Chapter I: Responsibility of Power
Complete and utter boredom.
Naturally, Rachel Alucard often thought that she was above such wanting for anything, but the four months of sustained peace had eventually worn down her pride and brought her to this point. After surviving the countless cycles of the Continuum Shift and facing the near apocalypse that was the Nemesis Horizon, she should have been more than pleased that the world was now finally allowed to move forward… but even that contentment hadn't lasted.
Sitting in her garden as she sipped the last of her tea, she gave a long glance around at her signature roses. Obviously Valkenhayn had maintained her abode with the utmost of care. From the countless roses in her garden to the brickwork beneath her feet, everything about the Alucard's courtyard was without blemish or fault of any kind. And while it seemed impossible, the inside was of such quality that it almost put the outdoors to shame. Everything about her realm was the definition of perfection…
And even perfection had finally become dull to her.
Not that she could blame her butler, Rachel didn't have a negative thing to say against her family's most dedicated caretaker. Even Nago and Gii (while annoyances more often than not) were completely dedicated to their princess, always there to place themselves in the line of fire for her safety and dury. No, Rachel wasn't able to place the blame with any of them; such thing was hardly proper.
She supposed that she could easily head into the world proper, maybe see the occasional sight that she hadn't grown bored with or even find a new tea to sample. The world was finally moving forward again and that left her with near infinite possibilities of finding something new to satiate her curiosity. But that in itself left her with another problem; where in the literal world would she start. Too many options to choose from, she let out a reluctant sigh as she tried to narrow her options.
And her mind immediately went to him. She didn't bother trying to hide her emerging smile.
"Valkenhayn, I'll be stepping out a few hours at least," she said to her butler as the werewolf brought her seat out for her to stand.
"Ah, and your wording makes it clear that I shan't be accompanying you." There was no tone of remorse or disagreement from Hellsing. "Shall I fetch Nago and Gii for you?"
"Hmm… Not this time; I think I'll enjoy the performance plenty by myself," Rachel declined before she began thinking to herself.
She had her target, but how to animate them this time? A number of methods flashed through her mind, but she eventually landed on one of the easiest. She'd always had to do fairly little there and the results more than spoke for themselves. Besides, she still had that less than dignified display of her to pay him back for. How dare he hold her in his arms like that? Going for an embrace to…
The slightest of reds in her checks aside, Rachel was now fully devout to seeing this through today. In fact, maybe it wouldn't even be a disappointment if he acquired a new scar or two… not that he wouldn't heal it back anyways.
Heading down the countless halls of her manor, Rachel finally found herself at the door to her father's treasury. Undoing the seal and entering this sacred vault, there at the back sat the object of her desires. An immaculately crafted pairs of pink tinted spectacles with hearts shaped lenses.
"I wonder… have they evolved since the last time they were used?" Rachel questioned herself as she circled around the glasses, carefully observing every minute detail. "Nothing… noticeable at least. Then again, I doubt that it will matter so long as their core purpose stays the same." Allowing her the rare girlish giggle, she reached out her arm as-
CRACK!
It… should have been unbreakable. It should have remained flawless no matter the situation. So why?
As the tool she was about to use exploded into ethereal shards, Rachel could only think,
'…Oh no.'
Later -Sector Seven-
"Dammit all. They really couldn't make these godforsaken hallways look any different?" Ragna groaned to himself as he looked down the metallic and near identical pathways of lower Sector Seven. He'd already been down here a good five minutes and he'd felt lost like he'd been wandering around with… "Damn… not the time to be thinking about her." Pacing back and forth, the Red Coated Reaper tried to come up with his next move. "I guess I could keep wandering, but knowing my luck I'd just end up getting lost all over again. Scratch that, what would really happen is I'd wander into some deep secret they're keeping down here, get framed for trespassing, and then I'd become a wanted man all over again."
Anyone else would've missed it, especially someone who was so deep in thought, but Ragna's trained ears were able to pick up the series of footsteps from a few hallways down. More than that, he could tell who they belonged to through some subtle details and immediately knew they were his best bet of getting out of this place by the end of the day. Hurrying after the source of the noise, he ran down the hallways before turning the corner to face the surprised and tan-skinned mercenary.
"Ragna the Bloodedge?" she asked in surprise.
"Heya Bu-" She gave him a deep scowl. "I was going to say Bullet."
"I don't believe you."
"…Fair enough," he had to relent. "Sorry, but you got a second? I really need some help getting out of this place; got no idea where I'm going or even how you're supposed to tell where I'm going."
"They didn't give you one of these?" Bullet asked as she took out a small earpiece and showed it to the Reaper. "Pretty basic device, you tell it where you want to go and it leads you that way. Of course, people like Kokonoe and Tager have been here long enough to know this place like the back of their hands."
"Would've been nice to know about," he grumbled. "So? Think you can get me out of this damn maze?"
"…And here I would've thought that the Azure Flame would've at least given you a halfway decent sense of direction." The snarky smile she was giving him made the Reaper scowl and he barely managed to hold him tongue. "Looking at you now, you're just about as clueless with directions as that skirt following you was. Celica, right?"
"…Yeah… that was her name," Ragna repeated, not bothering to hide the regret he still held.
"Wait, she… I'm sorry, that was insensitive," Bullet apologized. 'I never expected him of all people to be so in touch with his own sadness.'
"You didn't know," he tried to dismiss. The two stood there in fairly awkward silence. "So… changing subject, how have things been?"
'Why does he want to-? No, he's just trying to not think about her.' "I can't complain too much; Kokonoe's putting my skills as a merc to good use and the pay's good. I'm even able to work alongside my old captain again, even if his memories are still lacking a few things."
"Captain? Oh, you mean Tager. Right, you guys have always been pretty close," Ragna recounted.
"He's just my old commanding officer, and what's left of the unit that I lost to that damn Mad Dog." Heavy irritation and some bloodlust seeped into her words. "That's another reason I'm here; I'm making sure that the bastard is never getting out again."
"So he's still in that sub-zero prison?"
"Kokonoe honestly isn't even sure if she can kill him, and she can do quite a bit," she answered. "Be careful; if he ever did break out, you're the first person he'd try to hunt down."
"Noted," Ragna said as he glanced to his artificial arm; specifically the right one which now housed the completed True Azure. The ultimate power rested with him, but he was going to do everything to ensure he wouldn't have to use it. "Things really got crazy with that damn tournament, didn't it?"
"That's putting it lightly," she sighed. "If it hadn't been for you, Azrael would've ended my life, so… I owe you one."
"Don't feel like you need to settle up or any of that crap; I just felt the need to step in so I did."
"Meaning saving people comes naturally to you in spite of what everyone else says?"
"You're giving me too much credit, but I guess it started to after a while." He could take a bit of pride in his actions there. "Anything else?"
"Well, I did read your book." Ragna raised an eyebrow. "I was curious what you'd have to say, and a coworker of mine was already finished with her copy. Gotta admit, it's pretty impressive that your first work already managed to make it to a number three bestseller on the Ikaruga Walker."
"Most of that was probably people wondering what the previously most wanted man in the world would write about instead of the book having anything of actual merit." It wasn't self-pity, Ragna was just being factual. And if he hadn't undone all of the destruction he'd caused to the NOL using the True Azure, it wouldn't have mattered how good the book had been. "So? What'd you think?"
"I… kind of agree with what you just said," she admitted with a grimace. "Don't get me wrong; it's not like I thought it was a poorly written travel book, but there was hardly anything to make it stand out or exceptional in any real way."
"Eh, thanks for an honest review about it," the Reaper answered. He didn't sound hurt or offended at least, so Bullet smiled. "I'll probably have a new book out by the end of the year; once I get a break in, I think my publisher's going to want me to start traveling around again."
"A publisher? How the hell did you manage to score that? You're not exactly subtle when it comes to bargaining," Bullet teased.
"Oh? Like you're any different," Ragna shot back with his own cocky smirk. "Something tells me it was always Tager negotiating your old mercenary contracts."
"You got me there," she admitted, allowing herself a short laugh. "So, you needed to get out of here?"
"Yeah, be a big help. Or you could just try to get me where the walls are different enough so that I can get my way out myself. What was the damn design idea when they were making this place anyways?"
"If the intruders don't know where they're going, it makes things all the harder for them successfully infiltrate. I know from experience after I broke in here; just collecting enough information so I could plan my infiltration route took up almost a month and that was even once I got a mole to get me through," she informed as she began programming her earpiece, her gaze now focused on the delicate machinery as it wouldn't take much to distort the needed directions. "What were you doing stuck here in the first place?"
"I needed Kokonoe to do some repairs on my arm," Ragna informed, referring to his left bio-mechanical one. "She was supposed to lead me out of here so I could get out on my own, but one damn call in the middle and she kicks me out and tells me to-"
At Ragna's sudden silence, Bullet raised her gaze only to find that the Reaper had vanished completely, leaving only the smell of roses in his wake.
Alucard Manor Gardens
"-piss off."
Ragna hadn't intended his first words after Rachel teleported him to be an insult, but after realizing that he'd been kidnapped here again, he realized that it was more than fitting. Valkenhayn's scowling had probably grown sharper in response to his coarse language, but the Grim Reaper could hardly remember a time where the werewolf of the Six Heroes had given him a warm look. Nago and Gii were out now too and was it just him or did it look the two were mischievously grinning like he was in big trouble. That left Rachel herself was again sitting at her table as she slowly sipped a fresh cup of tea that Valkenhayn had prepared.
"Really rabbit? Not so much a damn 'Hello' or a 'Can we please talk?' before ya whisk me off? I was hoping you'd be at least a little less stuck up by now."
"Watch your tongue, lest I rip it out of your filthy mouth!" Valkenhayn's words hadn't scared Ragna in the past, they weren't scaring him now.
"You should be honored to be called upon by her highness!" Gii, Rachel's batlike servant, shouted from beside the table.
"Indeed! Why, you should be ready to throw everything aside at a moment's notice!" Nago, her cat parasol. chimed in from beside Gii. "It should be easy for someone like you, what would you have to throw away in that first place? Aside from that oversized sword that-"
"Enough, all of you." Nago didn't have a chance to finish his thoughts as Rachel finally concluded sipping her tea. Valkenhayn gave his master a bow (whilst still scowling at Ragna of course) and excused himself. "I'd rather be done with this as soon as possible."
"That makes two of us," the Reaper grumbled. "Why'd you even bring me here in the first place, and now of all times?"
"You say that as if I wanted you here."
"Could've come to me instead of this kidnapping stunt!" Ragna was losing what little patience he had. "So? Spill and we can get on with our lives."
"Very well then, I'll let you retreat to whatever mediocrity you call your current happenstance." Now Ragna's red eye was twitching. "So tell me Ragna… how did you ruin this?"
"This? Oh my god, you're really choosing now to be cryptic? I thought we were all past the damn point of needing that! And what do you mean ruin!? I haven't done a damn thing wrong!"
"Other than writing that atrocious travel book," Nago input. "Traveling Bloodedge. How is that even a title? It has about as much originality as Idiot Goes Places."
"And those reviews you wrote!" Gii added. "If that's how you're describing you traveling, then you must really-!"
"My sword's going in your skulls if you don't shut up!" Ragna shouted, causing Rachel's less charming servant to shriek at the threat. The Reaper fixed his scowl on their master. "Point. Now. Get to it."
"Very well, if it'll stop your incessant shouting." Hey, if her first plan was a no-go, Rachel was going to take her entertainment from Ragna however she could get it. "So you claim to have done nothing wrong, does that mean you haven't used the Azure?"
"Not a single damn time; I told you I wasn't going to use that power if I didn't need to and nothing's come up." Ragna's serious response gave Rachel pause. Of course he'd never us it; he already learned his lesson of abusing power.
"Then… might you tell us everything you did in the last 24 hours?" she asked.
'Wouldn't you know? I thought you were still stalking me.' Ragna held his tongue, but it was taking more and more effort. "24 hours… I know I was already on my way to see Kokonoe before then. Got into a fight with some damn brigands and while they couldn't so much as land a finger on me, my left arm felt off in the middle of the fight."
"And you never used the Azure in the fight?"
"Like I've been saying. Also, you know I'm good enough to take care of that kind of trash in my sleep. Placed the usual binding Ars for the authorities, but I didn't need any of the Azure for that one. Basic as you can get." Rachel conceded that doing so little certainly wouldn't have started this entire mess. "Past that just some walking around, cooking for myself, and sleeping in the elements last night. There's really nothing to latch onto."
"What about when you finally saw Kokonoe?" Rachel questioned.
"Same shit we've come to expect from her; she swore her head off at being inconvenienced after I already called in and we set up an appointment around her schedule, bitched at me the entire time I was getting my arm repaired, and then when she was done, she kicked me out and left me to find my way out of that maze without her."
"Oh, so the princess did help you," Nago decided to input coyly.
"NO. I was already about to get directions from Bullet before you kidnapped me; you're just giving yourselves undue credit," the Reaper denied with his trademark scowl.
"Bullet…" Rachel repeated, the vampiress deep in thought. It was then that Valkenhayn return with a small tray of confectionary sweets which he placed before his master… Ragna had a feeling he wasn't entitled to try any of them. Selecting a scone, Rachel didn't begin her snack just yet. "And?"
"And what? Again, less cryptic means I can get out of here faster."
"And Bullet? How was your interaction with her?"
"That's… out of nowhere," Ragna answered, his growing irritation now mixed with confusion as things turned all the more bizarre around him. "I mean… fine, I guess. She didn't blow up at me and she was about to help me out like I said." He shook his head. "I can't tell you want you want to know if I don't know what you're looking for. Either let me know what's really going on or let me outta this place; your call."
"…Very well," Rachel eventually relented. "You see I was… looking through some of my father's old artifacts when one I was interested in shattered before my eyes. Now, you've had most dealings with this particular artifact in recent memory, so of course I had to conclude that this was somehow your fault."
"So I'm already in trouble before you have all of the facts? Why did I expect anything less?" His irritation aside, he realized that Rachel had kept her wording vague… and that she wasn't making eye contact with him for some reason… and she'd mentioned an artifact… that he'd dealt with. "Wait… IS THIS THE GODDAMN SPECTACLES OF EROS!?"
"Even if we're in my garden, indoor voices please. There's no reason to damage our hearing."
"Damage our hearing she says. What do you think would happen if you put those damn things back on me!?" Upon Ragna's connection with the True Azure, he momentarily broken the barrier between timelines to see his place in them and a not insignificant portion of those had included Rachel screwing him over to relieve her own boredom. "You know that this time's supposed to stick! Who the hell knows what would've happened if you gone through with this crap!"
"Please, you could've easily weathered any minor inconvenience," Rachel dismissed. By now Ragna's seething rage had brought upon a level of growling that put Valkenhayn's to shame, even when the butler had shifted. "What's important now is what's actually happened, not what might've."
'Easy for you to say, it lets your vampiric ass get off scot-free.' "All I'm getting is that they're destroyed and you have one less toy to torture me with. So what?"
"Valkenhayn? An explanation if you please?"
"But of course," the butler answered before addressing Ragna in a (forcedly) formal manner. "As I've stated before, the craftsmanship behind the Spectacles of Eros is near flawless, which would explain how it would make all of the opposite sex long for you. But it goes far beyond basic appeal; if we had a full suit of armor made of the same material as those glasses, it might even be mere league below that of the legendary Susanoo unit."
"That strong? Damn." Ragna had been under attack by that armor piece proper, it was a big relief that Hakumen was no longer around. No doubt the leader of the Six Heroes would dedicate all of his efforts to hunting him down despite the painfully earned peace.
"And that's not the end of it either," Valkenhayn continued. "Since they were a mythical item that evolved with the passage of time, there's no telling what might've happened to the remaining magical energies or if this is possibly a new form of them. My best conclusion at present is that you might've absorbed some of the artifact into yourself due to your previous history wearing the item."
"Absorbed the artifact's energies, eh?" Ragna repeated as he thought it over. He realized the obvious conclusion. "You're saying the only reason I was able to talk to Bullet as well as I did was 'cause I got a damn boost by the glasses power."
"Oh my! Seems a lucky someone has gotten quite the boon!" Nago exclaimed. "Now you can woo whoever you want without have to worry about all the… you."
"Knowing him, he'll need it all and then some!" Gii mocked.
Rachel smirked as she waited for Ragna's enraged comeback, only to find that for once he didn't have one. In fact, he didn't even seem angry, more… disappointed.
"Great, just… great," he groaned.
"Oh my, whatever's the matter Ragna?"
"Like you care."
"On the contrary; I'm very concerned with your current state of mind if you've gone silent for once." He still registered this as an insult (which it still had the tone of), so Rachel decided to take the rare gentle approach. "Please tell us what's on your mind, Ragna. I promise not to mock or even make light of your thoughts."
"My, the princess is gracious," Nago applauded while Ragna was a bit dumbstruck at the offer.
"I dunno; she said that she wouldn't laugh at him, but-"
"And if anyone here does dare to laugh, they answer to me." The shut up the two from the peanut gallery quickly enough.
"This is honestly a little weird of you," the Reaper admitted. Rachel decided not to argue that one and waited for him to proceed. "Fine, it's just… I'm starting to feel a bit tired of always being by myself, you know? When these past four months started I thought finally I can be left alone, but… it just started to drag on after a while. That's why I started writing that damn book in the first place, so that it'd give me at something to do."
"Hmm, your expression tells me that it wasn't enough," Rachel observed before taking a small bite of her scone and continuing to listen to the Reaper.
"I mean, yeah it helped some, but not even a week later and it already felt like something was missing, ya know?" He shook his head. "It was pure chance that I actually had that nice conversation with Bullet a second ago, and it actually felt okay. More than okay even."
"So you desire more interaction then? You admit to wanting a more human connection?" Ragna nodded slowly to the vampiress's question, a strict wall around him seeming to crumble before her very eyes. "Then… this should only be of a boon to you? Wouldn't having the Spectacles' power make it easier to have these standing… relationships?"
"Like I could use it for that. You think I want to rely on those things and take advantage of anyone with them? Goddammit Rachel; I knew your opinion of me was low, but this…" While she didn't show it, Rachel did actually feel a touch foolish of even suggesting it. "And as things stand right now, you're the only one I know that isn't affected by those damn things."
"…I see. But perhaps this is less of an issue than you've led yourself to believe," she tried again. "The glasses have already been broken a short time; Kokonoe isn't immune to the effects and yet she seemed to treat you the same as always."
"Yeah, plenty of swearing and calling me an idiot to back that claim up," the Reaper cautiously agreed.
"And your conversation with Bullet? It's not like she was tearing her clothes off at the sight of you."
'…Keeping my opinions of her Butt Floss to myself for the moment.' "No, we just talked. She didn't seem all that happy to see me at first, but by the end of it we were really casual with each other." Ragna crossed his arms. "So you're saying that there isn't an effect?"
"Not one outright observable at least," she answered. "If there was any effect, it might just have something to do with any initial barriers regarding you; your reputation, that aura of death you carry about yourself, etcetera. It's only giving you a chance; how things proceed from there is entirely up to you."
"Huh…" Ragna answered as he thought it over. "That's… well that's actually not half bad. Get people over the old me just a little quicker and I get a fresh start where I might not be totally screwed over." He nodded with a bit more resolve. "I can live with that."
"More than just live with that; you might actually be able flourish with it," Rachel corrected before giving Ragna her confident smile. "Although, if anything now you stand to lose face a bit more harshly than before. It's worse than saying it's you in your purest form; now you actually have something on your side. You'd best not disappoint yourself now."
"Heh, that's fair enough." Ragna then gave himself a stretch. "Anyways, thanks for this I… Wait a damn minute! I shouldn't be thanking you for anything! You still kidnapped me!"
"Kidnapped? Is that what you call my master for being a patient listener while she helps you sort out your worries?" Valkenhayn chided.
"Wouldn't have these worries in the first place if you weren't going to screw me over with those damn glasses!" the Reaper shouted before realizing how futile this argument would be. "Tch! Like I can expect to get anything done arguing with you two."
"What about us!?" came Gii's cry.
"…Are you saying you want me to argue with you both?"
"Maybe a little?" Nago sheepishly admitted.
"Regardless, I'd call this a productive meeting for all parties involved," Rachel said to end the bickering. "I think it's time you were sent on your way, Ragna. Your foul demeanor will cause my entire garden to shrivel before long."
"You're the only one keeping me here; could've sent me off at any time instead of this damn grandstanding," Ragna bit back. "Honestly the only reason you'd ever keep me here for this long is if you somehow liked having me around."
"P-P-Preposterous! I don't know where or how a mongrel like you gets all of that misguided self-importance!" Rachel yelled back at him.
"Are… you blushing?" Ragna asked as he tilted his head. "Guess that hug a while back did more to your pride than I first thought." Rachel was fighting hard not to bury her face in her palms (an act she felt was clearly beneath a lady of her standing). "Eh, whatever. But when you get me out of here, you think you can set me close to the church? Been meaning to visit the gi-"
As if the smell of roses couldn't get any further overpowering in her garden, Rachel's signature teleportation spell finally sent Ragna on his way. Composing herself, she went back to enjoying her half-finished scone.
"I'm hardly one to question your methods my lady, but are we certain this lack of involvement is the right path forward?" Valkenhayn questioned. "There's no telling if he actually has the power lying dormant or if it could… mutate."
"Only if it does shall we intervene, but you heard what Ragna said when I even suggested he use some of that potential gift. He won't be abusing that power, I have that much confidence in him," Rachel explained.
"Still, it was really kind of you to set his mind at ease princess," Nago commended. "Getting him out of that funk like you did shows that you're the very image of kindness!"
"Should the princess have really done that though?" Gii asked. "You'd think she'd just play along with the whole thing so she could have him to herself."
…His instincts for survival kicking in, Valkenhayn bowed before teleporting out of the gardens. Good thing he did too; there wasn't a single square inch of their realm not lit by Rachel's lighting.
The Wildlands
"…Son of a bitch!" Ragna growled as he glanced around, not recognizing his immediate surroundings. "You've got better hearing than that; you knew what I was saying dammit." The day had already turned to night, so at least he could gauge where he was by the stars above; he'd learned as much in his training days with Jubei. "Shit, judging by those constellations I'm even further away from the church than I would've been at Sector Seven. Damn bloodsucker's always gotta get the last word."
Hearing the growl of Seither beasts around him only twisted the proverbial knife all the further; where there was one pack to be found, there was doubtless several more at least. Unslinging the Aramasa, he readied himself for a long night.
Author's Note
Yep, that's the start to my first lemon story. Not really all that much to say, just know that even I'm not entirely sure when the lemons will actually start. It could be as early as next chapter, but I'll probably want to take some time and make sure the relationships are properly established beforehand.
I dunno, might be a thing early on or it will take some time. Either way I hope to deliver. Far as frequency, until I get a good backlog for this story, I promise to get at least a chapter out every other month, maybe a bit sooner to start.
That's all from me! Ciao!