Okay, chapter three. I feel like this is actually turning into a rather dark story since I've cut out the only really humorous part because I didn't like it as much as I thought I did. Please review!
Shortly before Integra's thirtieth birthday, she and John Harrison were wed; their relationship had progressed rapidly in what Integra herself termed "a somewhat whirlwind fashion." They had met several times after the ball, often out of necessity. He became somewhat of an ambassador between the Royal Military and Hellsing while Integra had been rebuilding her troops. They had begun to meet privately after a few months, and were engaged only a year after they had first met.
The whole situation rather seemed to be out of Integra's character. Although I knew that there was certainly some aspect of love to their relationship, I also knew that Integra was not nearly as strong as she let on, after eight years of being her only support. The near simultaneous loss of two major people in her life, both Walter and Alucard, had left a void in her that caused her to cling desperately to the new bond she had formed. Yet I remained silent for the sake of her happiness.
I briefly wondered at the objectivity of my musings as I stood beside Integra as her only bridesmaid.
We had become close friends, something that had been proven to me by her efforts to make John accept the fact that I, her consul and best friend, was a vampire. Because a large portion of his family and many of his friends had been murdered during the Millennium incident, he had a completely reasonable hatred of my kind. It was only to be expected that he had trouble accepting me. It had taken him two full years to grudgingly realize that not all vampires were ruthless murderers, the main reason behind the postponing of the wedding.
I was forcibly pulled from my thoughts as Integra dragged me to the location of the reception, the ceremony itself apparently over, having passed unnoticed while I had been musing. She released my arm and threw me a worried frown before disappearing into the crowd, eager to get her one obligatory dance over with so that she could hide in a corner. I smiled.
'At least she's happy.'