A.N: We have officially reached episode 7 and we are on the final few chapters of this series sadly. Enjoy the ride guys because from this point on it gonna get bloody and awesome!
Of all the colors of the rainbow, red was probably Seras' least favorite at this point. It was hot and putrid, and it stuck to anything it touched. Red stuck to the halls of Hellsing Manor that she ran through. Red plastered the bodies of her fallen comrades. Red exploded out of her enemies when she fired the Hallconnen II. Red stung her eyes and burnt her skin. Seras choked on the color red.
At the same time, the Nazis imbibed red like refined treats. They were relaxing in pools of it, surrounded by eviscerated bodies and daring to communicate with each other as if they were still human beings. As if they were deserving of the title "people." Seras and the Hallconnen did not agree with this.
The first one she killed was the one drinking from a severed arm. His head popped like a smashed keyboard, which made Seras feel a little better. She bore the Hallconnen II and unloaded on the unsuspecting vampires, raining down a volley of bullets and hot shells. Her third eye discerned another group approaching from behind. They tried to serpentine around her, to confuse her vision and ambush from all sides. But the Hallconnen was too fast, and her eyes too precise, and they all came crashing down in vile chunks. She pointed a cannon to the ground and erased the last feeble attempt at a surprise attack from the floor below.
Instants of noise and quiet came and went without much pomp or ceremony. One moment Seras' attention was blinded by gunfire and screaming, the next she was alone with the bodies. The tortured expressions and eyes devoid of spirit. There was nowhere Seras could look where she wouldn't be challenged with the death of someone she knew.
"I-I'll take care of them." It was time to move. Seras needed to move. She wouldn't move.
"I'll… I'll… I'll take care of all of them!"
I'll kill all of them!
Annabelle King blazed through the London air, trailing flames wherever she went. She stole the fires of the Nazis to expand her own fire, to feed her monster. It screeched with sick delight and tore apart the vampires that they encountered. Annabelle had kept everything she stole from Seras, but there was one thing that Seras had given willingly: Annabelle's Tamed Noise.
It was more than some simple ape or bird, and it was more controlled than Rocky's tapewyrm. This Noise was a creature of dancing form, elegant and beautiful in its sway. It had no features or defining characteristic, and to the common eye seemed like no more than a burning shape. But Annabelle saw deeper, saw into the core of her pet. Its grace in fire spoke to her, and the two understood each other in battle. And the colors it burned were pleasing to any eye, and changed depending on the fuel: open air would burn yellow, while stone burnt a deep purple. Wood and foliage lit with a pleasing green, and clothe burnt white. Flesh, especially the flesh of the undead, burnt crimson.
The ghouls plaguing the earth proved so numerous, and so utterly useless, that after less than an hour of immolation her Noise was large enough to brighten a city block, and Annabelle abandoned killing them completely. The Players could clean them up, it wouldn't be difficult. So she turned her attention to the roaming packs of vampires and found their brood more to her murderous pleasure.
She heard screaming and turned toward it without a moment's hesitation, the Noise trailing behind her. Survivors were rare and precious, and Annabelle would not let a single one die under her guard. Composer King would never abandon her subjects.
In the distance she could make out the forms of humans alighting from rooftops. They were armed, and had succeeded in killing numerous vampires. Her Players wouldn't be alone after all, that was relieving.
There below her was a small group of civilians. They were surrounded by ghouls and struggling to escape. A squad of vampires were weaving through the horde towards them at a break neck pace.
No casualties allowed.
From the survivors' perspective, the ghouls swarming them were eaten up by fire raining from the sky. The flames darkened and spread outward, circling the meager lives left, but not consuming them as well. Ghouls tried to push through the fiery barrier, turning to ash in an instant. Then there was a cavernous pounding, and body parts flew in to air around them as chunks of the horde were flattened into the ground. Guns fired from somewhere unseen, followed by panic and the squelching sound of flesh being cleaved from bone. And all the while the circle of flames devoured the ghouls.
A figure appeared in the fire. It was a woman, slender and white as a dove. Her raven hair danced with the lift of the fire, and her bright green eyes radiated mercy to the low survivors. She wore a glittering dress of pearly white with golden trim and purple laced, and around her neck hung a golden pendant with black and white angel's wings carved in the center of the disk.
"W-we're saved!" a man cried out in adulation.
"An angel has come to save us!"
Annabelle smiled down on the people kneeling before her. She approached a man: his legs had been twisted beyond use and his shoulder had been partially eaten. With a ginger touch from Annabelle's hand the bones snapped and cracked back into place, and his shoulder scabbed over and the skin regrew. The group was rendered speechless, astonished by the heavenly power.
Annabelle offered her hand to the healed man. It was runny with blood, scarred at the knuckle. The man took it with complete faith.
"Flee," she said, and a path was opened to them, barred by fire. "Go into the underground shelters. A subway, a sewer, something below ground where the dead cannot find you. I shall protect you as you go."
The men obeyed, limping down the road toward a visible manhole. One of them approached Annabelle, taking her hand and pressing his lips to her bloody skin.
"Thank you my lady," he wept. "Thank you!" Annabelle touched his cheek, and he looked up at her. She glowed benevolently in the light of her fire.
"Go, and be safe." She kissed his forehead and bid the group farewell. Once she was certain they'd escaped deep into the underground Annabelle called back her Noise and flew away to find another pack.
Those men believed they had seen the face of God that night.
BOOM!
What was that? Seras thought. There haven't been any explosions in a while... Oh shit, it came from the Round Table! She took off down the passage, dual cannons in hand. There was no quick access to the bunker from where she was, and for all Seras knew the last of the Geese could be moments from death. In a spurt of quick thinking and third eye usage she stopped by a wall that pointed directly toward the Round Table. She could hear the Nazis just behind it.
"Do it!" It was a female voice, most likely the Copperfield bitch.
Fuck! She lifted the Hallconnen and unloaded into the wall only partially blindly. She heard the surprise and splattering of the enemy soldiers as the wall fell away under her fire. Before long she could see quite clearly: the destroyed barrier, the caked blood, the gore. As the smoke cleared and the shells settled, Seras saw her: the woman with the scythe, now regular sized but just as ugly.
"Direct cannon support?" the Nazi gawked. "It's you!" Seras stared her down, putting on an air of intimidation. She strained her ears, trying to pick up movement in the bunker. Sure enough she heard voices. Bernadotte's voice.
"Yeah, she's here, as promised," he said. "Our girl is really here, to single-handedly kill all the monsters. Ah, damn it. What a hell of a fine girl she is, that's for damn sure. I should have kissed her, by force if I had to."
Heh, stupid Captain, Seras thought. She relished the compliment for a brief moment, then returned to the conflict at hand. The Hallconnen was lighter than ever now; she tested the triggers. Nothing. They were empty. She spared her mechanical ally a short glance and silent gratitude before removing the straps and letting it fall. Her shoulders had nearly forgotten the sensation of not having the weapon weighing them down.
Zorin grinned maniacally as the cannons dropped. Already she could feel her victory.
"Seras… Seras Victoria!"
Great, more people who know my name. Fuck it, whatever. "You're the only one left!"
Zorin was unfazed. She switched her weapon to her other hand. "So what if I am?!" An eye gored Seras' vision for a brief instant and vanished as Zorin slammed her hand into the ground. The tattoos covering her body began to squirm and crawl away, demonic languages slithering along the floor, the walls, the air itself. The darkness gave way to the Dark, and Seras lost herself.
She knew what it was immediately and activated her third eye to counteract it, but found the effect weak. This wasn't as spread out as the colossus, influencing over a dozen minds at once. This was aimed, precise, invasive, and very personal.
"It's an illusion," Seras reminded herself. "An illusion! It's not real, it's an illusion! It's an illusion!"
Seras shut her eyes as tightly as she could to block Zorin out, but still she could see. Fragments and shadows sputtered in her vision. The mud of the past clung to her skin and dug itself into her pores, forcing its way into her flesh. The past spoke brashly and irritably into her mind.
"Seras is causing more problems, is she?"
"Yes. When one of the boys took away a toy from her, she hit him with a rock."
That's not what happened, Seras' child mind spat ruefully. She shook herself, trying to force herself away. "It's an illusion! It's an illusion!" Still the shades talked on.
"She hasn't taken to any of the other teachers one bit. The effects of the incident must still be hard on her." Shut up…
"Still, if she causes any more difficulty, this orphanage will no longer be able to look after her." I never wanted to be here!
She steadied herself; it was the past, it was nothing. There was no power there, it couldn't affect her if she didn't let it. Seras forced herself out of her young body. "Don't let her rattle you."
Zorin's voice penetrated the darkness, echoing off the boundaries of the world. "Go deeper…"
The vision was flung forward to a new place, similar yet changed with the rot of time. A new shade stood before Seras, and this one spoke to her directly.
"Why do you want to be a police officer? Can't you think of any other path for yourself?"
"No." Seras' lips tore themselves away from her mouth and spoke for her. Her tongue wrapped itself around her wind pipe to keep her from speaking; the memory played on despite her.
"You're too stubborn. Sure your father was a fine policeman. But you have many other possibilities. It's almost as though you're squandering your chances."
Seras' body was fighting against her. She tried to pull her legs off the ground, but they kicked her away. Her hands attempted to remove her constricting tongue, but only tightened the grip. Her skin cracked and opened to absorb the infinite Dark, swallowing Seras' flesh and folding her into a neat little child's body. She was being pushed farther and farther back.
It's just a vision…
Zorin's giddy voice called out to her again. "Go even deeper…"
It was dark, and cramped, and Seras could feel a cobweb against her hair. But Seras didn't care. Not now.
In a final moment of control she pushed a guttural scream out of her chest, a last cry for help. But it was useless. Her body stole her away and dragged her back, back to the most horrible chasm of evil and death. It was all there, in brutal vivid detail. No shades, no mud. Just the agonizing moment in history.
*Bang!*
"Oy, piggy piggy, whazza matter?"
"You were just for fun!"
Something in her hands. Gouging flesh, spurting blood. Something exploded in Seras' gut.
"That filthy little cunt!"
*Squish squish squish*
It was too awful. *squish squish squish* Seras couldn't take it. *squish squish squish* She wanted to die, she wanted to put a gun to her head and die. *squish squish squish* Anything to end that awful, awful noise!
*Crunch*
What?
A man had pushed the attacker's head down through his body. His skull had shattered and flesh flopped onto the hardwood floor. His spine slid out with a sickening noise and folded over limply. The man kicked his dead body across the room to the second attacker.
The man was enraged, crimson and bulging at every angle. His hand was caked in blood, as well as his hooded jacket. Seras recognized those stains, and she recognized that jacket. She recognized the anger, and the power, and, eventually, the man himself.
Reece… that's Reece. His name is Reece. He was wearing that jacket on the rooftop. He would always wear it outside… outside of…
The second attacker pulled out his gun, but it fell to pieces in an instant. Reece was there now, right on top of him. With a single backhanded slap the attacker's head rolled across the room. And then Reece picked up Seras' stolen body. She felt his giant arms cradle her, and she felt the pain in her stomach ebb away. His face looked down at her, sad and consoling. Seras knew his eyes. They were her eyes.
She'd seen his eyes before, in her bedroom. He'd knelt before her, he devoted himself to her while she was half asleep and in her pajamas. He'd taken her to London with a snap of his fingers, and showed her a secret floor that did not exist to the living.
Reece was dead. Reece was a ghost? A Player? A Reaper? No… a Producer. He'd shown her the Reapers. Malcolm… Oni. The man on the roof… Bobby. Richard. Megan. Rocky. Anna –
Annabelle stood before Seras' throne. She had only just escaped from the orphanage for the night and was occupied reviving the winning Players. They had not chosen to become Reapers. At times Seras forgot they could do that. She didn't notice Annabelle for a few minutes. The Reaper stood and waited quietly, her expression empty and unreadable.
When the children had been successfully resurrected Seras noticed her. "Oh, hi Anny," she said happily, if a little surprised. "Did you want something?"
"Oh no, not really," Annabelle replied with a curt smile. "I just thought I'd check up on our young Composer, that's all. Much has happened, and I understand the work load can be a bit… weighty. What with all those souls."
"Oh, well thank you," Seras smiled warmly. "But I'm all right, really."
Annabelle took a few steps toward the throne. "Are you sure? Adult souls can be very complicated, I wouldn't want you to feel overwhelmed."
"No really, it's okay," Seras insisted. "I know what I'm doing now! I can actually send them a lot faster than when I started."
"Really?" Annabelle smirked. "Show me. I'll be silent so I won't distract you."
With a shrug and a humorous smile Seras opened up the soul queue and went to work. Not many people had died that week fortunately, mostly elderly people. There were a couple car accidents and one tragic murder-suicide that stumped Seras for a while, but in the end she sorted them all out and sent them to the Ferryman (whom Seras had customized to be a cute little happy bear). She closed the window and looked up at Annabelle, who was now leaning on the throne.
"See?" Seras said, pleased with herself. "I know what I'm doing!"
Annabelle nodded quietly, contemplating. "What about the couple?"
"Umm… I mean you saw where I sent them…"
"Yeah. To Hell. Why?"
"Um…" Seras readjusted her seat, slightly nervous. "Mr. Gab was… you know… cheating. And his wife caught him and… umm…"
"Killed him and shot herself," Annabelle finished coldly. "I got that. Why did you send the husband to Hell?"
"Well he was cheating on his wife!" Seras said with more confidence. "I think that's a pretty good reason." Annabelle didn't speak at first. She backed away from Seras, just enough so she was sure she could see every millimeter of scorn on her face.
"He fucked a girl and was murdered, so you send him to Hell for eternity?"
Seras recoiled slightly. "N-no, that's not what happened…"
"He cheated once, and didn't even get the opportunity to feel guilty because some psycho bitch blew his brains out the next day."
"W-well I guess, but he still –"
"How the fuck is that fair to him? One misstep and eternal damnation? What are you, a bloody Catholic from the middle ages? Is this how you treat everyone who dies?!"
Seras was beginning to cry now. "B-but he wasn't even a good man! He stole and hurt people and lied and a bunch of other stuff!"
Annabelle scoffed. "Sure, some minor infractions. Big fucking deal. Does stealing a stapler from work warrant being tortured by demons? And if he was so bad, why burn the wife? She seemed just fine, but because of a crime of passion she gets the same punishment as her asshole husband?"
"I-I-I try my best…"
"TRY?!" Annabelle punched the stone wall behind her, cracking both the stone and her hand. "YOU TRY?! THESE ARE PEOPLE'S ETERNITY SERAS! YOU HAVE TO DO BETTER THAN TRY!
"The Composer is equal to a god in his city, you even more so because of this Heaven and Hell shit! Are you even worthy of that? Clearly you can't handle these two, how many other lives have you fucked up? How many flawed yet innocent people have you sent to Hell? How many evil monsters have you allowed to live it up in Heaven?"
"NONE!" Seras stood from the throne, face drowning in tears. Annabelle's words stung, and they were digging in. Doubt berated Seras' mind and crumbled her heart.
Annabelle saw the weakness. Her eyes lit with a pestilent green, and she smiled down at the trembling girl. She took a step and stood between Seras and the throne. Its cold allure called to her. Her fingers twitched with greed, but she could not snatch yet. She had to make sure no one could contest her.
The Reaper met her Composer's eyes, and whispered three little words:
"Are you sure?"
Seras ran. She busted down the door and ran. She found herself in the orphanage, and ran. The children were startled awake by the sounds of her weeping, but when they appeared to look she had already left. Seras ran down the playground and blew down the fence. She ran down the road as fast as her legs could carry her, leaving tears to muddy the earth. A stone caught her feet and she fell to the ground. Seras lay there, crying and crying, thinking of all the poor people she must have condemned in her stupidity. The pendant Reece had given her burned against her chest.
Footsteps approached Seras' prone form. She wiped away the layer of tears to see who had followed her.
Annabelle swung the HQ key around her finger. "You left the door open. Not smart. You could have given us away."
Words failed to sputter from Seras' throat. She wanted to apologize, to beg Annabelle to help her with next week's souls. She craved redemption, to be saved from this horrible pain.
"You're pathetic Victoria," Annabelle spat down at her. "You aren't worthy of your power. Haha, do you know how long I've wanted to say that? How long I've looked at the worthless little girl playing princess and telling me what to do?" She grimaced. "I've hated you since I first set eyes on you, and you have done nothing but cement that hatred. Give me that!"
Annabelle grabbed Seras' neck and tore the pendant from her struggling hands. Seras tried to plead, or fight, or anything, but the pendant was gone and she couldn't use it.
"You didn't deserve this anyway. I did. This," she waved the golden trinket in her hand, "should have been mine!"
"W-w-why…"
"Shut up!" Annabelle kicked her back to the ground. "Shut your sodding mouth!" She reared her foot back for another strike, but held it there. Annabelle steadied herself.
"No, no… I can't kill you. You'll just come back tomorrow in the Game and tell the others what happened. Nooo…" She grinned and brought up her hand. It glowed with a sinister power. "I can't kill you, but I can make sure you never come back."
Everything went black. Seras panted on the ground, sticky with tears and sweat. She heard a voice, unfamiliar at first, off in the distance.
"Good morning, Miss Seras. Did you have pleasant dreams?"
Wha-? Seras jolted back to her true adult form right when the blade sliced up her armpit and straight through the bone. Between the pain and the panic she barely had the sense of self to look at the wound, much less react.
"One more!" Zorin cried in jubilation. "One more!" A swing of her scythe and Zorin carved a path straight through Seras' torso. She fell off the blade, blood quickly pooling around her body. The strike had missed her heart, she was still alive. Maybe she could escape. If she could just crawl away…
Laughter taunted her feeble survival instinct. "You're a tough chick!" A boot slammed into the back of her head, nearly cracking it. "What are you, an insect? A frog?" The pressure left, only to be replaced by a tight grip. Zorin raised Seras to her knees and leveled her blade.
There was a sharp, terrible pain, and the most complete darkness. Seras was left to drop and scream. There was nothing now. Just the bitter smell of iron, the stick of cold blood, and the sound of Zorin.
"What is this? You're not at all what they told me you'd be. You're trash. A big sloppy mess." Seras didn't have it within herself to even think a retort. Her mind was screaming. What little attempt at escape she had left was quickly stifled by Zorin's boot.
"Now then, it's about time for you to die. I think I'll slice off that head of yours." Seras' ears were all she had left to judge the scene. Hell, pretty soon she wouldn't have anything. Something moved through the air. Running foot falls.
"Die!"
"Shut up, you hag!" It was Bernadotte, sure enough! He hit Zorin with something, and they were fighting. Consciousness flickered from Seras, but she struggled to remain aware. Maybe she could do something… anything…
"Have some more!" Bernadotte fired his gun. Did he still have blessed rounds? It was impossible to tell. A body fell a few meters away. "Chill, you ugly troglodyte." Heh, Captain. I wish I came up with that earlier…
Someone threw smoke grenades. Two other voices appeared. "Hurry, Captain!" Another: "This way! Hurry, Captain!" Wild Geese had survived. Seras couldn't quite tell who, but they'd survived. She hadn't completely failed.
"You got it," Bernadotte said. He lifted Seras onto his back, exacerbating the myriad wounds she was dripping blood from.
"Captain… Berna…"
"Don't try to talk." They started to move, slowly. The effort was clearly hard on the Captain. His breathing was sporadic and blood gushed onto the ground. Seras hoped it was her blood. Suddenly more gunfire ringed out from behind them. It pierced flesh just below Seras. "Damn it…!"
"Mr. Bernadotte… r-run! You've done enough, Mr. Bernadotte…"
"I told you to keep quiet!" The two Wild Geese opened fire on the enemy behind them, and seemed to take him out. They continued on the slow path onward, blood oozing from their wounds. Seras was beginning to lose consciousness now, and she didn't try to fight it so hard. They seemed safe now, they could get patched up. Joshua and Neku could even be on their way back right now. Fuck, we could've used them earlier.
Then, in an instant, Bernadotte stopped. Something had come through the air and impaled him. Oh God… Oh God…! She felt blood burst out of his back, and the two fell. Now Seras was completely disoriented.
"You trash…!" Zorin's voice. Those were regular bullets, she was still alive! "You scum, trying to be a hero…!"
Seras forced herself off the ground, straining her ears for something. A grunt, a breath, anything. "Mr. Bernadotte…? Mr. Bernadotte!"
"Dumb—Dumbass…!"
There he was. "Mr. Bernadotte!"
He was… laughing. Laughing without much humor in his voice. "If you came to save me, and I… I end up saving you… we're screwed, huh…?" The metallic clink of a lighter was to her left. He was right there! She reached out desperately, hoping for anything, and found his leg. She gripped his pants as hard as she could and pulled herself closer.
"Mr. Bernadotte…" She forced herself up, just trying to get to him. Was he still alive? She needed to know.
Suddenly, Seras felt a gloved hand grab her head. It pulled her closer and closer, until her lips met his. She tasted his blood and hers mix in their mouths. It took her a moment to realize what was happening, and when she did she felt… a little better. Her grip relaxed and she felt his chest, felt his heartbeat quicken. His unshaved face scratched at her, but she didn't mind. Seras allowed herself to give up in his embrace. She kissed him back.
When it ended, Bernadotte was laughing again. And coughing now as well. "That's what you get more not paying attention. Hahahaha, I finally stole a kiss from you." The joy in his voice, that desperate joy that a person only feels when they're on the edge, made Seras break inside. He was dying.
"B-Ber—"
"Hey, don't cry, Seras." There was serenity in Pip's voice. Finality even. "You're a tough girl, ain't you? Now devour me. Devour me, and let's get her, together, Seras."
Seras reached forward to touch him, to hit him for even suggesting something so stupid, and found nothing but a slimy wall. No… She followed it to the ground and felt his body. He'd fallen. She grabbed his jacket and struggled to pull him back up, but only lost her balance. So she crawled over him instead, crawled to find his face. There it was. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder and picked him back up. She held him in her arm, trembling. Was he still alive…?
No.
Pip Bernadotte was now only a corpse.
Seras looked to the sky with blinded eyes and wailed. She wept with and cried tears of blood. Tears were shed for Bernadotte, a perverted, murderous asshole that she loved. Tears were shed for the Wild Geese, men she'd hardly known but had given their lives to make her feel confident. Seras lamented the deaths of all these good, honorable men. Her heart was filled with regret. She could do nothing but hold his head as close to her body as she could.
Just outside of her wails, Seras could hear Zorin. She didn't understand a word, and couldn't find it in herself to care. They were dead. Pip was dead. She was dead. Joshua could come for her soul in Hell, she didn't care. Maybe that was even what she deserved at this point. Seras might as well just die and let the world crumble.
"Such is the end for the life of an insect!"
… Seras stopped. Her mind stopped with a clunk, rendered immobile. Her ears stopped and heard nothing. Her breath stopped, and for the first time in hours she couldn't smell all the blood. Her body had frozen and melded with the corpse of Pip Bernadotte.
Such is the end for the life of an insect! The gears of her mind began to spin, and they spun around this thought. Such is the end for the life of an insect! She began to comprehend the world again. Panic. Screams. Blood. Death. Such is the end for the life of an insect!
"You called him an insect," Seras realized aloud, stopping the room. "Didn't you? You called him a bug, didn't you? You'll pay for this."
The Reapers.
"You'll pay for this!"
Reece.
"You'll pay for this…"
The Wild Geese.
"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!"
Bernadotte. Let's finish this together.
Seras raised her head, laid bare her fangs, and bit into Bernadotte's neck to take the blood he'd given her. And that blessed blood succumbed to her, it rushed to her mouth and embraced her as a lover would. Every ounce that had spilt rushed to be by her side, to take its place within her body. It was still warm, and she could feel it coursing through her dead and empty veins. What little blood Seras had taken from Integra was purged, and the old sludge that was Seras' blood became revitalized by the warm ambrosia of Bernadotte. Something within the blood took the place of her arm, blocking and healing the wound. Seras could feel the liquid gore filling her eye sockets, recreating what was lost. She took her mouth away from Pip's flesh and urged her eye lids to open.
The red was back, and burning bright. It shattered what pathetic illusion Zorin had conjured without effort. The phantasms fell around her, broken like glass. Finally she could see the body of Bernadotte, sliced up and empty. What was left of the man was now inside of her.
"Off I go, Captain Bernadotte." She looked up to face Zorin; reinforcements had arrived at some point. Their eyes were on her. Their eyes… were afraid. "Off I go." She tested her strange new appendage: blood tendrils, much like what she'd seen her master Alucard use. A Familiar as an arm, and it was powerful. She could feel the strength in it. "Off I go!"
The vampires were struck, watching the spell fall away. It was all fake, a weak lie. Seras was real. Bernadotte was real.
"Together we go. Together we get… we get those guys!" Seras didn't even need to smell fear, she could see it in their eyes. In their sweat and their movements they cried. Now their lives, their souls, were forfeit.
Seras barely began to charge, and the Nazis began spraying bullets at her. Their aim was precise and remarkably steady, and she dodged every bullet with ease. She destroyed an armored vampire with a single punch. The rest were but toys for Bernadotte to play with. Now Seras could let go and give in to the flow of violence, the dance of Death that she'd resisted for so long. Her movements were swift, and with a touch the enemy was sliced to pieces. She danced through the air carved them into cubes, and she crushed their bodies with rage-fueled strikes. A platoon of undead zombies, armed to the teeth just to be redundant, were decimated within seconds.
And then Seras took Zorin's face in hand and ground her into the floor boards. The two slid down the hall, blood tracing their way, as Seras crushed the Nazi woman's skull between her fingers. In a plea for escape Zorin tightened her fist hard enough to shatter stone and fold steel, and punched Seras in the face. She did this again, and again, and still Seras did not loosen her grip. Out of sheer annoyance she reared her maw and bit off Zorin's fingers, and then spat them out in contempt.
"I am not about to drink one drop, one speck, one microliter of your blood! I won't do it! I won't do it!" With every word her fingers dug into Zorin's brain that much more. The back of her head splattered against the floor, and she was nearly out of options. There was only one tactic left for Zorin that could save her now, and she did not hesitate to use it. With what little energy she still contained she brought up her arm and enclosed Seras' face within her hand, a direct line between their brains. Seras' hand fell away, and Zorin laughed as one does when they narrowly escape death.
"Deeper… deeper… deeper… even deeper… even deeper… even deeper!"
But Zorin could go no deeper, and became silent. Seras was unaware of the struggle going on insider of her, but she knew who was fighting on her side. And she had faith that her side would win out.
Zorin did say one word though. "Schrodinger!" Odd choice of final words, but Seras wouldn't judge. She would instead reach past Zorin's arm and finish what she started.
Seras grabbed her head and slammed it into the wall. After a few moments to relish the pressure and pain she would inflict upon her, Seras began to run.
"Away with you!" she yelled. "Out of my presence! Out of my mind!"
She ran as fast as she could, pressing Zorin's ugly head into the wall just hard enough so that it wouldn't break through. Sparks flew from burning bone, gore trailed their progress. Seras could see the air rushing past Zorin's head as her face became thinner and thinner. Her eye was gone, and soon so was most of her nose. When her own fingers reached the wall she stopped, and with a last cry of rage she threw the twisted corpse down to the ground. Blue flame erupted out of what was Zorin Blitz, and devoured her. Seras was satisfied… mostly.
She turned and left it to burn away. At the end of the corridor were the two last Wild Geese. Seras recognized them now, though she couldn't bring herself to greet them. Bernadotte's old body lay at their feet, and she looked at it one last time. She felt that Bernadotte was bidding his old home farewell from within her.
The light of dawn touched Seras' cheek, and she turned to face it. The night was not over quite yet, but it was retreating. There was still one more conflict left to fight. Now that Seras remembered, she had to go back. She had to find Reece and Oni and all the others, and she had to get back what was stolen from her, just like Joshua came to make her do.
"I'm off," she said to the last two, very simply.
"You're off? Where are you going?"
They couldn't understand. "I made a promise to the captain, that we would get them." It wasn't technically a lie: Seras had every intention of slaughtering every Nazi she saw on the way to Reece. And Annabelle, eventually. Maybe not tonight, but soon. She turned back and smiled. "Which is why I'm going off now, to get them."
"Oh…" Seras turned away now, ready to go. For the first time she noticed just how much blood Bernadotte had given her: it literally dyed her clothes. She giggled internally at the man's fashion statement, and she felt him mock being hurt. Perhaps this wouldn't be so different from before.
"Hang on a second." She regarded the two men, and was encountered with their standing salute. "Yes, sir!"
The other one joined in this. "Sir!"
Warmth flooded Seras' heart, both her own and their Captain's. She smiled and nodded, and then took off from the window into the open air. Her blood tendrils shook and bent, reforming into demonic wings. Seras and Bernadotte took flight together, as one, and sped toward the dead city.
The sun caught her eyes and blinded her for a moment. In her mind's eye she saw the Reapers towering over her, smiling affectionately. She remembered the Reece's supporting touch, Oni's drunken laughter, Richard's grand stature, and Megan's sympathetic eyes. Seras remembered Rocky and his undying loyalty and obedience to her Games, and Bobby's... Bobby's...
Oh God... Seras came to a halt in the sky. She stifled chokes of despair with her remaining hand as her eyes started to water. Bobby... What have I done?
Annabelle's figure suddenly cut itself into Seras' mind. She had always carried herself so well, with a calming smile and a firm dedication. Seras remembered Annabelle being kind to her, caring for her, playing with her.
"I've hated you since I first laid eyes on you."
Seras' hand tightened into a fist, and her teeth ground together. Anger began to swell within her bosom. She tricked me, Seras thought spitefully. She BETRAYED me. Annabelle stole everything from me! Oni, Richard, Megan, Rocky, Bobby, Reece, everyone I cared about! She stole the only good thing I had and told me I deserved it! That dirty bitch! Seras remembered Annabelle holding her after her parents died. Seras remembered Annabelle beating and abandoning her.
"I'll kill her," Seras swore. "I will kill her!" She continued moving, determined to find Integra and end the slaughter. The sooner this battle was won, the sooner Seras could finish the battle she had been forced to forget.