A lot happens so it's hard-hitting and fast. I won't stop for explanations until my author notes.

And The Truth Shall Set You Free

Oracle Corp.

The office was in chaos.

Where is it? Caelum was upturning and rummaging file after file on his desk; not long after he saw off Mary and Luther did he decide to go through his archive, and a good thing he decided to, or else this would have gone completely unnoticed. This can't be. How could this happen?

But there was no doubt about it.
It was gone.

He sat in his swivel chair, staring at all the papers and reports that were scattered messily on his desk, feeling strangely angry and even…confused.

Someone has stolen it?

As everyone waited patiently for the visitor to be brought up by Walter; Ruby was waiting anxiously in her seat. How could everyone be so calm and composed at a time like this? Her parents were missing. Her memories were in shambles. She could not remember being on an island, or being in a 'bride auction' or what had happened before the alleged auction. She had no idea what was going on and no-one was even bothering to tell her, too. Feeling ignored and unimportant, Ruby sat trembling in her seat. Her only sense of being in the meeting room as well as everyone else was brought to her by a tight squeeze of the hand and she glanced up at Alucard.

"You do not look well. Are you hungry again?" He questioned, in which she responded with a little shake of her head.

"…No." She said, and when there was a loud knock on the door, she leapt up in her seat.

"Come in." Integra said, and Ruby's stomach twisted into a tight knot. To her relief, it was only a soldier who had poked his head into the room. He was carrying an A4 sized manila folder in hand.

"This is for you, sir." said the soldier. "I passed it through to security; it's clear."

"Thank you. Bring it here."

"Uh…We were actually patrolling and found this lying outside the gates." He explained as he handed her the folder. Integra dismissed him and then gazed at the envelope in front of her.

"What is it?" Morris asked, as Integra began to slice open the envelope's sealed flap with a letter opener from her stationary cupboard. Once she pulled out the contents from inside – which turned out to be a single sheet of paper – her eyes widened behind her glasses for it said:

CERTIFICATE OF DEATH

DECEDENT'S NAME: RUBY ASHCROFT

Morris lifted himself up slightly in his wheelchair following Integra's mute, albeit interesting response. "Integra? Come on, tell us."

"Sit down." Integra barked at him, and Morris plopped back down in his seat immediately, blinking numbly at the director. She returned her attention to the flimsy sheet in hand. What is the meaning of this? Integra studied the certificate with more scrutiny. Meanwhile, Ruby was staring at her with an equal, curious tenor that would've rivalled Morris.

Integra stared at the name of the parents: Samuel and Dahlia Ashcroft.

At first, she considered this to be a hoax. Some sick joke. Someone who seemed to despise Ruby as the girl had been a target in many instances.

But after a longer inspection, she deduced the certificate was real, and it was dated back to more than twenty years ago. What did this mean? Who sent this? And why now? She was temporarily brought out of her thoughts when the door to the meeting room opened once again and Walter entered, with an unfamiliar figure trailing behind him.

"Mary?" Ruby was the first to speak as soon as she settled her eyes on the newcomer. "Mary? What are you doing here?"

The woman called Mary smiled dryly at her. "Hello, Ruby."

Integra immediately folded the sheet back into the envelope and hid it away from prowling eyes, opting to place it under a few books on her desk. What now? Anything that needed an explanation, she would get it soon. "Calm down, Miss Ashcroft," She said steadily, "I have invited your carer to Hellsing for I have a few questions I'd like to ask her."

"Huh? B-but what about my parents?" The draculina asked, "What's going on? I have no idea what's going on…"

"Alucard, if you could take Ruby outside for the moment…Seras, you are dismissed, too."

Ruby and Seras looked a little startled by Integra's decision to have everyone leave, except from Alucard, who gave Integra a long, and rather calculating look. However, he was the first to rise from his seat. "Very well, my master. Ruby, let's go. Police Girl, you are coming with us, too."

"…But…" Ruby was ushered out of the room by Alucard despite her protests.

As everyone began to leave, Integra noticed Morris was now beginning to wheel himself out too. She quickly said, "Except you, Morris, you stay."

Morris stopped and turned round to her in acute surprise. "Really?" He wheeled himself back to his previous spot and waited quietly as the vampires began to leave the room.

Once they were outside the meeting room, Alucard shut the door behind him whilst Ruby bit nervously at her lip. "What gives?" She demanded as they stood closely at the closed door, "What's going on here?"

"My master has something ingenious planned. Do not worry." Alucard reassured her, while Seras pressed her ear against the door in a bid to listen.

But Ruby was still not swayed. She shook her head, frowning, and crossed her arms. "Like what? What plan? This sucks. My parents are missing, now Mary is here for some unknown reason, and now we've been told to leave." She mumbled, "…I don't get what's going on."

"It's okay, Ruby." Seras whispered in response, "Sir Integra knows what she's doing."

"Yes. Master has her reasons." Alucard agreed, before he began to make his way down the corridor.

Ruby watched his retreating back for a few seconds. "…Where are you going?"

"I am returning to the treasury."

"Why?"

He threw her a quick glance from his shoulder and smirked, "I do believe there is a necklace that matches the ring I gave you."

"Eh?" She squeaked, before deciding to follow him, "Alucard! You don't have to – Alucard, wait up!"

Integra's office.

"Ms Lynch, please, take a seat."

"Thank you, sir." The woman moved to sit in one of the now-empty seats while Walter retreated to Integra's side.

"I hope you had a pleasant journey."

"Oh yes, sir, it was nice."

As Integra spoke, she realised Morris was giving her occasional glances from the corner of his eye. She knew what he meant all too well. "My name is Integral Fairbrooks Wingates Hellsing. I understand that the parents of Miss Ashcroft have recently gone missing and so I have invited you to come here today so I can clarify some things."

"Of course."

"I'd like to ask how long you worked for Ruby's parents."

"A couple of years, about four or five."

"That's quite a long time to stay in for an occupation as such. How did you get the job in the first place?"

"Ruby's mother is a good friend of mine."

"I see. What age was Ruby when you were her carer?"

"She was seven years old."

"How many hours did you work?"

"Her parents often worked full-time, twelve-hour shifts so I looked after Ruby almost twenty-four seven."

"And what was Ruby like when she was younger?"

"Oh, she was a very sweet child," Mary replied, with a growing smile on her face, "She was very easy to look after. She was always on her best behaviour and did so well at school – "

"Because her father made it clear he despised her?"

Mary blinked blankly at the director. Integra's bluntness had caught her completely off guard. "…I beg your pardon? He did not despise her. That's ridiculous."

"No. You seem oblivious." Integra remarked, "You were her carer but you don't even know that Ruby did not get on well with her father?"

"What makes you – "

"When she was younger, Ruby worked hard in order to gain her father's affection. Her efforts were futile."

"Well…"

Morris held his hand up as the conversation went on, "Integra, is this really necessary?"

"Yes." She asserted, without batting an eyelid or budging in her seat, and Morris fell silent again, "As a full-time carer, Ms Lynch, you did not see or perceive that Ruby had a constrained relationship with her father? You did not attempt to mend this sabotaged relationship between father and daughter? Did you even mention this to her mother?"

"I…"

"Did you deliberately cast a blind eye to this?" Integra pressed on purposely, "Did you? Were you afraid to mention this because Mrs Ashcroft was your friend? Did you think it would create problems so you kept quiet? Or did you simply think that Ruby deserved this neglect?"

"No of course not! It just couldn't be helped!" Mary suddenly exclaimed abruptly, only to gasp in shock at her own outburst.

Integra smirked inwardly whilst Morris was now blinking wide-eyed at the carer. She seemed surprised at herself and settled back into an uncomfortable silence. "You do care for Ruby, don't you?" Integra asked.

"…I love her as though she is my own."

"So what do you think about this?" Integra then held up the death certificate.

The room fell silent.

Mary's jaw fell slack and she stammered out, "W-where did you - "

She was interrupted by a loud noise before the entire room was engulfed in a horrible wail from the security alarm fixed on the ceiling which had begun screeching erratically; the bright crimson light inside was flashing constantly, bathing the meeting room's inhabitants in a sea of red. Morris winced under the loudness of the siren while Mary glanced around cautiously.

"What's going on?"

However, Integra was at her phone immediately, holding down on one of the buttons in particular. "Security. What have you to report?" She spoke quickly and loudly into the receiver, although she wondered if they could have heard her from the background noise of the wailing siren.

The receiver buzzed into life almost immediately. "Sir! One of the rooms downstairs just blew up…" The receiver went fuzzy with static before Integra made out the following indistinct words: "There he is! He's on the ground floor! Get 'im, Johnny! Don't let him escape!" Then the receiver promptly went dead, the static echoing monotonously like a flatline.

Integra let go of the button immediately while Mary and Morris watched her with somewhat ghastly expressions on their faces. "Walter." The Director said calmly, "It seems we have an intruder; I want you to escort Morris somewhere safe."

The vampire hunter shook his head, "No, it's okay, I can wheel – "

"Morris, be quiet and do as I say." Integra barked, before she turned to the old butler sternly, "I know what I am doing."

"Yes, mi'lady." The butler smoothly manoeuvred his way around the desk to arrive behind Morris. Grasping the two sponge-filled handlebars of his wheelchair, Walter began to casually wheel away a reluctant Morris who began to throw worried glances over his shoulder.

Integra finally turned to Mary, whose face seemed to have drained of colour. "Ms Lynch, I will have one of my best people escort you to a safer location while we deal with this threat."

"O-oh, yes, of course…"

"Seras!" Integra then called, and a familiar blonde girl bounded through the open door and into the meeting room in a few seconds.

"Yes, sir?" She exclaimed breathlessly with a salute, while Integra smirked.

"Seras, please take Ms Lynch somewhere safe; take the route on the ground floor, in the east wing..."

Meanwhile.

"Put it on."

"No, I can't accept it."

"Why not?"

"I just can't."

They were interrupted by a loud explosion from outside that sent the walls shaking, dust flying from the ceiling. Ruby was temporarily thrown off balance until Alucard caught her. As soon as the explosion sounded off, the manor plunged into silence. Alucard's eyes narrowed immediately, and he let go of her arm, leaving her to stand meekly near the door.

"What was that?" Ruby asked, and suddenly, the door to the treasury room slammed shut automatically followed by a steel door which came shooting downwards from the ceiling of the doorframe. She squeaked and stepped away just as more steel doors came dropping down; then, a loud siren began blaring in the room. "What's going on?"

"That was the security activating. There must be an intruder."

Ruby began to worry immediately. "What the - ? Are we stuck in here? This is even worse than being stuck in a jammed elevator!" She wailed over the noise, as she scrambled to find a lock or handle on the third steel door. There didn't appear to be any. "Oh noooo!"

"It cannot be unlocked from inside." Alucard replied, while she continued to wail and flail, "Wait here; I will have to speak to my master; she is the only one who knows the combination."

Ruby made a noise as she watched Alucard dissolve into the shadows.

On her own, Ruby glanced around uneasily, wincing under the loudness of the siren affixed to the ceiling of the tiny, cramped room... A few minutes later and there was a loud 'boom' noise, identical to the noise earlier on. The walls shook again, and Ruby wobbled slightly as the ground beneath her feet trembled and quaked. Once the impact stopped, the manor went still and Ruby glanced around. She whimpered, realising she disliked being left alone for too long this particular moment, and wished Alucard would return soon.

A few seconds later, and she could hear some vague yelling from outside, coupled with some raucous footsteps.

"Quickly!"

It sounded a lot like Seras.

"This way, Ms Lynch!"

Ruby gasped and then scrabbled up to the door and pressed her ear against the steel. "Seras! Mary!" She shouted, hoping the draculina or her carer would be able to hear her. "Help! I'm in here!"

But Seras didn't seem to hear. Instead, the footsteps appeared to be passing the treasury room and Ruby began to panic until –

"What the…?" Seras' voice exclaimed and the frantic footsteps stopped, "Ms Lynch, stay behind me! Sir Integra, I found him! It's Luther! We're just at the treasury room and he's heading toward us! Permission to engage target, sir!" Following that was a rather long pause, "Yes, sir. I'll deal with him right away!"

What was going on outside? What was Luther doing here? Was he the intruder? Ruby continued to listen carefully but could determine nothing except from a few shuffles, a few grunts and noises that sounded like blows being exchanged before there was another 'boom' followed by a 'THUD!'. Ruby held in a breath. "...Seras? Seras, are you alright? Seras! Answer me!" She scoured the steel door once again for any means to escape until she heard –

"Luther! Never mind the girl!" exclaimed Mary's voice, "Just leave her - Hurry up and open the door!"

There was another earsplitting explosion that made the walls shake; the steel, triple-locked doors were blown off their hinges in a matter of seconds, Ruby was promptly thrown off her feet; she forcefully slammed into the armoire before crumpling to the floor in a mess of broken glass and splintered wood from the impact; something had blown the doors apart. She winced and re-opened her eyes groggily; there was something on her head which was wet and trickling down her temple and with a raised hand, she realised it was blood. As she began to drift in and out of consciousness, wondering what had just happened, dust and debris rained over her as she continued to lie still on the ground. She shook her head clear of fragments, her lips powdery and ash-white; she saw a familiar white-haired figure storm inside, holding a large gun in hand which would explain the explosions.

…Luther? Before she blacked out, another figure had entered the room after the vampire. With her remaining strength, Ruby lifted her head a tiny notch to see… Mary?

But the woman did not pay her any attention; instead, she was engrossed with the shattered cabinet at the far end, "There. I see it. Abraham van Helsing's cross."

After the turmoil and chaos was over, Hellsing was left to recover from a hole in the wall of the East Wing, ground floor Day Room; the cross had been stolen.

Surprisingly enough, the only casualties were a few, minor injured soldiers. From the intrusion and the theft of the cross, attacking humans or completing any form of major sabotage was not a priority. Seras was seen limping back up the stairs, having met Luther upon her way as she escorted Mary; after a brief battle, the draculina was defeated, leaving Luther to do as he pleased… but other than that, she was, in fact, unharmed. As Morris wheeled himself down the tarnished corridor, he found Integra in the day room facing the large, gaping hole leading to outside, with the same manila folder the soldier had brought in earlier on in her hand.

"Integra?" He wheeled himself in and glanced around. The hole in the room was bringing an extremely cold draught in the manor, "What's going on? Seras was escorting Ms Lynch but she ended up stealing the cross! And…and you just let them steal the cross under your nose. What was – I mean…Mr Alucard and Miss Seras and Walter just let them walk out of the front door!"

"Yes, I am aware of that. I had Seras deliberately take her there."

"Huh?"

Meanwhile, Alucard drifted through the ruined landscape of the wall and stepped foot into the room, "Do you think so lowly of my master, Morris? The cross in the treasury room is a replica..."

"Replica?" Morris questioned.

Integra nodded in response as Alucard strode over to stand beside her. "My ancestor's cross was never kept there at all. After the Kukri knife was stolen, I suspected they were going to target my ancestor's cross one day. If one believes the legends, then the one who gathers all the ancient weapons that once defeated Dracula… may hope to defeat Dracula once again."

Morris swallowed down before quickly wheeling himself in front of her, "…Do you think it'll work? The Bowie knife is strong enough to kill normal vampires, yes, but the weapons have been around for too long. Whatever magic they may have possessed surely does not exist now…"

"Not necessarily." Integra replied, "Even if they attempt to kill Alucard, Alucard will not yield to their efforts. He is the ultimate vampire. He cannot be defeated."

A squinted smile appeared on Morris' face in response to Integra's determined confidence in Alucard. "Well, obviously you must have seen something in that Ms Lynch. She stole the cross anyway and has left with that vampire. I still don't get why you said that to the woman though. You almost made her cry."

"I wanted her to take the bait."

"Bait? What… bait?"

"Look." Integra handed him the folder. When Morris opened it and received an eyeful of the word 'DEATH' and 'RUBY ASHCROFT' in those large, black and bold letters, his eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"What is the meaning of this?" He gasped.

Integra plucked a brown cigar from the innards of her pocket and slid it into her mouth before lighting the end up with her lighter, all the while Morris was looking at the paper from all sorts of angles - up and down, back to front – as if it would help him comprehend any better. "…From what Alucard has disclosed to me, Ruby's relationship with her father is extremely constrained. It started during her childhood and continued into her adulthood. At first, I had wanted to ask Ms Lynch about Ruby's background, but if she was her carer roughly the time it started, and if she had been working for the Ashcroft family for such a long time as she stated herself, how is it she could not have noticed during her entire time there that a child was being neglected by a parent?"

"…Well, if you put it that way…"

"The way how Ruby was treated by her father would at least be something a carer would concern herself about, and would raise this issue to her mother, or to authorities, but Ms Lynch never did."

"Are you saying that… Miss Ruby needed to be looked after by the Ashcroft's? They couldn't afford anyone to investigate them?"

"They never asked for anyone else to 'babysit' but a close friend. They needed Ruby to stay in that family no matter what was going on. And so," Integra replied, "If my hunch is correct, Ruby is vital to them; she is being used by Mary and the Ashcroft's some way in another. What I need to know now is… if it is Caelum who is pulling the strings, I need to find out where he is."

"So that's why you let Mary steal the cross. And now that she's taken Miss Ruby with her; Alucard will find them in no time. She'll lead us back to Caelum without even knowing. Have you even thought about how we are going to defeat that guy?"

"The problem is he is not a regular vampire because he is one of the First. We took over his island, we stopped the tournament, we stopped the vampire bar…And when Alucard confronted him, our customised bullets didn't work either." Integra said, "He may be just like Alucard himself. Immortal, never-dying…"

That being said, Alucard's lips tugged upwards into a smirk. "There is no such thing as immortality in this world, my master."

Morris put a hand to his chin as in deep thought, "Yes, there must be a way to defeat him. You know…I thought Alucard was a product of years of thorough examination and study. There can't be another vampire as strong as he is anyway."

"Yes, there is none. There should be none. I think it's best we try approaching Caelum from a different perspective." Integra remarked.

"What kind of perspective?"

"Well…" She replied, with a growing smile, "…Let's start with Ruby. I don't know for whatever reason Ms Lynch is doing this, and why this has happened to Ruby in the first place, but it seems she is important to his plan, and we will find out soon." Turning to Alucard, she added, "Well? Have you found her yet?"

"Yes," Alucard replied, "…They've taken her home."

Meanwhile.

"What just happened?"

Ruby woke up to a one-voice argument. She groggily opened her eyes to see Mary and Luther standing near the door to the lounge. Mary was strangely irate; Ruby had never seen her so agitated before. She was pacing up and down the floor relentlessly asking, "No-one else has access to father's files except me and…Luther, what did you do?"

However, Luther merely threw his gaze to the floor; Mary, having none of that, grabbed his arm and placed his hand over hers. She said nothing for a short while, but then - "You sent them the death certificate, didn't you?"

Luther turned away in response, to Ruby, who was still recovering. Unsure of what was going on, and having been ignored for the past few minutes, Ruby began to slowly make sense of her surroundings before ultimately realising they had brought her…

Home?

"Why?" Mary was demanding now, but she received no response. Instead, she began to shake her head in disbelief, "…You know what…it doesn't matter. What's done is done. Something's not right. That was too easy."

Ruby glanced around; they were indeed at her home, in her lounge. The house was silent, save for Mary's loud shouting. It didn't appear as though her mother or father were home. She gasped then, feeling homesick and relieved, and she turned to Luther, who was occupied with Mary, before she tried to crawl away but she did not go unnoticed.

"And where do you think you're going?" Mary was talking loudly, furiously, whilst Luther remained eerily silent, "They know who you are! It's OVER. They know who you are, Ruby, which means they know everything."

Ruby backed away from the duo immediately, "W-who are you?"

"I'm your carer."

"No, you're not just my carer, you're…you're…I don't know who you are, but you know Luther which means – "

She sighed heavily, "My real name is Mary Rosenthal. When I was a baby, I was stolen from my real family, just like you." Mary said, "But…unlike you, Caelum decided to take me in as his own. I grew up as his daughter and he is my father."

"You were the…you're the child who was abducted by Caelum?"

"Yes."

"B-but WHY? He's not your family - and your mother and sister - you never tried to return to them once?"

"No. I'm happy where I am."

"Th-that's wrong." Ruby stammered, "That's wrong…"

Mary reached over and grabbed her by the sides of her arms, "That's unimportant at the moment; Ruby, you need to come with us. I have always looked out for you," She said sternly, "Please, you need to come. Come with us, now. Caelum will never hurt you, I swear. He's looked after you before, too. We are his daughters."

"NO!" Ruby pulled herself away fiercely, "You're crazy! Why did you even bring me here? What do you want? Y-You stole Sir Integra's cross and you hurt Seras! When Alucard gets here, he's going to - "

Mary's expression darkened in a split second, "You stupid little girl!"

And Ruby found herself stumbling backwards - Mary had slapped her across the face, hard. To her surprise, Luther was at her side in seconds and had prevented her from stumbling by grabbing her arm. Ruby stared. She hadn't expected Luther to help her in any way at all. Her mouth opened to a little extent, although she was unsure what to say.

However, Mary soon brought them back to the current reality. "Get a hold of yourself!" She was hissing, as soon as Luther lifted Ruby back onto her feet, "It's over! Alucard doesn't love you and he never will! Do you know why he turned you? Because he's lonely and he wants a toy! Don't you understand? He will never love you the same way he loves Mina! No, he will never love you the same way at all! You are not even important to him as the other people in his life are! He will love his Master more than you! And he will love his fledgling more than he will ever love you!"

Ruby shrugged herself out of Luther's hold to focus on Mary. "No…you're wrong…" She replied, her voice wobbling, "S-stop it! You're wrong you're wrong you're wrong! Just stop it! Get out of my house! Get out! I will NEVER come with you, and I don't want to see you again, ever!"

Mary was strangely unfazed nor did she attempt to change Ruby's mind. "Fine." She merely stated, frowning, and Ruby was slightly startled the woman did not even argue her case considering how intent she was on in having Ruby come with her earlier on. Mary then averted her gaze to Luther, as though Ruby was no longer of her concern, "We're wasting time here. Let's go, give this to father; he is expecting us..."

Luther left Ruby's side after a few moments of hesitation and returned to Mary.

And in a blink, they had gone, vanishing into thin air.

Ruby was left alone in the house. She stood numbly on the spot, wondering what to do next. She had been taken away by Mary and Luther from Hellsing and dumped in her own home… and now this was happening. Maybe she should try and get in contact with Hellsing and find Alucard. But a noise, a low thunk, grabbed her attention, and she turned to the kitchen where the noise had seemingly come from. Was someone here?

Thunk.

That noise came again. Ruby inched into the kitchen uneasily, arriving shortly at the door leading to the basement.

It was open.

Ruby peered through the doorway and glanced down at the long stretch of steep stairs that led down to the basement. Swallowing in her gut, she made her way down. The noise was louder now, going thunk, thunk, thunk in a rhythmic pattern. As soon as she arrived at the door to the basement, she found that door ajar.

When was the last time she was in the basement?

Oh yes, it was her first and final time, so many years ago… she was ill and woke up one night… She called for her mother and father but they never came so she went to find them herself. She found her mother asleep on the settee, but her father was downstairs in the basement…

Shakily, her hand grasped the doorknob and she opened the door. It gave a low creak, as though it had been of long disuse, and she stepped inside. The basement was dark but she could still make out a few silhouettes of furniture inside. She found a piece of string dangling down from the ceiling beside her and pulled it.

The light flickered on, casting a dim, orangey-yellow glow in the basement.

With limited light, she was also relatively surprised to discover that the basement was clean, without a hint of dust or cobweb in the corner. The basement wall, the first wall she turned to her right, contained a great, wide billboard that was at least the size of her living room window. It was covered in what seemed to be old photographs and cut-outs of newspaper articles, reports, documents, cards, letters, and memos. The desk at the foot of the large billboard was a mess, with her parent's stethoscope and medicine supplies, syringes and test-tubes in a small rack containing a liquid that appeared to be blood.

"Hello? Is…someone there?"

There was a noise at the far end of the basement, where the light of the basement did not reach. The noise was a low kind of shuffle that came rhythmically; the noise soon became heavy, like someone heaving a plough and dragging it through the ground. Stepping forwards slightly, Ruby saw the hunched outline of a person huddling in the corner… it looked like a lot like…

"Mum!" Ruby rushed over and threw her arms around the woman tightly, her eyes squeezed shut. "Mum! You're here! Where's dad? They said you were missing! I was so worried! And something weird's going on. Mary's gone crazy, too!"

However, she received no response.

"…Mum?"

Dahlia was digging her hands into the ground and clawing out soil, which explained the noise. What startled Ruby was that…they had a… mud patch…in the… basement?

"Mum, what are you doing? Stop it. Stop doing that." Ruby reached over and attempted to lift out her mother's fingers which were stuck in the thick, but brittle mud. No good, Dahlia was unmoving, her gaze focused on the soil on her hands.

With no success in prying her mother's hands out of the ground, Ruby could only watch with a fixed helplessness while kneeling down beside her mother. After a few unproductive minutes of doing nothing but watch, Ruby stood back up and then moved to the desk with the billboard.

There was the same crayon drawing her mother took away the last time she returned home. It was pinned beside a photograph of a house that looked eerily identical. Ruby tilted her head to the side for a better look at the photograph; the photo seemed to possess a bitter familiarity to it… She was almost struck with the belief she had seen the house before…she just wasn't sure when, and where. Beside the drawing, was a plastic, laminated name tag. Ruby picked it up, her eyes widening. The nametag was a simple nametag, with a logo of a silver sphere-shape with the words ORACLE R & D COMPANY stamped in the middle. There was a small passport photo of her mother along with her name.

She put down the nametag before averting her attention to a family portrait stuck to the billboard of an infant chewing a cookie, being held by a woman who was seated, with a man standing beside her, his hand was placed on her shoulder affectionately They were both smiling. Ruby stared. She did not recognise the couple at all, but she reached for it and plucked it out from the board. Then she turned the photograph around with trembling hands and glanced at the back.

In memory of Alena Van der Linde and Henrik Van der Linde.

Gasping, she dropped the photograph. Van der Linde…That's the name of…

Ruby began looking around the rest of the basement frantically; eventually, her searching eyes landed on a particular newspaper cut-out fastened to the billboard with a small pin which she pulled off. Immediately, she began scouring the headlines, which dated back at least eighteen years ago:

FAMILY KILLED IN FIRE. DAUGHTER MISSING.

The name of the couple who perished was also Van der Linde. She stared at the newspaper cut-out in stunned silence.

Then slowly, Ruby backed away from the desk, away from the confusing items that were collected on the board and then she found herself bumping into the filing cabinet, a few documents fluttering out from the top. It appeared as though the cabinet had been opened recently and browsed through, considering how all the documents she had knocked over appeared to be in unassorted order. Ruby found another old photo, this time labelled RUBY ASHCROFT and quickly glanced at it under the gloomy light.

The photo contained her mother and father whom she recognised immediately, but the little girl accompanying them in the picture… was not her. It could not be. It was someone she had never seen before in her entire life…

Her hands were trembling. She dropped the photo and grabbed the desk for support, her fingers gripping the edge tightly as she stood up clumsily. Calm down… calm down… let's think slowly first… "What is this…?" She stammered out wobbly, only to receive no response. Turning to Dahlia, she saw her mother at the mud patch of the basement, still digging. "What are these photos? What are those newspaper articles? Why do you have a nametag saying Oracle Research and Development? I thought you were a doctor? What do these all mean?"

Dahlia ignored her again.

"What are these?" She tried again, only to elicit the same response; the woman was engrossed, like a mad man digging for gold. "What do the Van der Linde's have to do with you?"

"…Ruby…Ruby darling…forgive me. Mummy's sorry…Mummy's so sorry…" Dahlia began to mumble and mutter to herself continuously as she pried at the murky dry mire with her hands, her fingers and nails caked in dirt, and blood. "Mummy's going to look after you…Mummy loves you…mummy loves you so much…"

"Stop doing that!" Ruby yelled as she rushed over, before falling to her knees beside her mother. Ruby tried to pull Dahlia's hands out of the ground but the woman kept shoving her hands into the dirt persistently no matter how many times she tried. "What is it? What are you looking for? Is something in there? Did you lose something in there?"

Again, she received no response from the mumbling, muttering woman, and Ruby began to assist in the dig, plunging her hands deep into the soil. She didn't know how much she dug out, but when her nails finally hit something hard, she stopped for a split second, then began ploughing out more soil at a faster pace. She brushed away the last remaining soil tendrils over the hard object only to let out a gasp.

There, settled deep within the mud, were carefully arranged, little whitish-grey...sticks?

No, not sticks.

Bones.

A hand.
It was a human hand.

But it was so small… at least, the size of an infant…

"…What is that? Who…Who is that?"

Dahlia scooped up the brittle bones that were meant to be a human hand and clutched it to herself as tears dribbled down her cheeks from the corners of her eyes. "…Ruby…Ruby, my darling…my poor baby…my baby…let's all go to the seaside…that's what you wanted so much…"

"…Ruby?"

She understood now.

"…That's Ruby? That's the real Ruby? But…why is she…dead?"

Dahlia ignored her, clutching the bones to her bosom tightly, her eyes squeezed shut as thick tears continued to ooze out.

"You killed her…?"

"No!" Dahlia wailed out all of a sudden, "We didn't kill her! We could never kill her!"

"Then what did you do? Why is she there? What happened to her? Why is she buried in your basement?" Ruby demanded, "Tell me!"

Dahlia shook her head furiously. "No…no…no, no…we can't…I can't tell you..."

"Tell me!"

"NO!"

"What did you do? What did you do to your daughter and the Van der Linde's?" Ruby yelled angrily, but Dahlia only turned away with the bones of the child gathered in her arms. "Did you kill them? Did Caelum kill them? Answer me!" An anger like no other overcame her, she wanted to scream, to cry and to hurl, to throw something; she was angry that this woman - who claimed to be her mother - could not reply to any of her questions, but then –

"YES!" Dahlia finally screamed, before she put down the bones and began digging at the mud again to find the remainders of the skeleton, uncovering the skull, "…He killed your real parents and then he took you! He took you…"

Ruby stared, her mind going hazy with shock. "…Why?"

"He knew who you were; he knew you were Alucard's mate."

"How?"

"Oracle has been researching you, before you were born; they found you. It would only be a matter of time, until you would meet Alucard."

She couldn't believe her ears."But what does Caelum want with me? What does he want?"

"Caelum gave you to us." Dahlia was simpering helplessly, "You were so cute. It was as if our little darling Ruby had returned to us. I needed you…" She sat up and lifted the skull to her eye-level, "Ruby…My baby…You were only three years old… It was our fault…we didn't look after you properly, you…you were playing in the kitchen and you fell down the stairs."

Her eyes widened. It was an accident? Ruby cast her gaze to the skull; the skull was nothing but a small and rotted, russet-white globe with short strands of brown hair dotted around the crown; its eye sockets empty and devoid, and its mouth resembling nothing but an array of clenched tiny teeth, an eerie but brutal reminder of what happened to one's body after death.

She felt a pang of guilt in her gut but turned away, horrified to be a witness to this. Her mouth opened to some extent but no words could form, all she could do was sidle a little closer to her and reach a shaking hand out to the weeping woman. "…Mum…?"

The woman still had her back to her, sobbing helplessly into the decaying skull.

"Mum - "

Dahlia lashed out and shoved her hand away immediately as she turned round, "I'm not your mother!"

The basement fell into silence.

Ruby withdrew her hand, and Dahlia began to weep louder after realising her mistake, "…Oh…Ruby…Ruby. I'm…I'm so sorry…I didn't mean to… I love you – "

"No."

"Ruby, please – we raised you…"

"N-no." Her voice was quivering as she began to stand up, stepping away from the kneeling woman who had now put down the skull. "You're right. You're not my mother."

She wailed devastatingly in response, "Ruby, no - !"

"Wake up! I'm NOT Ruby. I'm not your Ruby…It…it's not fair to your daughter. Your real daughter." She forced herself to turn away from the sobbing Dahlia with her fists clenched, and she marched back towards the stairs. Dahlia's dreary sobs followed her out; Ruby left the basement and back upstairs to the lounge, feeling betrayal from all four corners. Finally, she stopped at the doorway. She glanced around her house wordlessly…she had no sense of identity, no sense of belonging…

Who…who am I?

She inhaled a deep breath, deciding to leave… yes…she was going to leave and never come back…

She moved forwards, walking, swallowing down a lump in her throat as her legs seemed to appear heavier and heavier with step. And as she neared the door, she felt her body shuddering, as though she had taken a difficult, laborious breath. Her mind fogged over with relentless grief and a sense of sheer devastation, and her knees eventually gave way. Ruby dropped to the floor and the tears she could no longer hold in began streaming from the corner of her eyes as soon as she made contact with the ground, and she lay there helplessly, weeping.

Although she had cried earlier before, she was saddened to see blood tears…or at least, her tears were some kind thin, reddish fluid which she inadvertently smeared over her face as she attempted to wipe them away. It leaked out so freely from the corner of her eyes and she looked back up, her face streaming with blood as her shaking, curled hands became stained with crimson blobs.

No… this can't be happening…

All this time…they weren't even my real parents...! But… she lost her real daughter and sought me as a replacement…She still cared for me and loved me unconditionally even though she knew deep inside I wasn't her own flesh and blood...

She's still my mother…

…I can't leave things the way they are now.

As Ruby rose from her spot and turned to waddle towards the kitchen, the foreboding resonance of a gunshot suddenly rang throughout the house; she froze and shakily threw her gaze towards the door leading to the basement.

She was too scared to go downstairs.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Whew! Finally, I got the truth out. There goes the first tragedy. Surprisingly, I have been building up so long for this chapter it actually feels…strange to get it out. This was meant to be split into 2 chapters but there really is no need.

Chapter summary:

Integra receives a death certificate of Ruby Ashcroft dating back more than 20 years ago which was left outside Hellsing gates. Considering that Ruby took on the identity of Leanne Van der Linde when she was found in Bal'allan, Integra has her suspicions that Ruby is Leanne.

Just then, Mary arrives and Integra approaches her with the intention of finding out more about Ruby's past. She asks Alucard, Seras and Ruby to leave the room for the moment. Alucard and Ruby return to the treasury room.

In the meeting room, when questioning Mary about Ruby's poor relationship with her father, Integra begins to get suspicious about Mary because Ruby was treated horribly but Mary did nothing to prevent it, thus bringing Integra to the conclusion that maybe Ruby is Leanne who was stolen from her real family and placed into another. But why Ruby needed to stay within the Ashcroft family is still something that needs further investigation.

Before she can question her, Luther has launched an attack on the manor by blowing a hole in one of the rooms downstairs, thus infiltrating the manor. Meanwhile, Alucard leaves Ruby in the treasury room which has been activated into lockdown mode, sealing her inside. To get it to unlock, he has to go find Integra. To clarify her suspicions, Integra tries to bait Mary by deliberately anointing Seras to take Mary to a safe place for 'protection', but they would also conveniently pass the treasury room.

On their way, they meet Luther who has finally located the room (was not written in chapter), and Luther defeats Seras, before Mary commands him to open the door to the treasury room. He blasts open the door and Mary sees Ruby inside, who has been knocked unconscious by the explosion. Mary breaks into the cabinet of the cross and takes Ruby with her.

After the assault, Integra, Morris and Alucard discuss their next move. Basically, Integra had wanted to ask Mary innocent questions about Ruby, but after she received the death certificate, she thought something was weird and asked Mary some more questions about Ruby's background which ended up portraying Mary as a suspicious character.

Right, so if you are a new reader and you have somehow jumped to this chapter and this section for god-knows-what reason at all, then whatever you do, please DO NOT read this, because this will spoil the entire story for you.

This author's note is ONLY for those who have been reading since Chapter 1.

-Updated- OC Character Profiles:

Name: Leanne Van der Linde/Ruby Ashcroft

This is not mentioned in the story, but she is a descendant of one of Dracula's brides. Her ancestral bloodline was observed in brutal detail by Oracle who then calculated and predicted that Ruby/Leanne or even her mother, would have a chance of encountering Alucard at least once in their lives. In this chapter, she found out that after her real parents were killed by Caelum, he then gave her to Samuel and Dahlia to be raised up until the day she would meet Alucard, and all this time, she had believed they were her parents.

Name: Caelum (aka Man in Black or Red Eyes, according to Ruby)

The President of Oracle Corporation. He is an ancient vampire who preys on humans in a cannibalistic manner, choosing to devour them than just drink their blood. He is now killing anyone who angers or annoys him the slightest. During the 1940-50s, he was in love with the human Emilia; he raped her (apparently) and was then captured by Oracle Corporation and experimented on along with Ermen and Luther, before deciding to kill all the scientists and take over the HQ and re-establishing the Order of the Black Flame, but decided to mutilate the previous code and rename them as 'Knights' and not 'Guardians' because he no longer wants to protect humans. He has a daughter, Mary.

He is known to Ruby as Red Eyes because his red eyes are all she can remember of him when he abducted her. From Ruby's hidden memories/flashbacks when she was a baby, she was actually attached to him because she began crying when he handed her to Dahlia to be held.

Name: Luther

Although heavily disfigured, he has tried to speak and can communicate telepathically if he has skin-to-skin contact. However, even then the only person he trusts and talks to is actually Mary, whom he unofficially recognises as his Master. Although he is one of Caelum's right hand men, he is far more loyal to her, and listens to her every command. He has also expressed concern over Caelum's recent actions and has suggested leaving Oracle only to be rebuffed.

If you remember in Chapter 23, when Mary goes to find Ruby, she tells her 'someone will help her' before leaving, and then later, Luther attempts to win Ruby at the Bride Auction. Get it now? :)

Name: Mary Lynch/Rosenthal

The missing daughter of Emilia Rosenthal, now Caelum's daughter. She is human and has been brought up with knowledge of the existence of vampires, which is why she sees it as a 'norm'. She is Luther's Master.

Name: Samuel and Dahlia Ashcroft

Samuel is Ruby's father. He actually works for Oracle, and his real daughter had an accident. At the moment, he is still missing.

Dahlia is Ruby's mother. She also works for Oracle, and it is revealed the real Ruby is buried in a mud patch of their basement. She never recovered from the death of her only child and when Caelum gave her Leanne, she took her in straight away and called her 'Ruby'. She committed suicide in this chapter.

Minor:

Name: Thade
His real name is Herbert. He is a Scottish vampire who lives in Bal'allan Mountains. Although he has helped Hellsing before, he is actually associated with Caelum.

Name: Garth
He has taken over Ermen's position.

Name: Jack Seward
Descendant of John Seward. He is the residential doctor of Hellsing; compared to Morris, he has a serious disposition and is a no-nonsense guy.

Other:

Oracle Corporation.

A research facility run by a group of scientists that used to experiment on vampires, working 'to see a better future'. Ermen and Luther were once subjects. After the scientists captured Caelum, they did not account for him to take over. Now, Oracle Corporation is a company within the financial district of London with a false public image. They still employ humans (such as Samuel and Dahlia).

Vampires.

I decided to add this in because Anemos asked about character's names. Firstly, GaarasMyBoyzz provided me with the name Ermenrich. For the others, I tried to find unusual, uncommon names because I've portrayed male vampires in this story as being mysterious, surname-less and mafia-like males who are also enigmatic, menacing, yet surprisingly sophisticated and even charming (except from Thade). I have decided to portray the female counterparts as being seductive albeit sneaky and dangerous temptresses. They hate Ruby because they love Alucard. Very much.

Deceased Characters:

During-story

Dahlia Ashcroft
Ermenrich
Cassandra (minor character, Ermen's bride)
Mordecai Rosenthal
Nadia
Victor Sloan

Pre-story

Ruby Ashcroft (the real daughter)
Alena and Henrik Van der Linde
Emilia and Caelum's baby (unnamed)
Emilia Rosenthal
Anthony Rosenthal
Gideon (Original Leader of the Guardians)