The Hellsing Estate; the home of the Hellsing family for generations, and the base of operations for the H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. organization. Shoes quickly hit against the floor of the research department as doctors and scientists alike tried to determine Preston's current state of well-being. Physically, he was showing signs of anyone who had just come out of a coma, and from his behaviour, he was acting like an ordinary human suffering from post-traumatic stress.

All of the members of the Sensational Seven suffered a bit after the Black Annis incident. There was depression, anxiety, horrible nightmares and sense of guilt. They had begun to fade in the other gentlemen, while they may be triggered, under certain circumstances. It was doubtful that any of the men would ever be quite the same again. Preston, however, was a different story.

It was doubtful that the Omid would recover to the degree that the others had. Doctors still weren't sure as to what affects the Black Annis infection alone may have on his mind, let alone combined with trauma. Not even Preston's parents were allowed to see him yet, while they were informed of the situation, and had known about their son's condition since the incident. It took some convincing, but somehow, H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. managed to get them to believe the truth. Preston's condition was deemed "stable", but he wasn't deemed suitable for visitation just yet.

He would fidget and pick at his skin- particularly around the area of the gash on his torso. Preston would jump at the smallest noise, and seemed tense when left alone. When told to rest, all he could do is stare up at the ceiling as he lied down. He couldn't sleep, and even though he desperately needed to eat, the very thought made him want to vomit. Under surveillance, he managed to start eating, and when he started, he didn't stop until there was nothing left. At least he didn't adopt the annies' cannibalistic nature.

When he did sleep, it was not peaceful, and it didn't last long. He tossed and turned; mumbling as he had nightmares. That was reported amoungst all of the seven directly after the incident, but it was never certain how long it would last. The doctors needed to determine if Preston was physically capable of going through psychiatric care. Understandably, no one was sure if he was even a threat or not, as of yet. Once a person had become an annie, they were gone, and behaved similarly to ghouls, if they had armour-plating.

The whole situation caused everyone a massive headache, from Preston himself, to the doctors, scientists, and even to Sir Integra, the head of the organization. Integra had problem, after problem, after problem on her hands at the moment, and things did not seem to be looking up. There was the situation with Preston, and the situation with Jonnathan, who was currently living with agent Heinrich at the moment. That demon was still in the middle of being resocialised as "human". Meanwhile, August was still missing. Somehow, the lesser-demoness had managed to lie low enough to evade H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G.'s watch. No one knew how or why she vanished, but she was currently a threat to the crown. She knew a few of the organization's secrets, after all. Of course, they never told the supernaturals much, until a certain point, but as long as the possibility exists, it will not be overlooked.

Speaking of supernaturals, she had another problem on her hand. It was one of a more moral variety, however, and people's lives didn't hang in the balance. Two of her supernatural employees wanted to get married.

Of course, Sir Integra does not care about the sexuality of a person. This was about race. Amelie and Charlotte were both supernatural beings, and as a member of the Royal Protestant Knights, that didn't sit quite right with the woman. The Hellsing motto has always been "we are on a mission from God", in regards to their duty of exterminating all supernatural threats to the country. To unify two supernatural beings in holy matrimony was- well, it seemed a bit odd. What was worse, it seemed odd that she found it peculiar in the first place. She couldn't place why, however. Unholy beings cannot join together in a holy ceremony. That's just the way things are. Regardless, she wasn't at all compelled to stop them.

Shoes quickly hit against the floor as two figures made their way to her office. Sir Hellsing was expecting them, but she didn't expect them to barge into her office in the way that they did. The demonic duo came as soon as they got the call, which was surprising. Usually, they would dilly-dally and possibly show up the day after. How could they this time, though? Preston was awake.

"How is he?" asked Alois, not wasting any time with greetings. Both demons walked into the room, eager to discover any new information on the well-being of their friend.

"He's physically stable, for now." Replied Sir Integra. Her brow furrowed as she rested her chin in her palm and her elbow on her desk. "We really don't know how long that will last, however. In addition, his mental state has been shaken. It was predictable, but he's undergoing a lot of post-traumatic stress."

"Oh…" the menace answered sadly. He couldn't think of anything to say to that. She had just answered his question with blinding bluntness, so there wasn't anything he could use to come up with a follow-up question.

"He has the potential to be worse, actually." The Hellsing woman added. "His injuries were far worse than those of your other friends, and the shock seems to be getting to him. In addition, we don't know about the effects that Black Annis may eventually have on his brain."

"He's never going to get better, is he?" inquired the bluenette, sparking a long pause from Sir Integra. She didn't have to answer with words. They knew.

"We don't know how to cure him of this." Said Hellsing. "We don't know if the damage already done can be reversed, either."

"You're at least going to try, aren't you?" asked Alois, looking to Integra with a worried face. The woman simply sighed.

"Of course. It's the only thing that we can do." She stated, rubbing her forehead. "We'll be sure to keep you updated if anything else happens to him. Right now, we're trying to get him physically well enough to see a therapist."

"Can we see him?"

"I'm afraid not. He's still very fragile."

"Does he at least know what happened?" the menace asked. "Did you tell him how that mission ended? Did you tell him what happened to his friends? There's other stuff that happened even after that, that H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. doesn't have any knowledge of, because it's irrelevant to its mission. Wouldn't that make him feel better? He's probably worried!"

To those questions, a baffled look came over the woman's face. Of course she hadn't thought about that. This was a bureaucracy. The idea of conveying that information wasn't even considered because it was thought to be irrelevant to the mission at hand. Gloved fingers tapped against Integra's desk as she pondered the suggestions. After a few moments, she realised that she had no choice but to concede.

"Very well." She said. "Go tell him. I'll give you one hour, but that's it."

A grin formed on the menace's face while the bluenette simply stared at the woman in shock. Ciel looked to Integra, then over to Alois, and then back again. How on earth was he able to do that?

"Yes, ma'am." Alois replied. "I'll get on it right now." He turned on his heel to walk out the door again, while his beau watched after him. Moments passed, and the Phantomhive snapped to his senses and followed him, trotting up alongside him. Once the door was closed, and they were out into the hallway, Ciel had to express his puzzlement.

"How on earth did you do that?" he asked.

"Do what?"

"How did you get Integra to let you do what you want?"

"I dunno." Shrugged Alois. "All I did was explain my point and ask."

"She never shows me that kind of leniency…" Ciel huffed.

"That's because you try to pick fights with her at the same time." Chuckled the Macken. "Not a good strategy, Pooch."

"Since when do you know how to talk to Integra?"

"Who do you think helped me find your sorry butt after you were captured? Nice woman. Bit strict, but she's not a bad person."

"Date her, then." Jested Ciel. A small smile appeared on his face as he saw the blonde try to backtrack.

"Ew, no." Alois replied. "She's pretty, but I'm not really attracted to her, and besides, if I wanted to do that, I could have when I had the opportunity. Instead I went to find you. Shame, I know."


A/N: Shitty chapter, I know, but it's 3 a.m.

UGH.

I have an idea for the next one, though, so bear with it.

Dunno if it'll tie into this, though...

UGH.

Questions?

"heres a question please dont be offended. Are you mentally twisted... considering all the sadistic and cruel and downright evil aspects of the story? please dont be offended, just checking to make sure!" by Socially Awkward Oreo Monster

Nah. You don't need to be "twisted" in order to come up with this kind of junk. All you have to to is read the news. Almost all of these "sadistic and cruel and downright evil aspects" are based on shit that actually happens.

Freaky, know.

"For HateWeasel! Just wondering, are you into other fandoms outside of anime? Things like homestuck, creepypasta, ect." by Guest

Uuuhhh... I dunno? The stuff that I'm really into doesn't really seem to have a "fandom", so I dunno what to tell ya.

"HateWeasel: Have you watched Mirai Nikki?" by Jacuninja

I don't know what that is.

"are demons affected by things like pills, or chloroform? Or is it just Rosemary that effects them?" by Guest

Depends on how dangerous they are, I guess. Like, Sebastian has gotten heartburn from drinking cyanide-laced lemonade in the manga, and he has been irritated by mustard gas, so it can do stuff like that. In order to get that junk to affect them "normally", I think you'd have to weaken them quite a bit with a shit-ton of rosemary first.

Until the next chapter, my duckies~!