Disclaimer: Hellsing belongs to Kouta Hirano. Elica, Isolde, Mealla and Duke are original characters created for this story. This is a work of fiction made for free.
(Re) Building An Empire
Already Ten Years
"Not the most exciting way of losing an eye, I'd say" Pip shrugged in a chuckle. The sunset reflecting on his braid gave him that look of calmness that Seras adored. In fact, she couldn't keep herself from playing with his long orange hair while listening exploits of when he was alive. "What about you? Mignonette, you never talk about your life before knowing us."
"Me?" Seras was taken offhand. No one ever had cared what she had done before joining Hellsing. More else, it was natural that Pip already knew it, since both formed the same entity. "You don't want to hear my boring stories."
"Aww c'men ma Cherie, I'm pretty sure you have a couple of good ones. I want to hear from your lips those sweet life lessons of yours."
"...Well" Seras started with her first day as a police officer in Wells. The mistakes she committed, like confusing some trendy teenagers with some junkies.
The Frenchman didn't hide his amusement when listening his Cherie mentioned that fashion those days was so awful, she hated the broken pants and those ragamuffins from the nineties. Then he laughed harder when Seras told him of the day she patrolled the entire day with her uniform ripped by the bottoms. No one dared to tell her!
The couple stayed sitting there under a tree, alternating funny experiences, thrilling experiences, like an old couple sharing precious time together.
"Already ten years" The Draculina murmured to herself, and her strongest familiar was completely aware of what she meant. And as if had been a spell to cast silence, words became worthless, and both stared at the everlasting twilight with a satisfied smile. Until two little pairs of hands covered their eyes from behind.
"Ratet mal, wer ich bin." Young girls' voices chimed in chorus, maybe expecting to mix up their tones making the game harder.
"Elica." Pip turned immediately upon the busted girl to shake this little girl, giggling uncontrollably by the contact "how's my poussin doing today?"
"If that's the case, you are Isolde." Seras looked up to the youngest sister's blue eyes with a wide smile. The Draculina, who was an orphan from early in her life, had gotten an odd family of her own.
"Mister Harkonnen awaits." Elica pulled Pip by the uniform with excitement. Her English was heavily accented, but it made listening to her even cuter "Seras. We made pretty looking jail together. With bigger bars then the cage."
"I'm proud of you" Seras raffled the girl's curls, who with the help of the others had kept Raymond on line during all those years. Even though, she was hiding how pathetic she felt. For over a decade she hasn't been able to control that one vampire that helped her to regain power after the sealing ceremony.
Altogether walked back to the bar facing the sun. Midway they were met by Cadham Corach's wife, Mealla. She liked to stay in their wolfish form most of the time, perhaps the reason the werewolf had accepted Seras as a new master despite the conditions they had met, was that she didn't kill Airitech Junior when had received a direct order for doing so. Whatever the reason, Mealla had become a lenient ally.
Leaning down to pet her silver fur, Mealla was the vivid image of Coronel Hans smiling at her. The first of the many occasions she had the insight of doubt from her decisions. The wolfish woman growled pleased and left some steps behind in space for following the Draculina towards the building with old British facade. Pip grabbing Seras' hand with protective trust. A glance reassuring her that this might probably be the day. As they entered a weird old music from a gramophone greeted them. A little mouse running over the vinyl disc for making it plays. Uneven chess board floors, and the addition of chess pieces staring at the newcomers from every table were a recent change. Floating from the farthest ceiling corner, Harkonnen saluted them dissimulating his joy.
"My sweet friends, what brings you here after so much time?" Of course he had to showcase he was angry, after all the last time Seras had consciously searched for her weapon's opinion was about a decade ago.
"Oh wise spirit of Harkonnen" Seras flattered out, hands in praying position and eyes shining in anticipation. "Where is the Lord you have kept under your responsable wing? I would love to help you with that burden.
"S'il vous plait monsieur." Pip joined the plead and even when the two girls have came from that place to begin with, both followed up the play.
"Bitte mein Herr."
"All right, all right," Harkonnen was scratching the back of his head with modesty. The music changed to a jazzy style, the mouse running fastest as ever. A box covered with an black and red stripped tent appeared out of thin air beside the weapon spirit. "It has been all the time right here."
He pulled the tent to reveal a cage. Sitting in the middle, right arm resting on the knee, a middle aged man glanced at them with an annoyed expression. His once red hair had turned silver, and the traces of the old battle with Seras were depicted by a long scar alongside his left eye. The clothes had not changed a bit either. Stripped and bizarre, he was nothing but a picture in the time.
"It's been a while, flower. How much time are you intending to keep me waiting?" he purred with seductive voice to his guard, Pip was already clenching fist at the vampire's teasing. Seras stopped him with single arm movement. Red eyes staring back at equally crimson colored.
"I'm here as every year to ask you again."
"You have already came this year, but I don't mind if you want it twice. As every year I'll give you the same answer." He hummed.
Seras could feel a knot forming in her throat. She swallowed hard as if there was a blood clot passing through her throat. Her arm reached out towards Raymond.He was so helplessly blind to understand his imprisonment was unnecessary.
"Look around you, Raymond. Everything here is yours also. This is your family too." Her free hand posed towards Pip who laid a hand on each girl's shoulder, and Mealla sitting beside them. Before Seras could finish the speech she had practically memorized through the years, a clawed force pulled her towards the cage. Raymond's pointy teeth at inches from her nose, his rancid blood breath a memento of his material self. Again, a hand gesture from Seras put Pip and Mealla to halt. Things were already too complicated for making them harder.
"You might have killed me but my soul doesn't deserve to respect a vampire like you. A family? What is this circus? The only family I had were my childe, and your people killed them all!"
Seras could grasp flickers of rage emanating from the cage where Raymond had been trapped for over a decade. He was right to hate her. His ideal was not bad at all, his dream to make public the existence of vampires could had led to an utopian society. To release them from that cultural stain that centuries have rusted over their person. His two mistakes were the people he allied with and starting his crusade in UK. Hellsing had a different perspective of how the un-dead should be treated, Seras and Alucard included.
Rather knowing what to say, she stood still listening to Raymond's arguments. She had never been good with words.
"You dreamer, idiotic pampered excuse of bloodsucker" every word more rancorous than the former, Seras felt how her frustration began rising the more she heard. Raymond went mute when a sudden earthquake assaulted the bar.
"So-something is wrong!" Harkonnen ran to hug Pip in the act. "Tha place is crumbling to pieces!"
As he said it, Seras glare softened to look around her; an instant before the roof collapsed over them.
She woke up. Heavy breathing. Fangs bumping at the same rhythm of her accelerated heartbeat. Honestly, it took her several seconds to realise that was her heart beating for no reason. But beside this weird feeling, there was another sensation that was annoying her. She was starving!
Two stages through the roof and five walls later she was in the kitchen. There was way too much light still, the clock on the farthest wall displayed a flashy sixteen and thirty minutes. While opening the refrigerator door she resisted the urge to check her familiars. It had been a weird dream, or rather nightmare, and she was worried for the safety of Pip, Mealla, and the girls. Just remembering the failure with Raymond made her to pull out several blood bags to drink them in one go. Anger rising; it wasn't until the third emptied bag that her stomach felt some relief from her throbbing pangs. An admiring whistle from the darkness announced she wasn't alone. Her senses twitched, she could see Duke enjoying a cup of blood, marshmallows floating on them included.
"Why are you awake at this hour?" She tried to hide how pissed she was from the former events before waking up.
"I can answer that with another question, why you didn't let me sleep with your screams?"
"I wasn't screaming."
He chucked before sipping at his cup with manners.
"You shouldn't do this."
"Do what?" Seras wasn't on the mood to argue with him, it was too early in the afternoon and she'd rather go back to her coffin to try and catch more sleep.
"...You know, what you were trying with… Raymond." Duke was smart, he had picked the information directly from her mind. He was intrusive even when he only was caring for her welfare. "That guy already admitted his defeat, the only thing that's left it's to absorb him. Your soul is not a democracy, you know?"
"Who are you to care?" Seras was very irritable, it was almost as if all the rage condensed in Raymond was passing through her; again, she finished another bag. She was afflicted upon realising it was the last one! Something was wrong with her mind, but she wasn't going to give Duke the reason. "Plus, you are weak."
He looked at her with a mixture of amusement and concern, then sighted.
"We are the descendants of the No Life King, being weak it's not an option."
"Yes, you are weak, you don't want to improve your abilities like I do." Seras pushed harder against him, trying to intimidate the older vampire. Since the activation of the seal, Duke no longer had a familiar, everything was reset to zero in them. Seras had fought hard for keeping Pip and the girls, why shouldn't she do the same for Raymond?
"That's not true." Duke snapped his fingers with every word. "I have Rails! Though, my mind was -is too unstable to keep him… it was his soul or mine."
Seras understood what he wanted to say. Hearing all those voices, experiencing all those feelings. Living through the eyes of Pip, Isolde, Maella or Elica was already difficult. It was suicide to add Raymond to the madness, but somehow, she was sure it could work. It had to.
"Say…" Duke finished his cup and even gave it a wash. He certainly knew the answer of what he was about to ask, however he wanted to hear it out loud "Does it has something to do with Sir Irons' recent death?"
Seras nodded, some bloody tears demanding to fall. Death had followed the same path most of her life, but this time the opprobrium reached when she had thought the massacre had found an end.
"I promised him to be stronger."
Author's Note: And here it comes the fist third of the story! :D Time is very apparent, so next chapters will take even longer spans.
Thank you so much to those who follow the story even after the long hiatus -I'm talking to you, Jo ;)