Who: Integra Hellsing and Alucard (Hellsing) What: Integra binds Alucard to the Hellsing bloodline once again, at his request. When: After the power swap. Where: Their home Warnings: Hellsing-typical weirdness/mild violence, nebulous and probably not entirely healthy master/servant relationship, allusions to prior trauma.
Sometimes, it was odd to think how much of the past might reflect on the now. Especially the past of her own lineage. Ever since Alucard’s unwanted familiar had been removed, Integra had been going through the memories of the past. Often, she was struck by the idea that her ancestor had sat in a chair quite like her own and tried to figure out how to bind the most potent vampire to their blood. He’d probably disapprove of how she went about it though.
She had no intentions of replicating Abraham. For one she’d always walked her own path, letting her family history be a support but never a guide. Secondly, it wouldn’t work. Everything had shifted. And unlike her ancestors the next stage of this all would have her ask, rather then demand, the vampire she was planning to bind.
Because while everything was as set as it could be, the next part would require that. He’d asked for this, so to her she couldn’t just do. Usually in situations like this she’d just summon him, but that all was tied to the seals. So she rose and walked to the doorway that hid the path to the basement. It was another difference. Before, the basement had been wholly his, because she’d always known where he was. She’d return him his privacy once this was all settled, but now she knocked and opened the door.
And while she couldn’t see him, she was fairly sure he could see her. She still stopped just before the first step, because it was polite. “Alucard, we need to discuss the seals.”
The basement had been Alucard’s sanctuary for almost a century. True, it was also the site of Abraham’s experiments, and much of it had been given over to a prison designed to contain one of the most powerful vampires in the world, but it had been his. When Alucard’s relationship with his masters shifted from being simply a tool to being an odd sort of companion, he’d been provided with what few luxuries he desired, as well as the freedom to come and go on the grounds. The basement because the space in which soldiers and servants were not to wander. Though Alucard had been forbidden to truly harm them, he’d been given no instructions against practically scaring their wits from them.
Abraham, and later Arthur, had thought it good practice so no one would grow too complacent in dealing with vampires.
Integra allowed Alucard the most freedom. She could afford to. She ruled him more effectively than any master who had come before her, and most likely any who might attempt to come after. He did not mind that she breached his privacy now. They did, indeed, need to talk.
“Have you considered their necessity, my Master?” he inquired, seated as was his custom in the single chair at the center of his preferred chamber. His eyes offered the only indication of his position, dim embers glowing in near complete darkness.
Being afraid of the dark had never been one of the fears Integra had ever dealt with. She’d grown up with knowing what could be in it, true, but also raised in knowing how to deal with it as well. Then after her Father’s death she’d never considered wondering about imaginary monsters. Plenty of real one’s, and not all of them supernatural. “If the past few months have proven one thing, it’s that they aren’t a necessity.” He had plenty of freedom to leave, there were no more ties anymore. At least not those of blood. One day she’d have to pick up her courage and ask him the truth. “You asked.” And in his place would she have? She’d asked herself that question and could never form an answer that really pleased her. In the end all she had been able to do was research and gather her notes.
“The old ones are not ones I think will be adequate any longer.” Which was a kind way of saying he no longer had the legions he once did and as long as she was around he wouldn’t be getting them back. She’d have no issue sending him after anything lurking within the shadows of their current home, but that was different. Whatever lurked was still an enemy. “So I’ve had to revise. I’ve removed the restraint levels, for one. It will be better to show you. Come up, I want your take either way.” Her ancestors had just done and she had a belief that they might have set themselves back just as much as they’d advanced in binding Alucard to them. She was probably the first, if not only, who actually wanted his opinion. First because he had asked so offering this was, to her, just part of it and second because despite how much she as a Hellsing knew she knew he understood himself better.
Allowing this much was probably not something any of her line would approve of, but she wanted to walk her own path. And considering she’d been the one to unlock Alucard’s full potential, she figured she was at least onto something. Her ancestors had worked on a ‘we have defeated you, now you belong to us’ way whereas this was more of a ‘you work with me, because you want to’ sort of way. At least to her. So she turned and began walking back to her office, somewhat sure he’d follow. If only out of curiosity.
Alucard rose smoothly, footsteps silent as he trailed Integra out of the lower level and up into the house proper. He had his own reasons to desire the seals. Integra might trust him, but he knew better than to trust himself. With Schrodinger gone, the vampire now had no limits save his own mind when it came to his actions. He might remain as he was, content with what little power remained to him … or he might not. History suggested the latter always won out.
“I disagree, Integra,” he informed her as they walked. “While he remained anchored to my being, Millennium’s creature limited my capabilities. He is gone now, and so I am free to do as I wish. It is only sensible to set boundaries that I cannot cross.” Patient he might be, as all predators must learn, but Alucard knew that he was volatile, and not given to contentment.
“What do you have in mind?” he inquired when they had reached Integra’s office. Instead of taking one of the available chairs, he sat on the corner of her desk, legs crossed and hands folded in his lap. He wore his customary red and black, sans the hat and glasses, though his hands at the moment were bare.
It was an argument that would just go in circles, so instead she focused more on how to help rather then go over it again. To her, they both had points, so the seals were an acceptable enough compromise. She moved to the papers on her desk and filed through them. Most of them were notes she’d burn later, as she had no intentions of any of this leaving the house. She fought for humanity and would do terrible things to that end. Given their situation and the others, she wasn’t at all sure what others might do, should they come into the possession of the kind of weapon Alucard was capable of being.
She handed him the notes, and the drawing of the new seals. It looked very much like the old one, with enough subtle differences and the words had changed. “The principle will remain. You’ll remain bound by my blood, follow my orders but without the restriction levels. The old protections will remain, and while these new ones will allow more freedom there will be limitations.” A kind way of saying she wasn’t about to let him run rampant. A loose enough leash that allowed slack, but without the ability to go back to old habits, as he seemed concerned about. A compromise.
“The old one’s are known, even if they were going to be done I’d have to change them anyway. They could be manipulated.” She turned to him and set her hands in her pockets. “I need to know if you know of a way these ones cannot be, what do the Americans say...hijack them. Both in case someone decides that they’d very much enjoy having the sort of weapon you can be, and,” she paused because she wasn’t inherently cruel. Stubborn, proud, and demanding both excellence and perfection but not truly cruel. But life was dangerous, she’d known that since she’d crawled through vents to escape death at the hands of her uncle. Denying it wasn’t or pretending it wasn’t would be foolish at best, and dangerous. “In case.” She added after a beat. She held his gaze evenly. She was always someone who liked having every mark checked, and consider possible outcomes.
The vampire accepted the papers with interest. Though the original seals had been implemented without his consent, he’d been a participant in their improvements more than once over the years. With time, he’d learned even the details the Hellsing family had attempted to keep from him. Alucard had never put much effort into attempting to break them, with little desire to do so once Integra had taken hold of leash.
“You’ve put a great deal of work into these,” he noted. The theory and its application were sound. He thought briefly to argue for the necessity of the various levels of restriction, but he was still weak. In time, he could argue otherwise with Integra, when his strength returned. For now, the seals she proposed would be secure.
“When will you be ready to perform the working?” Alucard preferred sooner rather than later.
“Technically? They’re ready now.” She offered honestly. “I have been working on this ever since you brought it up, and I have found myself with more time these days then previously.” Even Hellsing’s ‘quiet’ days had been more active then she’d spend her days ever since she’d arrived here. There were patches in her days where she had nothing to do, and unaccustomed to being idle she’d kept herself busy. “It kept me busy on that blasted boat. If you know of no true way that they cannot be either usurped or moved to a different blood we can apply them now.” Truthfully, she wasn’t looking forward to it. From everything she’d read the process was highly uncomfortable, if not painful, on both parts. Without the added restriction levels, there would be less but it still wasn’t something she’d do gladly.
“The working can be done here or below.” From all she recalled, he’d always been bound. At first that would be simple common sense. He’d have tried to fight back. But she wasn’t all too sure if it was still necessary, but then again the process might also come against his fight or flight instincts, and she already knew which way he tended to lean. It wasn’t something she really blamed him for, considering the process she too would probably try to fight it off, even on an instinctual level. But she’d give him the option, at least.
“Burn those when you’re done with them,” she nodded to the papers before collecting the rest of the notes. Some might lament at essentially losing all the hours she’d put into the work, but she’d much rather see it destroyed then have it be turned into a weapon. Everything she needed was in her head anyway.
Alucard nodded, and bent his head over the notes in his hand. “If you wish to prepare, I will review these one last time. I see nothing of concern at first glance. They should hold if I were to lose my senses for one reason or another. I suggest we do this below. There may be damage.” He glanced up and added, solemnly, “I will fight them. It is in my nature.”
Integra had affection for him, true, and he adored her for it, but he would not allow it to sway her from doing what must be done.
She simply nodded and wished for his sake and for the sake of ease it could have been done another way. Of course even wishing that she knew that there hadn’t been. She guessed Abraham had even known they couldn’t really destroy Alucard, even without fully knowing his potential. And even without that, she couldn’t say she’d do much different. “Alright,” she simply said after some time before removing her cross and setting it on her desk. For one, it would hardly be effective, but it could interfere with the process. And she’d rather do this once, well then having to repeat the entire endeavor.
She also set her jacket on the desk and rolled up her sleeves. She did, however, keep her gun. Just in case. Then she took the papers to the small fireplace and then set them ablaze. “Meet me below when you’re ready.” Making the journey back was a bit odd, and so was finding herself at the door of where her ancestor had begun everything. She’d been here a few other times, the first a day after she’d woken Alucard, because she’d wanted to know the beginnings and then when he’d disappeared. She still wasn’t sure why she’d come to this place rather than his basement. She only paused a moment before walking inside, then waited for Alucard.
After he’d reviewed the materials twice more, forming various possible scenarios in his mind where someone might attempt to corrupt the seals Integra had devised, Alucard consigned the papers to the fire. He needed no direction, not even his keen senses, to guide him to where Integra had gone. All Hellsings revered tradition, and appreciated the cyclical nature of things. While his master was bold in her decisions, and truly unique from her predecessors, even she could not entirely ignore the weight of history.
Alucard opened the door when he reached the cell where Abraham had first bound him service, and where Arthur had later imprisoned him in complete isolation for decades. “After you, my Master,” he invited, bowing his head.
While with others she might hide what she felt and thought, she did not do so around Alucard. Seras was generally also included but without the girl, only Alucard really saw behind her walls. And right now she couldn’t help but recall their first meeting. Almost on instinct she set one hand against her shoulder, still feeling the burn of the bullet. But it passed swiftly enough and she walked inside without hesitation. This time though, she turned on the lights. After she’d found him she’d cleaned the place, before leaving it well enough alone. Only melancholy had led her here before.
“Irony is such an odd thing at times,” she gave without really explaining herself. She was sure she didn’t have to. But then she straightened and the very will she was so famed for came into full force. The quicker she did this, the quicker things could get back to normal. And with that thought she brought out a new pair of gloves and handed them to him. “Put these on and be comfortable.”
Alucard raised an eyebrow at the last. The only thing comfortable about this process would be his faith in Integra’s skill and intentions. Nevertheless, he accepted the gloves and slid them on.
“The room is most suited to what we intend to do,” he reassured her. “I recommend you do not leave me loose. I have no wish to harm you when you have undertaken these measures in at my behest. I will not think less of you for it.” The vampire took Integra’s hand and brushed his cool lips across her knuckles. “Indeed, I admire you for possessing the courage.”
She was surprised by his actions, and his words but only raised an eyebrow. The day she would be able to actually predict what he’d do in any situation was probably not a day she’d ever see. But she didn’t remove her hand, not immediately. “Your sentiment is showing,” she added with part of a smile because these days it was a lighter sentence then it once had been. Besides, her own was more then visible.
“I understand the necessity, and in truth I don’t blame you either. However strong your reaction, I’m aware it’s instinct. There’s no anger there.” She figured that it would be good to say that as well. Only then did she remove her hand and motioned, “I think it best if you lay down.” Upright he’d be able to do more damage. Only once he’d moved would she begin the process of binding him. She was precise and methodical, leaving nothing to chance. Once she finished she would move back a few steps, “alright, before we begin in truth. Try and get free. Do not hold back.” She’d want to ensure everything was secure first. If she’d missed anything she’d rather find out now then later.
Though Integra was careful and as considerate as one could be under the circumstances, Alucard still tensed. Some memories cut through even his impressive barriers. He reminded himself that she was not Abraham, and most especially not Arthur (whom he’d come to despise). This was your idea and your choice, the vampire told himself once more.
Then he did everything that he might to escape the restraints. At first, only subtle efforts - a twist here or there, an attempt to shift forms or to break a finger to slip through a heavy iron cuff laced with various magical elements to contain his powers. When those efforts failed, he threw his full strength against the bonds and grinned when the bolts, chains, and enchantments held.
“Well done, Integra,” he purred, deliberately dropping the use of “Master” from his vocabulary. Now that they had begun this process, she would have to earn the role back. His affection would not guard her from his instincts should she fail in the ritual.
She was sorry for it when she noticed him tense. She would have spared this from him, but needs must. She set aside the notion, focusing instead on what she could do. The irony of chancing her live again in this room was also something she ignored. There were things to do, things to get ready.
She took an inkwell as he struggled and gave herself a cut so she could put some blood in it, mixing it with the ink there. Once she finished she ensured her gun was free and within easy reach.
The way of address didn’t escape her but she didn’t make note of it. She wasn’t the girl who had woken him up in this cell. She’d walked through fire and let it make her stronger. And she had some advantages now. Before a gun alone would have been laughable. Now he had no familiars to call on if she took out his legs. She also kneeled next to him, deliberately putting her back to the open door. Safety after safety.
She set the inkwell down and looked at him. She’d said very little over the past few minutes, gathering her will and preparing herself. “Alright then, let’s begin.” She gave after a beat before getting started. She’d always preferred diving right into the deep end.
“Let’s,” he agreed, baring his fangs in a broad, half-mad smile. Alucard took a perverse pleasure in forcing the Hellsing family to prove their worth in this manner. They didn’t deserve his service if they could not endure the sacrifices required to keep an unwilling vampire at heel. Integra, he believed, would rise to the challenge, as she had so beautifully when first they met.
During her research she’d ensured she’d practiced this, made sure that she knew the words by heart and could repeat them even during a trying time. So she was confident, but knew how to balance it. She’d looked through every possible scenario and prepared for it. There was nothing to it but to begin.
She took his hand and pushed everything else out, locking everything behind it’s door until all there was was focus. Then she began drawing the seals and speaking the words. Including in it was his name. All of them, really. Names had power, so did what they called him. Her own was important to, so it was added. Oddly, while she included Hellsing it was more or less tied to just her. More because there was no one after her and if time went odd and someone before showed up she had no intentions of allowing her ancestors claim over what was now hers.
But part of her mind, the part that was ready in case this went badly had to give it to the battle. It had allowed her to focus on more then just one thing.
Alucard clenched his fists against the sting of the magic. Physical pain meant little to him in comparison to what the seals would demand. The power Integra called upon would wind its way into his very being, binding his very essence to her life and will. Much as he tried to stay still and allow Integra to complete her work, his instincts shoved at him. Kill her. Take her. You are Master, not she.
Teeth grinding together, Alucard attempted to jerk away from Integra, a low growl building in his throat. He jerked against the chains in an aborted motion to escape. His failure to free himself only drove his determination higher. He was stronger than this. Better. Superior to any mortal who dared -
I will be no slave of yours, he’d snapped at Abraham in this same room, wearied from the long pursuit through Europe and the still-healing wound the man had dealt with a stake through Alucard’s heart. Fury filled him at the remembrance of how the man had burned the original seals into Alucard’s essence and stripped him of his own will, a tool to be sharpened and honed in those early days, before Abraham had begun to see something more than an animal behind the Count’s burning red eyes.
Alucard jerked harder against the restraints, and when they continued to hold, he snarled outright, teeth snapping on air as he lashed out at the one who wove the spell now.
Had she the presence of mind, it would have surprised her how the shift from minor aggression to outright instinctual anger hadn't taken her aback. She did not falter, nor hesitated. To do so would have meant disaster. But her focus had narrowed to being aware of any danger, and the weaving of the bindings. Line after line, letter after letter. The words she spoke were almost calm, patient. Perhaps it was a remnant of her youth, when every time she'd spend time with her father he'd inevitable asked 'tell me of vampires, and how they might be killed' or 'what is the difference between a vampire's strength. Maybe it was the long, long hours she'd dedicated to mastering the art of music, repeating the same patterns until they'd been like breathing to her. Or maybe it was because she'd walked through the smoking ruins of her home and burned each body she'd passed into her mind and promised their souls she'd pay holy vengeance on the Major for all their suffering or that she'd done all that with more cool quiet then she'd though previously possible. Maybe without London the two other parts of her wouldn't have been able to do this without flinching from the harsh anger Alucard was showing. They'd have shied or startled, unaccustomed to seeing such a thing from him.
London, in a way, had made her more herself. She'd seen battle, and strife, and chaos but never like that. Anderson had seen how she'd become, in his own words, 'the only enemy worthy of Iscariot'. He'd named Hellsing as a whole, but the point had been the same. And him, at least, she'd give some respect to. Until he'd let ego and pride rule him, he'd been a good opponent. The Major she'd never credit with anything. His fate would forever be one of not being worth really crediting or recalling. He'd wanted war, and a bloodstained legacy. Instead, she'd make sure his very name would be forgotten.
While the thoughts and memories were there, she did not let them halt or stop her either. Her entire focus was on the wards. Every movement with the pen was careful, and more importantly perfect. When he snapped at her she moved with the movement, instead of making it something that could have distracted her. And when she finished on one hand, she barley paused before picking up his other and starting there. Because doing it once wasn't enough.
Time seemed to slip, until the last line of the last letter was drawn and the last word spoken. Only then would she look up, hopeful that all had gone right.
He fought the second seal even more fiercely than the first. Alucard threw his entire weight against his bonds, forcing Integra to fight him to set the second seal in place. Any time she leaned even an inch closer to him, he lunged forward to snap at her throat. He had stopped seeing Integra. He saw only an enemy, and one sufficiently dangerous it had to be destroyed.
Then the seal was complete, and the burning in his veins took over his mind, searing into his consciousness. The fire turned into a roaring between his ears. He collapsed back against the floor, not registering the physical world around him as the spell took full hold. His eyes were dim and unfocused, his whole body slack.
Fortune and good reflexes had saved her during the worst of it, and now it was done she was glad of it. She was less glad for the headache that was setting in. When she’d first awoken him, his presence had just been, for lack of better word, present. It had taken getting used to, but it hadn’t been like this. She knew already the headache that was creeping in would be rather bad. It was already setting her teeth on edge. She wondered if it had been the same for her ancestor, unlikely as it would have been for him to show it.
Her hands were shaking too, she noted as she pressed the heel of one to her temple. She set what she could aside and focused on Alucard. “Alucard?” Even the low sound made her wince but she looked at him and tried not to worry. She wanted to release him, but she had to be certain he was in control again and not his instincts.
“Here,” he breathed, closing his eyes and allowing the bond to settle into place. “It is done.”
“Oh, good.” She knew her voice showed her discomfort and feeling tired but she doubted he would mind. Still there was the last bit to be done. She made herself sit up a bit before unbinding him. It allowed herself some time, which was both good and bad. But nothing had really spoken of this, only the process and how it would affect Alucard.
When the last binding was removed she stayed seated. She waved one hand, feeling drained and yet knowing that it was probably a small comparison to what he’d gone through. “A moment if you please.” she should tidy up and ensure the last of the ink was burned but right now she wanted to just sit a moment. “Everything back to normal then?” She gave after a moment. Talking wasn’t the greatest but assurances had to be made.
“Such as we define normal, I suppose.” Alucard rolled onto his side and raised one hand, admiring the new seals that still glowed with power on the back of his palm. They would go dark soon, appearing as nothing more than ordinary ink patterns on ordinary white cloth.
“You should rest, Master,” he murmured, curling close to her and laying his head on her thigh. “All of this … ” He waved a hand to indicate the clean up still to be done. “ … can wait.”
She gave out an amused sound, not laughter because she felt it might hurt. “Then I’m glad it went well.” She would observe the effects later, but now if people asked she could soothe their misplaced fear. And in this place someone always seemed to have some. And there was plenty that could be accomplished.
“Not here”, she gave simply. This was place was forever part of her dreams, and not really the good ones. But she could take a moment. She set her hand on his head, fingers in his hair and allowed herself to breathe for a few moments. It helped a little. “And it can. Perhaps it can wait for tomorrow.” Currently all she was aiming to do was find some tea and then rest the headache away.
Alucard raised his head to look around, then promptly dropped it back into Integra’s lap, curling closer into her warmth. He enjoyed the heat that the living gave off, being always cold himself. “We appear to be at an impasse, Master, because I do not particularly care to move.”
He was so much like a cat sometimes. Or a dog. She could never quite put her finger on it. And she perhaps indulged him in letting him, but right now she couldn’t quite bring herself to care too much. It was nice, more or less, to be able to take comfort from his presence. At least for a while, until the various aches and cold of the dungeon’s reminded her there were far better places. “Alright, now I care to move.” And there was still tea to be had too. so gently she nudged him, “up.”
Scowling in displeasure, Alucard rolled to his feet. He remained steady if a little slumped. “Let it be known I comply under protest,” he grumbled.
“The floor is cold,” she gave in reply, “and uncomfortable. But your protest is noted.” She gave wryly. She managed to get up under her own power, although she was a slight bit more unsteady. She would still be able to find her way to up stairs at least. “I’ll make you a deal. Get me some tea, and rest will be had somewhere a bit more comfortably.” She could have phrased it as an order, but very carefully did not. She could test things when she had a bit more frame of mind for it.
“If you wish it.” Alucard slid an arm around her and nuzzled in close, drawing in her scent. Whether she would allow him to continue to touch her or no, he would see her up the stairs and to her room before he left to fetch tea from the kitchen. Once he returned, he set the steaming cup on the nightstand and curled up on the bed. “Better, Master?”
In truth, the previous touch hadn’t been unwelcome. It was something she was getting fond of, and getting used to. When she got to her bed she laid down and set her glasses aside, setting one hand over her eyes. She dimmed the lights when he made tea, only retrieving her glasses when she heard his presence. “Much, yes.” She took the cup with one hand and extended her free one to him.
Alucard smiled at the invitation. He settled against her side, reveling in the contact. “It is done. And for the better, I think,” he remarked, admiring the new seals. “Thank you, Master.”
She gave a soft hum of agreement before giving a shrug. “You asked,” something she’d said before and knew but in it’s own that was the point. It seemed like such a little thing, to do this because he’d asked. “Although the accompanying headache leaves much to be desired.” It wasn’t often she voiced such discomfort or feeling off but she also knew her limits. “Tomorrow, see what there is to see behind the shadows. If a threat is there remove it.” She knew very well what she was saying, “but I want a report. I’m still not sure that whatever attacked the facility has left, never mind what other threats might exist.” Even when she felt off she never really stopped working, or thinking.
“Tomorrow,” Alucard agreed. “Tonight … sleep. I am very tired, and I suspect you are more so. Finish your tea, Master.”
She sighed at his fussing but it was all. He wasn’t exactly wrong either. She was tired, but her habit of continuing on was one that was something she wasn’t sure would ever leave her. It showed when she then didn’t argue too much. Instead she finished the tea before setting the cup aside, alongside her glasses, and closed her eyes.