Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

Chapter 9: Hell and the Darkness

Sir Integra Hellsing kept her back to Alucard for a long while after the blonde ‘survivor’—they weren’t sure what else to call someone who blundered in after the vampire had ran off—had gone upstairs. The meeting had gone rather smoothly, he thought, considering…

“A very interesting girl you found, Alucard,” the young woman said at length. “You seem to always turn up with blondes.”

Oh, his mistress was cruel. “I assure you, Master. I did not plan this, just as I did not plan the incident with Miss Victoria.” He edged slightly into the shadows near the wall to avoid the sunbeams creeping like the plague through the study window.

“I don’t believe that for a moment,” the woman sighed heavily, “but I suppose it doesn’t matter. She’s here, and she truly believes that she’s from another world.”

The vampire blinked lazily at the woman whose family he had served for generations. “With all due respect, with as much as you have seen, my lady, is it that difficult to believe that worlds beyond ours exist?”

The woman looked over her shoulder at him, glasses glinting in the light from the dawn sun. Her platinum blonde hair framed her face quite elegantly. Aluard often found himself wondering what she’d look like out of the stuffy old suits she usually wore and in the styles of the twentieth century. She was quite a beautiful young woman, to be perfectly honest.

“We deal with vampires and ghouls, not aliens,” she said skeptically. “Anyway, even if there are planets somewhere in our galaxy capable of supporting life, the chances of them appearing humanoid are astronomically small.”

The vampire gave a rare smile and took a step, bringing himself as near to the light as he felt comfortable. With as many years as he had lived, the sunlight no longer harmed him—he simply detested it. “Master, there are certain legends I have become acquainted with in my not insubstantial time on this earth that I believe may be relevant. I heard a tale—I believe this was in Russia in the early seventeenth century—of the world many hundreds of thousands of years ago. I didn’t put much stock in it at the time, as the Russians had a reputation of being… how shall I say… Russian.”

“A novel concept, Russians being Russian,” Sir Integra pointed out, a smile playing at the corner of her mouth. “I believe this would still be the case.”

Alucard nodded his agreement. “They said at that time that, long ago, this world was much larger. All the sappy attributes of a story like this: people happy, no such thing as evil, people begin to fight over various things, etcetera…” He turned away from Sir Integra, waving his hand dismissively. “The point being, when people began to fight, the planet broke apart into hundreds of various ‘worlds’. Perhaps this legend was not simply Russians being… Russian. Maybe the proof of this is sleeping upstairs.”

Integra sighed. “I am afraid to say I don’t believe it. I barely believe the Keyblade story of hers, and that is only because she showed me herself.”

The vampire crossed his arms. He had never seen his mistress with such a closed mind before. Perhaps that was the way things were with humans. Believe anything they want, but when the proof is right in front of their faces—nope, can’t see it! He wouldn’t know anymore. He hadn’t been human for years. He kept his thoughts to himself in this case, however.

“This ‘keyblade’…” she continued. “You know something of it?”

“Yes, Master.”

“Would you like to share?”

“I know nothing more than half of what Mia has already told us. However… I have also heard legends that say the Keyblade will bring prosperity when it appears. I have also heard it will bring destruction.”

The British woman looked annoyed. “Helpful.”

Alucard shrugged.

“What do you think we should do about it then, if the latter is true?” she asked. “She is a lovely child. I am fear it would grieve me greatly should death truly be her fate.”

“She reminds you of yourself, does she not?” Alucard asked softly.

Integra shot him a look that would have turned him to dust if she held it too long. And then it softened slightly. “Yes. She does remind me of me. She is the same age I was when I found this responsibility on my shoulders. The same age I was when I found my own life in peril.” The death-stare returned. “That doesn’t mean it was your place to point this out!”

Why is she so touchy about me observing the fact that she was human beneath that layer of stainless steel? Alucard wondered. He’d known her since she was Mia’s age, and it wasn’t as if he didn’t know she had feelings. But, then again, he considered as he reached his thoughts back to the far-off years when he had ruled his world, he had never liked his servants to know what he was thinking, either.

“Yes, ma’am,” he allowed. “Sorry, ma’am,” he added for good measure, not really meaning it. He answered her initial question. “We have taken a wolf by the ears. I doubt we will like it very much, but we best not let it go.”

She moved to her oaken desk and removed a cigar from the box there. She lit up, deep in thought. “I agree,” she determined. “It’s not safe to keep her here, but it’s worse to let her go. I think…” She chomped on the cigar. “Yes. Alucard, it’s your lucky day. You’re on bodyguard duty.”

Alucard forced a pained smile. “Lovely,” he said, hoping that the tone of his voice told her quite clearly all the rage and horror he felt but was far too refined to convey.

“We shall help her find these other keyblade masters she says may be here,” the head of the Hellsing family decided, ignoring the vampire as usual. “And until we find these people, you will protect her. You will take orders from her, and only my orders can override hers, do you understand?”

“Yes, mistress,” said Alucard stiffly, already trying to find a loophole or pause that would allow him to shirk his duties. It wasn’t that he was lazy, it was that he loved to see the usually stoic Integra enraged.

However, she had long ago learned this trick. She had probably been taught to make her orders airtight when she was a babe; she was so good at it. “You will not harm her, physically or mentally, nor, by lack of action, allow her to be harmed.”

Alucard pulled a face, frowning as if trying to understand something just beyond his reach. “How exactly do I ‘mentally harm’ somebody?”

“Don’t play stupid with me,” Integra snapped. “Starting after the sun goes down, you will officially be on duty.” She paused as if finished, then remembered something. “Do not go to her room before then!”

Well, he hadn’t been planning to, but that just went to show… “Yes, ma’am.”

“One more thing… the vampire?”

Alucard crossed his arms. “That’s what bothers me, Master. They appear to have just… vanished.”

“They?” Sir Integra repeated.

“Yes. There were far too many ghouls for even the most bloodthirsty vampire to create by him or herself.” Alucard pushed his glasses up his nose. “There were probably only two, definitely no more than three at most.”

She stared at him for a moment. “You may go,” she said at length, turning to face the new day’s sun.

He’d been dismissed and, though he wanted to stick around and ask after her health and what time she was planning to get to sleep (because God knew she got precious little of it these days), he left for his coffin in the basements. He didn’t want to hurt his image.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The sun was inching above the horizon as the elderly butler of the Hellsings showed Mia and her dog to the room they would be sleeping in.

“My name is Walter,” the butler said. He had the same strange accent that Sir Integra and Alucard had. “Breakfast is whenever you want it, but you will most likely want to sleep first. Just come down to the dining room, should you require anything.” He shuffled out, leaving her and Arthur alone.

The room was like one in a really luxurious hotel, with a queen-sized bed and its own bathroom. There was even a large pad for Arthur. Anything she wanted besides food would be right there. She moved to the windows and shut the thick, almost rug-like curtains, so that she could try and get some sleep.

It was at this moment she became aware that her skirt was beeping at her.

She did not own a cell phone, so why one had magically appeared in her pocket was beyond her. Also beyond her was who would be who would call her.

Pulling the phone—which turned out to be a pink Razor—she answered. “Hello?”

“Hey, Mia!” came Cid’s voice. “How’s your first day on the job going?”

Shrugging, she threw herself on the bed. “Chased by zombies, rescued by a mind-blowingly handsome vampire…” She glanced over at Arthur, who avoided the bed in favor of curling up beside Mia. “Got a pet dog. And a cell phone, apparently. You have good tastes.”

Cid snorted. “Better than my first day. You don’t even wanna know. I was just callin’ to tell ya, the keyblade wielders just rolled into town. Well, I say that like I know how they got here, but they’re in your general area.”

“‘They’?” Mia repeated, scratching Arthur meditatively. “How many are we talking about here?”

“Only two, but that’s fine. Could be worse.”

“And they’re together?”

“Yep. They probably already know each other. Which is hella convenient for us.”

Mia kicked off her shoes, not bothering to keep track of where they went. “And Organization XIII?”

The pilot scoffed, “How would I know that? Do I look like a crystal ball?”

“Good point.” She pulled the bow from her hair and put it on the bedside table. “Look, Cid, I need sleep. Being chased by zombies takes a lot out of you.”

“I hear ya. Rest up, ‘kay? Maybe you’ll get lucky, and… you know… wake up.”

Licking her lips, Mia lay back into the pillow. “Yeah. Maybe.” She shut the phone and pressed her fist to her mouth, eyes distant.

Arthur looked up at her and nosed her arm, as if trying to get her to tell him what was wrong. Talking about it was not something she could do without bursting into tears again. She hadn’t cried since she had met Sir Integra and been introduced to the Hellsing Agency.

Places like this, this city of London, were the kind of places that she had read about in books that she had always wanted to go to. Whether she was happy that she was there or not was still out with the jury, but it was certainly different.

Ruled by Queen Elizabeth II, London was apparently a capitol in many senses of the world: fashion was the unspoken king, musical groups from around the world preformed there, the entirety of the ‘United Kingdom’ was governed from there, and vampires from all over showed up.

The Hellsing Organization was founded almost two hundred years ago by Sir Integra’s ancestors to protect Queen (or King, as the case might be) and country from these supernatural threats. It was all nice and easy to understand, aside from why Miss Hellsing—who was quite clearly a woman—was called ‘sir’.

She shouldn’t be worried about that sort of thing, Mia reminded herself, turning off the lamp on the table. The room plunged into darkness as she stretched out under the covers. There were innocent people out there that could be hurt.

And that Alucard is kind of cute, she thought with a giggle as she slowly drifted to sleep.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Ah, what a day, what a world!” shouted the redheaded man in a black coat. “The sun is shining, the air is kind of clean, and we’ve got two more keyblade kids just waiting to be taken back to the superior!”

“Someone seems cheery,” his blue-haired companion noted irritably as he followed the slightly younger man across one of the many footbridges across the river that ran through the middle of the city.

The redhead turned around, walking backwards briefly for a moment to shoot the man a grin. “Of course! Like Roxas said, our jobs are getting easier by the day.”

Quietly, the other man returned the smile, if a little more coldly. “I’ll give the boy that much. Not that it would take a genius to get that analysis.” He paused. “Axel… about Roxas.”

The redhead turned to face the way he was walking. “Don’t tell me… you’re going to say that it’d be best for me to break off all ties with the kid ‘cause he’s gonna crash and burn any day now. And here’s my answer: take your advice and shove it up your a**! Got it memorized?”

The older man shook his head. “Fine. If you say so. Just watch your back… Superior assigned me to be your partner for a reason.”

“He wanted someone he trusts to keep an eye on someone he doesn’t,” the younger man answered, still cheery. “I know I screwed up last time around, but I’m walkin’ the good old straight and narrow.”

The man was obviously not convinced, and the redhead knew it. The young man was less than concerned, though, as the superior did not kick anyone out on unfounded misgivings. He smiled to himself as he stepped off the footbridge and into a puddle from the previous day’s rain. It sizzled and evaporated beneath his feet.

“Let’s go,” said the older man, taking the lead.

The redhead evilly grinned and followed.

The two black-cloaked men swept away through the streets of London.