Chapter 8 - Reflection.

What was only a few seconds felt like an intense, heart racing few minutes. A giant wave of fire, energy and a roaring noise blasts the entire audience room.

Integra, who was on the floor for a brief few minutes, woke up from sounds of smoke alarms. She slowly opened her eyes but was welcomed with blurred vision. The Hellsing heir winces slightly, a sharp pain resides in her chest, which could be a fractured rib.

With what little breath she drew, she called out. "Ser- as ...*cough* ...Alucard!"

A loud, unsettling snap of bone was heard, followed by a deep groan and heavy footsteps walking towards Integra.

"Master!...Integra! Can you hear me? " The sound of Alucards voice came through, but it was hard to make out what he was saying with the mixture of tinnitus and alarms going off in the palace. Integra slowly lifts her head and meets the vampires gaze with surprise. As her vision was clearing up, she got an unpleasant sight of Alucards skin torn up and burnt. It seems he took most of the blast trying to protect her.

"Alucard! Are...are you ok?" She asked, looking pretty concerned.

Alucard grunts and nods. He could feel bits of his skin already start to grow back to his surprise. He looked at his wrist.

"Mph! So much for modern technology."

The device that was supposed to surpress his power was broken beyond repair. The vampire tosses it and brings his attention back to Interga. He knees down to her.

"Are you hurt at all?"

Interga rubs her chest and feels a sense of relief. The pain has subsidised.

"I'm fine. We must focus on finding the king."

Alucard tries to help Integra up on her feet.

"Take it slow." His voice surprisingly gentle, but Integra finds it more of a nuisance

"Alucard, I don't need you to codle me."

The male vampire rolls his eyes and sighs.

"Your heartbeat is going far too quick. You don't want to end up -"

"I will be fine." She snaps at him.

Interga looks around, trying to study the situation as best she could. It was clear this was an assassination attempt. That door had a micro bomb that was powerful enough to take out a room of people.

Alucards attention immediately goes to a broken window.

"I think I know we're they've gone,"

He points to the broken window. Interga walks over, panic hits her with many thoughts racing through her mind at what could have happened to both the King and Seras. She feels Alucard put a hand on her shoulder, he leans close to her.

"Master, you and i both know if you continue to panic, you're going to pass out. Please, try to calm down."

Interga was taken back by Alucards' ongoing concerned manner, but right now she actually agrees with him. Her heart was thumping at a very alarming rate.

Alucard walks over to the very edge. Looking down, he sees a large crowd of people and police cars, his view goes back to Interga and the heavily damaged audience room in thought. He could easily go down and find out what happened, but he didn't want to leave Interga with how unsafe the room looked.

"Interga, what are your orders. It's not safe to leave you here."

"I will stay. Please go find out if the king is safe. He is our top priority."

They stare at each other for a few seconds. Alucard feels very conflicted by the situation.

"Master...I.. -"

Alucard paused in confusion. Unsure why he feels a delay within himself. He should have immediately obeyed her. Interga sees it in his eyes and begins to dread if he's figured it out about the seal.

"That's an order, Alucard!" Integra snaps again at him, which brings him back to his senses. Within seconds, he goes back to being composed and nods, giving her a toothy grin.

"Yes, my master."

He gracefully jumps down, getting lost in the crowd. Integra lets out a sigh in relief and sits on the floor, trying to take deep breaths to calm herself down.

While Alucard breaks through the crowd at ease he thinks back at the feeling of Integra's words. There's normally an immediate response. The force was like a rush of adrenaline. But now he feels nothing, he glances at his gloves, remembering he's not noticed the seal pop up once.

Shordinger stired inside Alucards mind.

"Oh dear, iz the great Alucard having doubtz?"

Alucard grits his teeth.

"Not you again." He growls to himself in annoyance.

"Dont be zo zurprised. You'll have to get used to me now."

Alucard did his best to surpress Shordingers' yapping voice and concentrate on the matter at hand. The male vampire goes past the Police and royal guards. Looking at the scene, he noticed Seras had put a shadowed cilinder around the king. Whereas for Seras, she was knocked unconscious from the impact of the fall. Pips shadow was hovering above Seras, trying to get her to wake up.

"Come on, Mon Chér, wake up!"

Alucard easily undoes the protection around the King, who soon rises up and looks around in confusion.

"It seems my servant has some tricks up her sleeve." Alucard let's out his traditional cheshirecat grin.

The king looks over at Seras and worries about her state. Alucard reassured the king there's nothing to be concerned about.

"She's passed out. Those wrist bands didn't last long with keeping our power under control."

"Alucard I never meant for you both to wear those blasted tools that was the Priministers doing. Is Interga safe?"

"Yes, she is, and i know she already told me. It's a good job these devices aren't well built."

His gaze goes back to Seras, his eyes soften a little. Knowing the outcome if she didn't get her vampire abilities back in time. It gave the vampire an unfamiliar stir inside of him.

The king takes Alucards hand and gives him a few words of thanks before an ambulance crew arrived at the scene and took the king to get checked.

Pip turns to Alucard.

"Will she be OK? I can't seem to feel much of her connection."

"She's been hit by concreet from roughly a 18 metre fall. She will eventually wake up."

Pip nodded.

"Dieu Merci (thank god). That's good to hear mòn ami (my friend)." Pips form phased back into Seras shadow arm.

Alucard kneels down to Seras and shifts her body to examine the unconscious Draculina. He gently moves her hair away from her face. The skin is heavily bruised on one side of her face, a dislocated leg and any other injuries are already healing.

"You did very well, Draculina." He whispers to her, a grin forms as he feels a sense of pride for her loyalty. In such a short amount of time during the blast, she managed to save the king. Even though that collar could have still been attached to her, she was willing to sacrifice herself to try to save him.

He notices Interga coming towards them at the corner of his eye. It seems she had managed to get evacuated out of the building.

"Seras!" Interga rushes over.

"It's alright, she's not harmed badly." Alucard reassured her.

Interga sighed and knees down to hold Seras' hand. The comforting touch helps Seras wake up. Her eyes fluttered open to see blurred images of Interga and Alucard.

"Wha...what happened?"

"You did a very heroic deed Police Girl. The King is in debt to you for saving his life."

"Saving ...his life? So... the attack really happened."

"I wouldn't call it much of an attack since the coward didn't bother showing their face or put up a fight." Said Alucard in a disappointed tone. Interga stood up and turned to face Alucard.

"We should head back home, I will try to find out any clues to who's behind this. Do you both need the car, or are you going to make your own way."

"We'll make our own way."

"Very well, just please get home as safely as possible."

Integra makes her way to the parking lot. Seras looks over to her master grabbing her broken leg.

"Hold still." He murmurs.

"Huh?...OUCH!"

Alucard yanks and twists her leg back in place. Seras froze in both confusion and pain, just coming to grips with what he just did.

"Come on Police Girl. Your injuries aren't that bad." He chuckles and casually walks off.

"Easy for you to say." She mumbles and tries to catch up to him despite the pain.

"Umm... master.."

"Mmm?" He briefly looks down at her.

"I..I'm sorry... for being a nuisance again. I know I should have caught myself in the fall...I just ... didn't have enough time."

Alucard rolls his eyes at her excuse.

"Yes, you're a nuisance."

Seras looks away from him ashamed. She knew he would scorn her.

"But"- He added that made seras look back up to him.

"You did the best you could in a very dangerous situation. Instinctively went to protect the king ...and willing to risk..."

He pauses in thought that made Seras raise an eyebrow. It was very out of character for him to be at a loss for words.

"Since my return, I've noticed that you've become -"

Before he could finish, an explosion near them bursts through. Alucard spun around and grabbed Seras tightly, letting whatever residual impact hit his back.

"MASTER!" Seras shouts in alarm feeling the heated smoke from the blast engulf them. She feels Alucard's body shake as he holds her.

"Master, are you hurt?"

"No, you're just annoying to hold." His growls in her ear, seras thinks he's being literal and tries to wriggle out, but his grip on her tightens.

"I was being sarcastic, silly girl." His voice less rough this time.

After a brief pause to wait for the smoke and his wounds to clear up, Alucard loosens his grip on her. They both stand up and look over to where the explosion was. The car park.

"That's where Integra went!" Seras says with panic in her voice. She uses her shadowed wing and shot over to where the fire resides.

Thankfully for Integra, she made it out the blast but had sustained some injuries. One of her arms had glass shards, and the pain in her ribs from earlier was throbbing. She leant herself against a brick wall, taking the shards of glass out her skin in a calm, causal manner. Soon enough, Integra sees Seras rushing to her side.

"Integra! Let me help you." The little vampire tries to be gentle as possible when putting her arm around Integra, which makes the elderly lady half chuckle at Seras' kind-hearted actions.

"Dearest Seras, I'm fine. It's not a life or death situation on my Injuries, however its definitely clear now some bastard was out to assassinate both the king and us tonight. We really need to find out what's going on and be on our guard."

Alucard walks up to the two ladies, a grin forms on his face.

"It seems you ladies keep getting in trouble or hurt. I can't always be there to rescue you." He chuckled

Both women were not amused by his comment.

"30 years and nothing has changed with you Alucard." States Integra with a wince of pain as she tried to walk. Alucard gaze softens as he sees Integras in pain and comes towards her.

"You can't walk Master, let me carry you back to the manor."

Integra heavily protested against it, but Seras could tell Integra wasn't doing good despite the iron ladies' stubborn bravery and gave her over to Alucard.

"Alucard, I order you to let me go this instant."

Alucard looks down at Integra, his demeanour very calm.

"No."

Alucard tightens his grip on Integra before he phases both of them back into the Hellsing manor within seconds with Seras following behind. They appear in Integras' room, Alucard carefuly lowers her on the bed.

Alucard orders Seras to give Integra and him some privacy, which she does so immediately.

"We need to talk Master."

Integra gives Alucard a stern look and heads to her personal washroom to tend to her wounds.

"There's nothing to talk about Alucard." She calls out from the washroom.

"Yes, there is. Why didn't you tell me about what happened with the ritual...the seal."

There was a deadly silence that built up an uncomfortable tension between them. Integra dabs and cleans her cuts while thinking of what to say.

"So..,you know then."

"Only recently. It explains why you avoided me after the ritual, Seras didn't say much."

"What happened to the nickname Police Girl?"

"That's not important. Why did you keep me in the dark?" His voice became more serious.

"Why dont you just read my mind?"

Alucard thought her question to be absurd. He knew they had a high amount of unspoken respect for one another. He wouldn't do that to her.

She soon comes out of the washroom and carefully sits back down on the bed.

"Despite us knowing each other for a long time, Alucard. I've always been both curious and cautious around you. You are a creature of darkness. You know it is my birthright to be your master. However, you've returned to this ...complex state. All the cards that were on the table, the rules set in stone. That's all changed."

As Integra spoke to Alucard, he was looking her intently. Her expression showed vulnerability, which was extremely rare for her to show her servant. Alucard stood up and walked towards integra, standing in front of her.

The Hellsing heir looks up at him, curious about his actions. A brief period passes between them gazing at each other until Alucard slowly kneels down to her, which makes Interga's eyes slightly widen.

"No. Nothing has changed. I returned because I wanted to. I may no longer have to eat my own wings... but that doesn't mean I think anything less of my servitude to you. My master, Integra."

He was about to respectfully bow his head, but she tilted his chin up to meet her eyes. All that worry and fear Integra had about what Alucard would do now he knows about his freedom had gone. She really admired Alucard's loyalty to her. It made her smile warmly at the vampire.

"Thank you. Things have been complicated ...for both Seras and myself. You'd be proud of her, she has learned so much within your absence. We've pretty much had each others backs this entire time. There were many struggles and... we missed you, very much."

Alucards magenta eyes were fixed on hers and he let out a soft smile but said nothing.

Integra let go of his chin and laying back on the bed.

"You may go, I need to rest."

He nodded and faded away in the shadows. Instead of immediately teleporting to his coffin for rest, he wondered around the mansion in thought. Intergas words weighed heavily on him, and he knew he nearly lost both her and Seras tonight. It left Alucard with many questions within himself and a distastful feeling of helplessness. Pip sees Alucard and approaches him.

"Hello, Mon Ami."

Alucard glanced at the shadow figure in the wall.

"What do you want, Bernadotte?"

"I see something is bothering you. Perhaps something you'd like to share."

"And why would I do that?" Alucard voiced was laced with irritation by the Frenchmans nosy attitude.

"Talking helps Alucard. Even the most darkest creatures in the world still possess doubts and fears. Heck that Nazi bitch who killed me was trembling before Seras, you should have been there, it was a sight to see."

"I was."

"What?"

Alucard leans against a wall and sighs.

"I saw it all. I was stuck on a blasted ship trying to get back to London. I watched over Integra, as well as you and Seras. I saw that your foolish bravery and feelings for Seras got you killed. However, if it wasn't for you. Seras wouldn't be the woman she is today. For that, you have my gratitude for saving her life."

Pip was completely taken back by Alucards' words of appreciation.

"Y-your welcome."

With no other words exchanged, Alucard walks off, leaving Pip.

In another part of the manor Seras was doing her evening patrol while watching a movie on her phone. 2 hero's embrace each other for an 'end of the world' scene. The male character speaks first.

"There are some things...some nice things worth saving...some beautiful things!"

"Like love?" Questioned the female character.

"Yes! Love! That's a good example, love is worth saving."

"I dont know love...I was built to protect, not to love..."

While Seras listened intently to the movie, she thought about her own purpose. Her duty will always be to serve Hellsing and protect Britain. But it had been so long ago since the little vampire last thought about doing anything else. Days became weeks, months, and then years. Life was passing by so quickly. Britannia was watching Seras intently. The beam around the walls of the manor lit up next to seras. Seras glanced over and takes out her headphones.

"What do you want." Seras asked, annoyed at the AI.

"Apologies for disturbing you, Miss Victoria. I merly wanted to enquire about what you think of the movie. It's rather an intense piece of media, is it not?"

"Why do you care? You've never shown interest on... anything."

Britannia pauses before giving her answer.

"I believe I have a connection to the female of this movie. She has an important purpose in her life, such as I. This character chooses to develop her learning on how much humanity has evolved. She leans humanity created so much evil, she even quotes, "Everything you create is used to destory."What's the use of saving life when I've seen what you do with it" She's asks whats the point and yet love triumphs. It seems to overrule most reasons and reality itself. The love in faith, the love in another person, the love for the earth. Can you tell me why?"

Seras looks away, unsure about how to answer. She's had some experience in love, family love and love for her ex police squad & the wild geese. She cares deeply for Pip with everything he's done for her. She knew he loved her, he gave his life to save hers and now as a familiar they have a special bond. But she personally isnt sure she has experienced the same depth. She turns to Britannia.

"I can't help. All I can say is that where there is evil, there is also good."

"Is that true, Seras?" Britannias voice darkens that makes Seras raise an eyebrow.

"W-what do you mean?"

"Do you believe that there is always good when there is evil. I am AI. The data of history I've seen has shown me so much on what humans have done. Vampires, like yourself, are doing even worse. I feel there is no balance."

What Britannia said made Seras enraged. The Draculina wasn't going to be talked down to this machine.

"Do not dare compare me to other vampires. I help protect my country, not corrupt it." Her voice filled with aggression warning Britannia to back off. Seras composes herself and soon storms off, Britannia doesn't follow.

"You vampire scum are all the same. You couldn't give me an answer because you don't feel love. You feel nothing at all." Britannia says in a venomous tone.