I'm on a roll today! I've been really inspired to write lately, and I'm really happy about that! I just want to write more and more... but I alas, it's time for this tired writer to go to bed. Sad day.
[Insert "I don't own..." disclaimer here.]
Goodnight and happy reading!
It was only hours later when Alucard opened now-brown eyes and scanned the plain white hospital ceiling before growling out a "What the hell?" as he sat up. Or at least, he got half way through his grumbling before a surprising amount of pain shot though Alucard's back and he ended up barking out swears in at least four different languages as he fell back onto the bed.
His yelling roused Integra and Walter from their catnaps and though Integra didn't understand half of the things Alucard was yelping out, her ears burned. Some of the things sounded downright dirty.
"Alucard, calm down!" said Integra in her sternest voice.
Reflexively, Alucard reacted to her command and quieted. Though he was no longer bound to her, obeying her had become second nature – especially when she used that tone of voice.
"Alucard," began Integra carefully, "do you know what happened?"
Alucard thought for a moment. "I shot things. Lots of things. It was really quite fun. At least, it was until something hit me. After that, everything is blank." Alucard paused. "Why am I in a hospital and why do I feel short?"
"When you were hit, you… changed," said Walter slowly. He picked a mirror off of the bedside table and handed it to Alucard. "Look for yourself."
Alucard took the offered mirror and started at himself. No longer was he sickly thin with ashen skin and red eyes. He was still thin, yes, but he looked healthy. What he could see of his skin, as there were quite a few bandages on his face and the rest of him, was no longer so pale and devoid of life. His eyes had gone from red to brown and his fangs were gone. He was also young, in his late teens. While he had appeared young before, he was hardly comfortable with the idea. He let out a snarl and threw the mirror.
"Now now, Alucard, calm down," said Walter, dodging the mirror. "Don't throw a tantrum."
"Calm down?" said Alucard slowly. "You're asking me to calm down when I go from being nosferatu to being human?" With a grunt and a wince, he sat up in the bed. "When I go from being an all-powerful creature to being this?" he gestured to himself, voice rising. "A pathetic human covered in bandages?" Alucard swung his legs over the side of the bed and strode over to where Walter and Integra sat in chairs. "I will not calm down," he roared, gesturing wildly with his hands.
"Alucard," snapped Integra, blue eyes blazing as she stood up right in front of the former vampire. She was fed up with Alucard's melodramatics. Grabbing his flailing arms, she pinned them to his sides and backed him up against the bed. "You are going to be quiet and get back in that bed. We can discuss your new condition when we are not in a hospital and there is not a nurse staring us down," she hissed.
"Yes, Master," said Alucard in defeat as climbed back into the bed with more than a few winces and growls of pain.
"Excuse me," said the nurse coldly, "but I believe it is time for you to leave. You are upsetting my patient."
Nodding, Integra and Walter left, vowing to come back later to try and reason with Alucard and keep him from another freakout.
Three days later, Alucard was back at the Hellsing mansion and still very much unhappy about being human. He was dressed in a pair of Integra's pajamas – men's and overly large that fit him just right – and had made the study his home. There he sat staring moodily into the fire, a scowl set permanently on his face. On an end table next to the couch upon which he lounged sat a mug of hot tea. It was the only thing he wouldn't refuse when it came to food or drink.
After a while of staring into the fire, his eyes began to droop and he fell asleep where he was on the couch. When he awoke hours later, dawn was breaking and he noticed that a blanket had been thrown over him. The fire had gone out and next to his mug of tea, refilled since he had fallen asleep but now cold, sat a book with a note on top. Reaching over, Alucard picked up the note and scanned it.
Alucard,
Don't just sit there all day being grouchy; do something with yourself and read a book or something. I'm leaving this one with you because I thought you might like it.
-I.H.
He couldn't help but chuckle at how well she knew him and when he looked at the book, he was even more amused. It was a complete encyclopedia of any and every type of gun in existence. A small smile on his face, he eagerly dove into his reading.
By noon, he was finished with the book and was staring into the fire once more. During his reading, Walter had come in and lit it, bringing Alucard more tea as well. At around one, Integra entered carrying a tray.
"You know I'm not going to eat," said Alucard, his eyes never leaving the fire.
"You do realize that when humans don't eat, we don't just shrivel up until fed? We die, Alucard," said Integra as she sat down next to him on the couch.
"I don't think I can eat," said Alucard. "It's been so long, I don't know what to do with food anymore."
"Why not try?" asked Integra as she picked up a spoon.
"I'd rather save myself the embarrassment of losing the contents of my stomach on your carpet," he replied dryly.
"You keep down tea alright," she said, taking a sip of the soup.
Alucard shrugged. "It's liquid. I drank blood for 500 years. I can deal with liquids."
"Why not soup?" Integra asked, gesturing to the tray in her lap, on which a bowl of beef soup sat. "It's a liquid."
Alucard momentarily eyed the soup in her lap before shaking his head and turning back to the fire. "I can't."
"You're afraid." It was a statement of fact, not an opinion.
He turned to her, mouth open to object angrily, and she shoved a spoonful of hot soup into his mouth.
