit… from pole to pole…
I thank whatever gods… may be…
For my unconquerable soul."
Alucards eyebrows shot up at hearing Harry begin reciting poetry in the state he was in. The young hero's eyes never left Alucard's even as the color of the irises cycled faster and faster.
"In the fell… clutch of circumstance…
I have not winced nor… cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed."
Each word he said seemed to come out easier, till he was speaking almost normally, his voice still rough but not painfully so. Out of the corner of Alucard's eye he could make out the spectators watching with confusion and trepidation. Except for Ruby, oddly enough, who had begun to smile.
Beginning to stand up straighter, Harry continued, his voice growing stronger and less rough, till he sounded like his normal self.
"Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid."
Harry was standing straight now, tall and proud. He'd closed his eyes, and the pulses of energy from the marks of power on his skin were settling down.
"It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul."
When Harry opened his eyes they were their normal, vibrant green. He gazed back at Alucard calmly, confidently, his eyes showing unwavering will once again. The fangs remained, and likely always would, a mark of the change he'd gone through.
Alucard lips slowly moved into a smile, then a grin, before he finally threw his head back and laughed, his deep deep voice ringing out throughout the village. "Yes! That's it! That is the will that can kill gods!" He finished laughing, looking at Harry with a wide, toothy grin. "You are, indeed, Invictus."
Harry watched Alucard with calm eyes, the inner turmoil that had rested within them settled, at least for now. Taking his swords back up he tossed them to his friends, Alice picking them up hesitantly, her eyes locked on Harry.
Alucard's grin somehow widened. "Ready to stop holding back then?"
Harry's response was to draw Cybil's revolver, holding it in his left hand, as the Elder wand appeared in his right.
Alucard's eyes lit up with glee, and he brought his hands up, the sigils on his gloves clearly visible. "Releasing control restriction to level one." He intoned, receiving an audible indrawn breath from Police Girl, before drawing his weapons again.
Then they resumed trying to kill each other.
Just as Alucard has Seen Harry when the younger of the two took his power, so too had Harry Seen Alucard. He knew who and what he was, he saw the man's fall and the monster's rise. He knew what Alucard was capable of. He even had a good guess why the vampire had pushed Harry over the edge. After all, Alucard respected those who displayed the courage he'd not had when he was human.
He knew first hand how impossible it was to end his opponent, but as he dodged a few gunshots and returned fire with his revolver he focused on Alucard's grinning face, determined to, if not kill the vampire, at least give him a fight he'd remember for the next half a millennium of his life.
Alucard launched his hellhound familiar, Baskerville, at Harry, the beast of shadows, covered in crimson eyes, growling as it opened its slavering maw to bite down on him. Quickly stowing his weapons he caught the monster's jaws, focusing power into his limbs to make himself stronger, his markings glowing as he kept the hellhound from biting him in half. With a roar of effort he heaved, lifting the beast up before throwing it away.
He jerked as a high caliber bullet slammed into his face, his enchanted amulet keeping it from penetrating but doing nothing for the kinetic impact, which knocked his head to the side, his skull cracking and a massive bruise appearing on his skin. Healing the damage quickly he irritably promised himself to look into ways of improving the amulet to stop that as well.
Gun and wand back in hand he waved the casting implement, the ground around him rising him to form a small group of wargs, which howled. Another wave applied shields and cutting spells to their claws and fangs as they launched themselves at Alucard.
The vampire quickly began shooting at the attackers, bringing one down before they could reach him despite the shields covering them. Then when they reached him he turned into a mass of limbs and blades, ripping through the transfigured beasts, his mad laughter ringing out in the night over the barks and snarls.
As this was happening Baskerville returned for round two. Harry shot it several times, the bullets of dark energy slowing but not felling it. As it launched itself at him, going for another bite, Harry jumped with all his now considerable might.
He did not come back down.
Propelling himself higher and higher he stopped thirty feet up, gazing down at the battlefield as he hovered in place. A small part of himself was exulting at figuring out how to fly. The rest of him focused on the battle below, only one of his wargs remaining and the hellhound looking up at him and growling.
Aiming his wand he launched a bolt of blue-white light down at Baskerville, which tried to escape but ended up trapped when half a football field's worth of ice burst into existence, destroying a few houses at the edge of town that were caught in the blast.
Harry was peripherally aware that his friends had retreated further into the town to avoid getting caught in the crossfire, dragging the civilians with them, but beyond being glad that he didn't have to worry about them he didn't give it much thought as Alucard made his next move, turning into a mass of bats that flew at him. Harry launched a wave of scything wind at the shapeshifted vampire, which only briefly delayed his advance. Then he waved his wand, and arcs of coruscating electricity covered his body, lashing out at any of the bats that got too close as they surrounded him.
Harry crossed his arms, eyes darting around at the many bats trying to get a bite of him, before pushing outwards, the shield of electrical energy pulsing out in a shockwave, driving the bats back. Then he launched himself back to the ground in the opening created, landing in a crouch. After a tenth of a second to regain his balance he aimed his wand upwards, a wall of flame fifty feet across launching upwards at Alucard.
He wasn't surprised when that failed, of course, seeing a drill of dark energy whirl through the flames directly at him. He formed a barrier of shadow, the drill impacting with an odd, off putting grinding sound, almost breaking through before being rebuffed. The mass of darkness landed, quickly reforming into Alucard's human form, sans coat and hat, grin still on his face.
Harry couldn't help it. His lips curled and parted till an answering fanged grin appeared on his own face. Eyes meeting, the two beings of darkness laughed before launching themselves at each other again.
I RETURN!
I was really looking forward to this chapter, because it represents a milestone in Harry's development. Not only is he now more in control of himself, not in (as much) danger of going nuts and slaughtering his friends, but the power he took from Alucard is going to have interesting implications down the line…
Just to clarify, this is Hellsing Ultimate's universe. I haven't seen the anime series, or read the manga. I actually watched Abridged before watching the series proper, but I binged Ultimate in the leadup to this arc in order to get it right. Abridged is awesome, but not what I was wanting for this fic.
If there's any lesson or message in Hellsing Ultimate from what I saw, it's this: Everybody is a monster. Some just channel that monstrousness more constructively than others.
Related, I want to apologize if Alucard is too OOC. I had surprising trouble getting him right, even though he's relatively straightforward once you understand him. I'm not really satisfied, though I really can see him respecting Harry after seeing his backstory.
The poem Harry recited to gain control of himself is 'Invictus' by William Ernest Henley. I knew that's what I was going to use the first time I read it. It really fits with what I consider is the main point of this fic.
In other things...
Why, oh why, did everyone's mind go to Cruella De Vil from 101 Dalmatians for Harry's pairing? I mean, I get that it's pretty associated with my hint, but seriously? It didn't even come to my mind when I gave that as the hint.
Speaking of the pairings, I've gotten questions about whether this is a harem for Harry. I'm still unsure. The pairing was never really conceived of when I started the fic. I put a hint of Harry/Hermione, but that never meant that that was the final pairing. It's only recently that I decided on the girl I chose. More may come as we go further. Maybe even someone that's already a member of the team. I've already given my reasons as to why Alice isn't an option in my mind, and the reasoning applies to others. It has to fit ,with their personalities meshing. I'm not just going to throw someone in for the hell of it without considering the ramifications. It has to make sense in the greater story.
It all depends on how things develop.
About bringing the RWBY characters along that I did, that was always the plan. I already warned that the cast is going to be large. I've also admitted that it's something that occasionally makes me nervous about whether I can implement it successfully. But it's a challenge I've set for myself, and every single member of the team will be necessary for the endgame. I do hope I don't disappoint.
In other news, the first chapter of the winner of the New Story Patron Poll I mentioned in the last chapter is up. It's a fic based on the legendary Make A Wish by Rorschach's Blot. I'd be much obliged if you'd give it a look and a review. Hopefully it's to you guys' liking.
As always before signing off I want to remind you that I have a Pat A Ron at dotcom /athanmortis. For every dollar you donate you get an equal number of votes to use in the polls I put up for what story to update each month. This month's poll ends on September 2nd, so get your votes in.
I think that's all I have to say. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Till next time!