A black Mercedes Benz stopped at the gates of HELLSING Headquarters before being let in by the guards posted there. Once parked, two men stepped out, both in oddly casual attire. Most people who walk into the facility wear either suits or uniforms, but not these two. Immediately, they joined hands and headed inside, flashing their credentials with each security check. They walked together for quite a ways before eventually parting with a quick peck on the lips. The dark-haired one was heading toward the administrative offices in order to visit his cousin. The light-haired one was there to pick up a new piece of gear from the research department.

Alois sort of stuck out like a sore thumb, wearing his streetclothes, but he hardly noticed the odd looks he got. It was a bit odd for someone of such a high rank to be dressed so unprofessionally for work. He certainly raised a few eyebrows once he got to the research lab, despite the fact that he wasn't dressed in a way that was particularly "scandalous." Knocking on the door frame, he ducked his head in.

"Hey, is Miranda in?" he questioned, only to be pointed toward the back. A small voice called out to him as the woman peeked over heads.

"Over here, Mister Phantomhive." she greeted, prompting him to walk over to her. He skipped passed Dafydd, completely overlooking him in favour of reaching his destination faster, but the sorcerer decided to make things his business that really weren't.

"I'll be just a minute. I have to go get them." the woman informed before trotting off. The blonde waited patiently by her desk for her to return, trying desperately to ignore the fact that he was being approached by an annoying sorcerer.

"Alright?" Dafydd said in salutations, earning only a polite smile and a nod. "So, uh, what's with the getup? I can't remember the last time I saw you without a suit."

"Ciel and I are going on a date after this." answered the menace, hoping that would be the end of it.

"You stop by HELLSING on your way to a date?"

"Sure. I needed to pick up my gear anyway and he wanted to say 'hi' to Lizzie."

"He stopped to talk to another girl?"

"His cousin. Who he is not attracted to. Because she is his cousin."

"I dunno, mate. They were set up to be married, once upon a time, you know..." Dafydd entertained. There was a brief pause, but then Alois decided to get straight to the point.

"Are you trying to drive a wedge between my husband and I in hopes of flirting with me?" the demon questioned.

"Well..."

"Not happening."

"I figured." sighed the sorcerer. "I have trouble seeing him as particularly romantic, though. What's the appeal?"

"Are you kidding? Ciel is super romantic?" Alois scoffed before turning his head to watch for Miranda. He really hoped that she would come back soon. He really didn't want to talk to a person who rudely tried to force himself into his life in secondary school while he tried to do the same thing again. "If you observed him for like, five seconds, it's obvious. His gestures are genuine, as well. He does things because he wants to make me happy or express himself, not because he thinks it'll earn him brownie points, somehow."

"How do you know that?"

"Listen, do you build all of your relationships on that assumption? Like, you make a little effort just to keep it alive, but then, the rest of the time, you just don't care?" questioned the blonde with a touch of indignity. "Have you considered the idea that you're not appealing because your personality is kind of shit?"

Offense was taken at this. Now, Alois had no way of knowing about Dafydd was recently dumped. It wasn't his fault. Yet, the wounds were fresh enough that they stung with the Phantomhive's words. He recoiled in shock while Alois was not-so-blissfully unaware.

"What's wrong with it?!"

"You're pushy, come across as selfish and condescending, use your magic like a toy half the time, and are downright mean-spirited."

"Mean-spirited?"

"Everyone knows about your fucked up 'pranks,' Mister Blake." Alois informed. "If the goal is to hurt someone or make them upset, then who's laughing? Just you. And it's not that you have a brilliant sense of humour, either. Personally, I would call that sadism."

"As if Ciel 'The Watchdog' Phantomhive is smiles and sunshine! He's the sadistic one! He actually kills people!" the sorcerer reminded. "Or did you forget about that because he has muscles?"

"He can be a touch sadistic- to people who deserve it." A small smile formed on the demon's face as he spoke this. "There's just something funny about a serial killer begging for mercy because he doesn't want to die."

Perhaps Dafydd had made a miscalculation. He had forgotten that Alois was part of that world as well. Perhaps the menace took delight in such cruelty as well.

"All I do is play little pranks? How is that worse?"

"Getting rid of a serial killer prevents further victims as well as punishes them for being such evil sods. Your pranks don't do anything but injure and upset innocent people. I can't get behind that, honestly."

"So if I stopped pranking people, you could?"

"No. You don't have a chance in hell." bluntly stated the Phantomhive, providing no further explanation from that. The other man attempted to open his mouth to question him, but was interrupted by the arrival of Miranda Ackerman pushing a cart with great effort.

"Sorry to keep you waiting! I needed help getting the gauntlets on the cart." she apologised, stopping the display just in front of the menace. "There's bullets for Sceleri and Poena, and the new Jarnglofar Mk. III."

"The last ones could stand up to four tonnes, but the strain of punching things for long missions got to them. These look reinforced." Alois said, picking one up. His eyebrows raised as he discovered that they were much heavier than he expected them to be. It still wasn't a problem for him to carry, however. It was merely unexpected. This pair had larger knuckles and a forearm guard attached as well. Runes were inscribed into the metal as per usual, but they were more plentiful on this design.

"This version is supposed to be able to aid you in shattering barriers." the woman explained. "It's reinforced, can handle several tonnes, and shouldn't shatter. If it starts to bend or has dents in it- and it shouldn't- please bring it back in for repairs as soon as you can. Try them on!"

Doing as he was instructed, he slipped the gauntlet in his hand over his arm and strapped it firmly in place. It was snug, but a secure kind of snug, perfectly tailored to fit his arm. Clenching and unclenching his fist, he didn't hear a single creak or squeak. It was smooth, just as it was supposed to be. Unpromptedly, black flames appeared in his palm and his right-handed gun appeared in his grasp. He held it firmly, making sure that the safety was on and it was unloaded and aimed away from people before he pulled the trigger. He was still able to hold it, which impressed him. With the reappearance of the fire, the gun vanished and Alois began to put on the other gauntlet.

"Feels good." he said while shaking his wrists with a grin. "Powerful. I like it." Clenching his fists, they became engulfed in fire and when it died down again, they were bare. The gauntlets were now woven into the man's demonic garb. The sight of it enthralled the two researchers, but for Alois, it was just a natural part of his body.

"Is Ethel done, too?" the demon inquired, pointing at the sword that also laid on the cart, prompting the others' attention.

"Oh! Yes, it is." Miranda replied, picking it up and handing it to the blonde. "Reinforced, sharpened, and polished. Could you give it to Sir Phantomhive?"

"Why, I certainly can. Anything else you need me for, miss?"

"Nope. That's it. You're free to go." Miss Ackerman smiled. "Have a good rest of the day!"

"You too~!" Alois answered, turning to walk away with a small wave. Walking past Dafydd, the sorcerer got a whiff of his shampoo and turned his head with him, watching the demon as he left with a small sigh. He looked good in casual wear and it was a real shame that he was going off to spend time with another man. Turning his head back around to face Miranda, he asked:

"Am I really that bad?"

"You're bad enough that I switched desks." bluntly stated the woman. "Go sit down at your own so I can put this cart up. Don't even thinking about touching my stuff unless you want to get burned."

"So I'm bad enough to warrant that..."

"Nobody's fault but yours." she said, causing him to raise his brows. She was serious about not returning the cart to it's rightful location until he sat in his own seat and stood there, staring until he left. Once at his station, he sat and thought about it, rather than focusing on his work.

His boyfriend had left him for another, kinder man and his coworkers hated him. Alois and his friends had always felt displeasure when he was around as well and weren't shy about it. When the class went to that camp for a few weeks, Ciel even went as far as switching cabins with his then-boyfriend so that he wouldn't be "harassed," as he phrased it at the time. This was a serious trend that seemed to be rather consistent. Dafydd liked to think of himself as a rational person. He even went as far as to call him a magical scientist. There was one factor that remained constant in all of this and it was him. Perhaps he really was the only one to blame.

He still wanted to believe that there was another solution. It hurt to consider. Is he really so unlikable? Surely, there's someone who appreciates his humour and intellect. But maybe he should entertain the idea? If so, what now?

This really wasn't important in the grand scheme of things, he knew. It was still important to him and it effected his work. He couldn't even ask questions to a psychic fourteen-year-old. It hurt, but it seemed that Martyr had read him just fine. He was a bit of a wank, wasn't he?

With a sigh, getting back to work was all he could really do. He still had to figure out how to counter psychic attacks, but ran into the rather unfortunate problem of not having any test subjects with the ability that he needed to make an inquiry into. If he did, he really wouldn't want to talk to them. It would be too dangerous. If they tell one to do something, one has to do it, whether they want to or not. What are the theoretical limitations of this ability, however? Did it have to be in person? Was it only effective if the person could actually hear them? Did it work on people who didn't speak the language of the person commencing the attack? That was a lot to play with. HELLSING had already prompted investigation into blocking sound. According to those interviewed, it was the ability of one person wearing a skull mask. That part remained consistent. So, if this person had to be there in the flesh every single time, this supports the sound theory. Unfortunately, the only way to test it is to send someone out into the line of fire, where they might never come back. That was downright inhumane.

While those at HELLSING pondered this, the demonic duo hadn't a care in the world at that moment. They were too busy walking arm-in-arm back to their car so that they could have a lovely day out together after having been apart. It was only one week, but it was a lot for them. Life goes on for every individual person whether others are aware of it or not. While some were busy saving the world, others were merely trying to enjoy it as is.


A/N: Five in the morning and I'm posting this shit and listening to the soundtrack from Crazyhead. WHOO!

Crazyhead is a Netflix show. People compare it to shows like Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Supernatural. Neat.

Also, my knees hurt. I've been sitting in this position too long. I wanna go to sleep.

Anyway, last chapter I asked what positive messages DLTD/P portrays and I actually got a response! I said I'd post some, so I will.

"Loooove the chapter as usual. I've always gotten two big ideas from DLTD. The first is the idea that anyone can change for the better. The second is that happiness can be achieved by anyone if you really try." by DuckyHo

Excellent username.

I feel like this is true. People can change. Some, definitely more than others. (Some, not at all, though.) It takes effort and so does being happy, sometimes, but it also takes opportunity, for sure. For example, Alois, in his previous life, did not have a lot of that, even though he put forth more effort than what one might think to even be humanly possible. A little goes a LONG way, though. With the smallest opportunity and the will to push forward and take it, people can accomplish astounding things. Now he's happily married and is a folk hero to supernatural beings.

There's a line from the anime Afro Samurai that always stood out to me and it's just: "The only direction I move is forward." I feel like it really suits the duo very well. I feel like it's a good mantra to have.

These are really interesting. It's cool to know what deeper message people get from this nonsense.

Anyway

Until the next chapter, my duckies~!


CHARACTER SHET

Question: "Travis: Are you or your family religious?" by raynaheart23

Travis: "Sort of? My parents go to the synagogue every so often and such. We also celebrate Hanukkah and Passover, but our real passions are potato pancakes and confusing goyim with our hip lingo and cruel shunning of Santa Claus, obviously."