#hellsing fluff

You helped Walter around the Hellsing manor, and since you did a good job and you always talked about how you don't really know where to go now, he got a heart and asked Integra if you could officially become a part of the organization. And the best part of all of that? Since that moment the tall vampire caught you in his long arms, you weren't just (Y/N); you filled this place out. Because ever since you became part of Hellsing, you were known to be the 'Little Requiem.' It sounded soft, but for Alucard it was utterly true. You jumped from the death's edge just because of him, and yet you wielded a calmness he didn't feel in centuries. As Walter was the Angel of Death, you would be known as Little Requiem; enemies would not need to know that your ultimate was perhaps to aggressively clean the tile floor as you bit your tongue, but still you were a member now.

And right now that crimson-eyed vampire watched you from the shadows. It calmed him, even when you did mundane things. He caught himself loitering around more than actually needed. It was a little miracle, even to himself. You were too soft on the edges, a sweet thing thrown into a gray world, and you tried to survive. And no matter how clumsy or unimportant you thought you were, you survived. Your story had not been told to you; it was still to come, and that ancient creature felt it. Alucard felt it the moment he caught you. But how had this happened?

It was when you were running out of the building, ghouls behind you, and it was a slaughter. You already worked as a maid in an office building as you stumbled out in pure panic. Your lung was burning, and your heart hammered against your rib. The worst? You could not run out of the building; you were cornered by the stairs up the high tower onto the roof. But after you had blocked the door, oh, what you found there was a vampire who actually controlled the mindless monsters.

"Look at that, a shy little mouse made it to the top. Look at you; your skirts are soaked in red. That's my work, sweetheart." The vampire chuckled, flashing wild eyes towards you. When you turned your head to the door again, it rattled, but the ghouls didn't break through yet. It was like choosing between plague or cholera, death in any case. Even your lower lip trembled, too stunned to speak when the undead creature approached you.

"Come on, say thank you and appreciate my work. I grant you even something; after all, you made it up here. A simple, little maid. You would be such a great afternoon snack. Your blood, it smells tempting." He loved to hear himself talk and loved to make you afraid so your blood ran cold as you stepped back.

"You-you killed everyone else inside with those ghouls," your voice thin and uncertain. Like a deer in panic caged on top of a roof. "Didn't I tell you to thank me?" he questioned, but before he could grab your throat, you stepped back to the edge of the roof. There were not many options left for you. You didn't want to get torn off limb by limb and eaten by mindless ghouls, and yet when you were trembling, you had enough of men calling you around and wanting to grope you. Enough of simply enduring. You were a maid, and people that worked here treated you as an object. Pretty enough to tease, unworthy enough to push around. Just like that vampiric guy now.  

So when you only got two options in how to die, you would chose at least your own end. So your feet stepped closer to the ede of the building, shaky and unsteady. But before the vampire could reach you, you jumped. Anything would be better than that. You closed your eyes, you did not even scream. Curled like a ball in yourself as you fell. But what you felt, wasn't the pain of the asphalt beneath you, it was a steady secure grip. "Oh, let's see what we have here." a dark velvety voice like smoke wrapped in steel had caught you.

"A bird that fell out of it's cage?" that voice asked you. You still had closed your eyes shut. Your breath ragged. And for a moment it was silent as if the ghouls in the building never existed, no soul to hear. Not even that very man who caught you. You opened your eyes, just to see two crimson orbs looking at you. Your maid headpiece was ascew as you blinked up at him. Black silky hair across his face. "Your're startled, little maid. Did it scare you much that you not died? You're way too lovely to rot away on a stree like that." just after he said that you found your voice to speak.

"There is a vampire on the rooftop, I-I didn't really see another option. I don't think that I could fight him with feather duster." you meant a bit dry and innocent in your voice but at least you opened your mouth. It was followed by a dark laughter of him. "A feather duster? You got wit, my dear. But today is not the day you die. The bird just flew to a different cage." you just hummed as if you knew what he was talking about. Still the shock had set in your bones. 

And since that...you became part of Hellsing. He killed the vampire and those ghouls with ease. You ended up being covered in blood because you slipped on the ground. A sweet, clumsy maid he did not think he would encounter but did anyway. And well, this was the first day you actually felt safe around a man. Even when he was known to be a ruthless killer. But Alucard was the one who caught you, who held you secure when no one else did. Maybe the Hellsing manor was your new cage. But the door of that cage was wide enough open for you to go... Yet there was no reason to. For the first time you felt like you would matter more as a maid than ever.

And you did good; Walter actually was very pleased with your work. He praised you like a grandpa would praise his granddaughter.

But this man also noticed how Alucard was a lingering shadow in your presence, even when you didn't notice it. The big predator was watching you when you hummed and cleaned the kitchen counter. As you made some tea ready for Sir Integra. The way you scrubbed the floor on your knees. Maybe the maid dress was sometimes a bit too perfect for your shape. Because when he was watching you on your knees trying so eagerly to scrub a stubborn spot away, he saw how your hair fell in your face. How you sighed so sweetly in frustration and had this little scowl. He was sure he could deepen that cute scowl further, just differently. He would brush the hair out of your face with gentle fingers as you would sit between his long legs. But Alucard was a gentleman, a monster but still a gentleman. He suppressed thoughts that he considered as indulgence—at least he tried to. Even when you didn't make it easy for him.   

Although that vampire grew very protective toward you, especially when Pip was around. Pip was that kind of guy; he just flirted out of fun too, nothing really serious with you. He just liked to make women feel good about themselves. His flirting was never crude. Something like:"Go on mon chou, I believe when you scrub longer, the floor will remember that pretty face." Yet Alucard was the first one to step into it before you could reply with a laugh to wave it off. You always did that when someone was nice to you and openly appreciative. You weren't used to that.

That's when his imposing figure walked out of the wall. "Oh, but perhaps not your rough one. Let the little requiem do her duty." His voice was smooth, but the underlying meaning was clear.

"I was just making sure the women in this household feel appreciated, that's all, right, mon chou?" Pip laughed it off, tipping his hat before you finally decided to rise up to your feet. Alucard glided towards you. A hand stretched out for you to take it. You looked up at him with wide eyes and this little smile before you took it. "Thank you, Alucard."

"Not for that, my sweet," he answered, standing tall behind you. "I do feel very appreciated, sir. But perhaps Seras also could need quite the attention. She likes you even when she is denying it," you meant to him, giving an obvious wink to him before Pip went his way.

"Tell me, my dear. When do you consider coming to my chambers?" he asked you, crimson eyes looking down while you wanted to take the broom, a bit startled as you turned around as he asked this question. "Ehm- eh,your chambers? I was told not to go there. Not when not told," sweet, little you told him as you tilted your head so endearing.   

That made the monster chuckle, deep and rich, as he leaned in, just a fraction. Close enough to smell you, but not to unsettle you. "You're told now, my dear. A dark space could use some light." This offer was genuine, not for his indulgence. You were too good for that, a balm to his old soul. A light that filled the room with pleasant warmth. "I mean, I could probably dust off the coffin?" you asked back then. "You could, although I believe your company would be more than enough," he reassured you. When you finally got what he meant. He wanted you to come down to the basement. To fill his room with your sweetness. "You won't bite me, will you?" you chuckled, although there was this glint in your pretty orbs.

You were aware of his nature. Because you have seen it in other vampires.

"I wouldn't sip a single drop when you wouldn't want that. You know me better, darling." He brushed a strand of hair out of your face. His hands lingered on the side of your face, just a moment longer than needed. "I know, I was just making sure. I mean, it's mysterious I get to see the basement," you meant, looking a bit excited. You brought away the stuff for cleaning before you indeed landed in the basement.

It was dark, with faint traces of wine and blood that mingled in the air. Yet that protective aura from him overwhelmed anything else.   

"Do you have any idea what you do to me?" This question was spoken in a gentle tone. Not accusing or stating with a lust he couldn't control. He caught you in his arms, a simple maid. Now you sit here still in that same maid dress. Eyes big as saucers. You had given your life to people who don't deserve it before. You ran through blood and gore, and on that very rooftop made your own decision for the very first time. And you had not complained once. You took life like it was. It tried to break you? You tried to dust it away. He could see it. The way when insecure thoughts overcome you with that frown on your face. It was picturing true humanity in its simplicity he yearned for. You were not searching for death because life was unbearable. You had searched for it as an embrace because your chances weren't fair. And it did something to that man who believed humanity was still a gift. Even when not everyone deserved it. A reason more to protect you.

"Hm? I mean, I cleaned your coat. I hope it was ok. Likewise, I never really had to wash anything out of leather like this. Especially when the blood was dripping down the -" he cut you off. Although he still had in mind how you struggled to clean his red coat. It was endearing. "You cleaned it well; you wiped away every bloody trace," he ended it for you before he turned around to you. Two fingers under your chin. "What I mean is, you're simple. I know people don't like to hear it. I just find myself fascinated by the fact you keep on trying. How you really want to use every ounce of your life, even when you could not always decide on your own. But that changed, didn't it?" He explained it then to you and felt your pulse quicken. You swallowed. No one ever said simple and made it a compliment. "I was always simple, the maid who cleaned and was invisible when not worth being seen," you meant then, your voice dropped a bit because you remembered how life was before you came into this manor.   

"You're seen, my dear. I see your joy when Seras agrees to go shopping with you even when it's night. I see your distress when Walter points out a minor mistake, when you think you're not good enough. Furthermore, I see the heavy thoughts when you think no one is watching." Alucard confessed as his thumb traced your jaw. You were insecure in what to think right now. He was an undying being, so ancient by now. Why would someone like that see you?

"And why do you see it? Like everyone wants something. As if there was something promised about what to get out of it. What do you get out of it?" This question nearly hurt him, that the world made you believe it wasn't so easy like this. He saved you; he would save you a thousand times. You were, after all, his little requiem. That fragile, little bird he put in another cage, and he still would let it fly out when it wanted.

Alucard then got down on one knee, simply because he wanted to be at face height with you. "Because it's precious. Humanity is not so common as you think. Not in this raw, beautiful you have. Humanity can be ugly; it can be about surviving. Yet you soften the hardships. And it delights me, the light you bring into this room, into my heart, it delights me. That sweet smile you have when I come back from a mission delights me. You're precious, my dear. I would protect that as long as I live." You looked at him then, his features so handsome, softened now for your gaze. His smooth voice is gentle in your ears. His aura was all demanding, yet with you he let it be a tiny bit softer. He wanted to seem inviting the same way you were to him. "That's probably the most romantic thing someone ever said to me. Usually guys go over text with : love you, babe." You tried to lighten your own mood with a wet chuckle because you had small, clear tears in your eyes.   

„Indeed the sky is incredible tonight, just as you described." you agreed with him with a soft voice before you watched how a smile tugged on his lips. Endearing. So oblivious you were. „It was not the sky I was looking at, my dear." Alucard let you know, a subtle hint, that he talked about you when he joined you on the rooftop. Your expression faltered for a second, before you brushed back a strand of your hair behind your ear.

You were such a haunting beauty. You wore a white dress, looking like a historian vampire beauty, that ethereal glow of the moonlight right onto you. Making your skin glow, highlighted your perfect features. Your skin looking so invitingly smooth, yearning to be touched. Around your waist, a corset in a white beige color, with the strings hanging down. You reminded him of something he didn't want to give everyone.

You looked lovely, indeed, so lovely it made his cold vampire heart feel a little bubbly.

„You are a charmer, Alucard. But I still appreciate it. Thank you." you spoke lower, your voice carried through the slight cold wind on the rooftop. Before he then stepped closer, standing beside you, next to your smaller frame. His gaze now turned to the sky too.

„I may be, but what would life be without a little charm? And you deserve to he appreciated." he said with his silk like voice. His heart yearning for your attention and not even being shy about it.

„But you are right, the night is beautiful. I understand why you like to come here." he pointed out. For once, the calm and ethereal sense was more fascinating than the bloody beauty he usually carried with him.

So much blood about him, and yet he appreciated the other finer things in his undead being. Things like you, you captivated him with your own endearing charm, you didn't even know you possessed.

„It is calm here, the stars are eternal, they remind me of you." you let your words sink in. Before you heard the faint sound of a chuckle. Not many complimented him like this. No one ever compared him to the stars.

„They are eternal like you, always existing and shining brighter than any sun ever could with an admirable and softer glow I like so much more than the sun in the day. So...haunting but so bright." you added a little shy before you took your gaze from the sky looking at him and his crimson eyes met yours.

„You flatter me, much more than I thought. Being compared to something so...nice. Remarkable, my dear." he let you know. But before he or you could say anything, suddenly some music started to play.

A romantic but haunting melody of a classical song. Sweet and dark, just like the combination of you two. The music sounded like as if it was played from a gramophone. So old-fashioned, but so good.

Probably Walter was playing some and left his window open so you two could hear it on the top of the roof.

Alucard didn't even hesitate. Simply going after his instinct when it was about you.

With a curt bow and a hand he reached out to you, he spoke with a devoted voice. „Would you allow me this dance, my lady?"

Your heart beat faster, made a small jump before you nodded, and your delicate hand laid into his.

„I would love to." you replied before you were pulled close to his chest. Your hand laid on his shoulder and the other in his large hand. It was so romantic. Dancing on the rooftop under the star sky with the moonlight shining upon you.

„I need to admit it's quiet to the moment. Never thought I would dance on a rooftop with someone like you." you added when you felt how he guided you with safe steps over the straight part of the roofs. Effortlessly twirling you and catching your form. Making you gasp when you suddenly landed in his arms.

„Why not making this beautiful not more memorable? How should I not want to dance with the eternal beauty like you?" he asked you before you were picked up gently again. You two caught up in a waltz under the stars. With smooth movements just for yourselves. No one to see, no one to tell. Just for you and the vampire. You felt like it would fix everything that was happening right now. When you were caught up in his eyes, his face, the way his voice wrapped around you like silk. The way he made you feel so special.

Right the moment you wanted to take a sip from your tea, you were taken to a sudden meeting. Everyone was there, every man who had worked for your father and now for Integra. Your sister, Seras, Walter, and of course the tall vampire himself. Standing imposingly next to your sister. When you entered the room, the air seemed to change. Your face was kind; you always were, yet the decisions you made made people wonder and look twice. Integra absolutely knew why you were so precious to the organization, even when your eagerness sometimes was a bit too much. An urgent mission was rising. A well-calculated unknown vampire would be expected, sent by the Major; they could gather that much intel for now. The problem was not only the vampire and the ghouls. It was Iscariot. They claimed the way to that point. Wanting to erase it themselves.

After you've been told the situation, it was the Integra who got the word.

"I need you to go with Alucard. Besides the fact that the Vatican is making more problems than we need, we can't afford to spill unnecessary blood. We need diplomacy."

"Diplomacy? And this is where you think I can pull that?" you asked her, not to mock, more like to make sure. "What I think is you do what is needed. And for any cases you've got Alucard with you, you'll need him when you actually make it through their barrier. He will fight off the vampire." Integra added before adjusting her glasses as she looked stern. Then your eyes drifted to Alucard. A smirk on his lips as he tilted his head. "It's been ages, hasn't it? We actually both go into a field." He said it like it was some casual dinner you would need to go to. But you heard the slight edge. When he wouldn't need to, he wouldn't, not with you. "Delighted I see. Anyway, you're there for my safety. Who knows if we meet this insane guy again." you shrugged, but your posture was still polite. "Which insane guy?" Seras asked then with wide eyes.

"I don't know his name right now. Met him once. This huge man, with glasses, is always muttering about the Holy Bible and the right of good. He got some blades, and besides Alucard, he is a beast in human form.... He gives off maniac vibes, not gonna lie," you explained then to her.

"Who (Y/N) means is my old friend Anderson." Alucard added smoothly before tipping his red hat a little.

"Friend we say now, to enemies?" you shot back when your head tilted up to meet his gaze through his orange glasses.

"Friend is what we say to people who have our respect and entertain us, my lady," he answered, and his smile widened just a fraction to show the hint of his teeth.   

"The fact is, Anderson and the Iscariot are more than inconvenient in this scenario. We got a fragile peace of weapons when we respected their barriers as they respected ours, due to the situation." Your sister spoke sternly as she took a drag on her cigar.

"The situation just gets out of hand. The Major is a threat to the Iscariot and to us. As soon as this is over, they will try to get us. Just for the love of God." Walter meant, as he stood in perfect posture.

"You're our best chance to talk this out, (Y/N). Use your skills." Integra said.

"Use my skill. My skill was liked to be put away in a dusty old corner. Not meaning any offense, just stating the facts. When you say "my skill," you mean I need to make a statement." You pointed out then, your expression didn't really shift. This was when Alucard simply looked at you as if he saw a ghost. Hidden behind the glasses and the raven hair.

"A statement to pour blood, like you always used to, when it was inconvenient?" the dark voice asked. And this is when your face crumbled for just a second in confusion. You knew you were sometimes too eager. Yet, you remembered only one time when it actually came to a mess under your lead. Not that it was caused because you loved to have a mess. You wouldn't want to go that far to have blood splattered on walls. To have children traumatized because you had sent soldiers into a horde of ghouls. Sending those soldiers to their deaths as a distraction so the real army could take them out from the back. But still, it was not like you wanted it.

Even Integra now looked questionable over to Alucard. "What do you mean?" you asked him then. This is when he took a deep breath; it was like something flashed before him. Something from a time he yearned to forget. A past he didn't want to cling to, even when fractures of his long-dimmed soul told him different.

"A statement should be strong, my lady. Not just fear, but grabbing the root of the problem and showing enough consequences to actually make a difference." Alucard spoke then, smoothly turning his point.   

What you didn't know, the vampire actually felt different about you, not just about your whole person, but lately things seemed to change.

It was a time for him; his ancient being didn't remember by mind, yet by the feeling he got when you were around. The way your brows pulled together when you were focused. Alone the way you were raising your head when someone called your name. And then this feeling when you looked at him.

Your eyes were kind, maybe a strong determination in them, but they were kind. It reminded him too much of someone he'd rather forget. Alucard was old, so very old, and history had been written; it's not like Mehmet had vanished with his death. Because the echo of what once had been, a friendship, a betrayal, too much memory.

And as the years passed by, as you grew older...you became more and more like that one man he knew he had a friendship with. It was to that Ottoman Empire. When cruelty ruled over reason. When gold and marble made a mighty atmosphere and yet might actually not have been loud, it was a silent claim. A claim that had been passed to Mehmet and then to Alucard. Both in very different ways.

And for once the vampire seemed to hold a certain fear in his heart...a feeling that long had been buried since nothing ever really could reach him.

So you two were now on the way; he was walking behind you like a looming shadow. Not hiding or waiting to strike. After all, your sister trusted in you not spilling blood. "Do you think Anderson will be there?" you asked him then as you walked down the streets that already had been closed off due to the heavy destruction. "Who knows that beast of a man is always looming somewhere? He is like a thunderstorm in summer, always looming close with a pressure you can taste in the air before it electrifies," he replied to you, when the usual smirk in his velvet voice was missing. It was still a little way to go; you knew already what you would say to the Iscariot. Yet something else was bothering you. This detachment in a way you weren't used to. Maybe it was the reason that Integra always was the first, and you came second, even when she didn't intend to. But no matter how wise you were, you were still a human.   

"We need to work together, don't we?" was the next question, as if trying to pull a conversation with him. "We do. What are you referring to, my lady? That we don't? I'm here for your safety, and I keep the order intact when it's from your sister, my master." There it was, that little edge, even when he told you that in a calm voice. But you felt it in your heart.

You sighed before your feet now finally stopped. You even could listen to the sounds of the ghouls a few streets away. The low noise of a fading fire. And that smell, the smell of burnt flesh. A destruction just right for a monster. A surrounding absolutely perfect for it. You took your heart and looked now up. Into his crimson eyes. He was so handsome, that raven hair that flew in his face and simply framed those perfect features.

"It's the fact that I feel like you're trying to avoid me. I know I'm not perfect; I'm human, unlike you. As far as my knowledge goes, humans will always make mistakes. So would you mind telling me what's mine so we can get this out of the world?" You let him know what bothered you, making clear you knew you weren't invincible or untouchable; you never claimed to be. You were just eager. And for Alucard, you were too clever for your own good. "So you want to know what my problem is, little human? Since when does this disturb the peace of you? Aren't you occupied with achieving greatness?" It was not like he put hate in those lines, even when they cut. He even could see it in your face the way your brows furrowed just a bit. Composure cracking.

"Achieving greatness is not a wrong goal. Whenever I would be pleased and content, I would never grow further. You know that. You know how humanity works. So tell me, what disturbs you? I feel it when your presence is in the air. When I speak, you turn it off smoothly with that vampire charm. And everyone stays put and says nothing. What is so different? You didn't used to treat me like-" before you could speak further, he actually crouched down. He was just as tall as you at that height.   

"You got a smart mind, a mouth that speaks so many clever words. Always being careful in your next step, even when you're not flawless. You do what needs to be done, no matter the cost. And you live with the consequences. You remind me of something I can't put my mind on at all. A time I can't remember without haunting visions when I dream. You unsettle me because this is the demeanor I know. As if I know what you will say the next moment. How do you try to turn it on your terms to get more than what is even requested. Stop proofing yourself." Alucard spoke; it was dark and serious. Those red eyes felt heavier than usual on you. And you had this lump in your throat. You unsettled him? How could you unsettle someone like him? You were a human, not even mighty in power, just in mind and words. You were born second; you couldn't even do as much as you would like. Yet your intentions never had meant harm.

"Then tell me what to do so that I don't unsettle you," you said, your voice lower, and for a moment it was like Alucard's mind wandered...  

~~~~

"Then tell me what is required to do so I don't unsettle you, my friend." A booming voice was heard through the room. Alucard had been young, a time before he was that creature of the night who could rip out hearts in no time. That mighty vampire was not more than a young man, blue orbs that looked at the man he called friend.

"Stop taking more than what you need. Those men already gave you their lives. Don't put it over the edge when you don't need to," he said, and it had nearly been a plea. Alucard shared a lot with Mehmet, even his past that had been haunted by abuse.

"They give their life for free, my friend. They want it bigger; they want a life of purpose. Tell me, Alucard, what is life worth without a purpose that is worth dying for?" the young Sultan asked him, black curled hair on his head as his eyes intensely looked at Alucard's pale features.

The golden glow of the lamps and the dancing shadows just add to that eerie mood right now.

Mehmet once had protected his friend from those people with too much power. One of the events that shaped him to become that cruel general he would be later. Also just a boy now who hoped the world would heal someday. Wasn't it enough what had been given? More blood? More gold? More power for people to abuse the weaker ones. To break a spirit. "They want it...yes. But do they even know the true price for it? When you taught me one thing, it was not to break. Yet you keep pushing your own soldiers." Alucard meant it, and it was said with a hard edge. His face formed into a picture of clear disregard.

"You need to imagine what we can build on it, Alucard. What we have when they lay down their lives for it. We could protect what you always yearned to keep intact. No more injustice towards the noble. No more raped women who beg for their child. No more kids that had been dragged like you to powerful sultans for their entertainment. No kids in the war. Don't you see this vision?" Mehmet asked him as he stepped closer, and the shadows danced on his face.

"You want what's best. But you take it the wrong way. You don't want them to end up like me? Then make a statement in disapproval and form it instead of doing it the wrong way. Don't take too much too fast. It will tumble."

Once that deadly vampire also just had been a young man, with hopes of understanding. A wish for safety. Yet where did he end up finding safety? In the very darkness that had taken him from sanity as it snapped. When he became Vlad.  

~~~~

"Alucard?" Your voice brought him back as you still looked in his face. Your voice has shifted differently now. Were you truly like the man he used to know? He used to call a friend.

Or was it the mere feeling you seemed to awaken in him?

And for one moment he just looked at you, this time not only with that cold demeanor he seemed to have now when he saw you. A fraction of warmth. You weren't Mehmet; you were your own person. A part of him knew that. The other seemed to get lost. He took a deep breath. When you felt a large hand cradling the side of your face.

"You think big, and you mean good. Just don't lose the goal by trying to reach more than you were born for." Those words came from his lips in a caress this time.

"More than I was born for?" One of those questions you couldn't make out what he meant.

"Sometimes someone is born just to run up that hill, and sometimes they were born to change aspects and perspectives. You have talent, my lady. But don't forget your humanity. You don't have to achieve something; your soul was not meant for doing. That's the turning point," the vampire explained as you just wondered for a moment. You knew Alucard had seen more than anyone else, always something that amazed you as a child. When you eagerly asked him for stories of that time. When you wanted to know what really happened, not just what is written in history books. Yet that one part of him didn't want to push you away. It was unusually twisted with him now. You had just slightly tilted your face into his palm. There it was, that flicker of kindness. You weren't overachieving, but you were so eager for your age. So pretty, the same eyes as his one friend. The same cleverness he used to bring by the table.  

"You know, sometimes I miss it... That you look at me. That anyone looks at me. I don't want the pity; I just want to get recognized, and not only because of what I might do, but as me." You confessed, softer now in tone. Something he also had heard of from Mehmet. He had been a Sultan, while you...you were (Y/N), driven by a strong purpose to get the best out of it and make it work. You put in hard work and patience. No sultan, but close to being one when times would be different. "You miss that a pair of eyes is not only seeing that shell," he pointed out, and for once it was a slow moment between you. Unsaid what it meant. But it was there. "I miss that people see more than only being the second. I feel like sometimes they just seem to forget I can be someone. That I am someone. I'm not insecure; I just want someone who is...proud of me." Rare words of a vulnerability you let shine through. When you two heard a noise from a bit further away, both your heads snapped up. This is when this moment was over...

By the time you two actually made it to the camp from Iscariot, it currently held its position here and defended everything else around it. "We need to talk with Maxwell. Do you see any weapons? I believe not. We're not here to break the current peace. We just need to get through it," you explained to a nun whose black hair and eyes were not visible, one of the girls Anderson actually recruited and raised as his own. The discussion took a bit, but as if it was summoned, that tall, broad shadow of Andersan actually came through. That guy was already fire and flame to actually attack that vampire. You were the only shield between it. "What? Sir Integra now sends her sister? Are you even aware of what it means when you march through our territory now?" Anderson asked you, but his stormy eyes had been fixed on Alucard the whole time. "You will talk with respect, won't you? Or do I need you to remind me of the last time we met, Anderson?" Alucard asked him, Ready to defend your word?, simply because of the order he got. And maybe because, no matter how much you sometimes unsettled him...you were something he couldn't let loose. 

Although things seemed to escalate, it was not because of their argument. More because hell broke in... Ghouls, and not just that vampire that was told about. Agents from the Major himself. Just a taste before the spectacle was actually coming. "To the East border!" Anderson howled. "This is not over, vampire, as it's not over for you, girl. You should hide her." Anderson advised, perhaps aware that, as a Hellsing like your sister, you were a virgin, which meant the scent of your blood drew creatures in. Even though you didn't think you were in danger as long as you had Alucard at your side. Perhaps you miscalculated, as Alucard actually got in a fight on a rooftop, and you had tried to find shelter behind a small tower. You had made it; your willpower was strong. How else should it be? But your body was not made to fight, not like that. You had gotten hurt at one point. You bled strongly on your arm and also had a wound on the side of your neck. How it looks being not injured was not that easy. As Alucard fought off the rest. All you saw was a flash of red, the dark sky, and smoke in the air, how it formed figures that got lost the higher they got. Would you die? No, you wouldn't; that was simply impossible with Alucard here, but still, the pain was a lot. Did you panic? Also, no, not more than what your body actually let through due to the situation.

But there was this feeling in your chest. Did you really go too far with what you wanted? You unsettled the great No-Life king with your whole mind. The way you acted and spoke. You were kind but still pragmatic enough to do what needed to be done, no matter if it meant that you needed to be seen as a villain for a moment. Born to be greater but forced to go along with everyone else. This was the little but fine difference between you and Mehmet, simply the era when you were born. And every time he looked in your eyes, he saw a friend that once had been and still a betrayal that had hurt the very core of him. Not the vampiric part of him but the long-forgotten human one...

The situation maybe got a bit out of hand, but not so much that Alucard transformed; he was still in his red coat, no count, and of course not the Level 0 form of him. "Alucard..." you said; your voice was strained as a cough followed. "Hold on, tough one. You won't bleed to death with me," you could hear. Although as the time ran over, it felt different. The wound on your neck seemed to have gotten deeper than you had thought. Could you really deduct yourself so much? Was he right in the end? You were on the edge of falling unconscious. Maybe that is the reason why your mind felt troubled.

Yet before your body could tilt sideways, there it was. That familiar cold feeling on your side. You were not strong enough to sit up now. So his towering form was beside you. As you then turned your head upwards, something seemed to hit him. Different from before. Because your eyes were filled with a complex shadow. You wanted love, but you didn't want to commit. Because you were afraid it wouldn't be enough, that everything you wanted to build was too little. Greater, bigger, more powerful. You wanted to be remembered, and he could see it. That beautiful girl was in the study and planned the best strategies just for a special outcome. The same nights Mehmet had spent planning war...those same eyes that hold the same shadow. Just a different coin, a different time, and now a different person. 

Alucard's features turned nearly soft; something warm spread over his face. "Do you think you're dying, my friend?" he asked then, and you had never heard him call you "my friend." Even half-conscious, your brows furrowed slightly. "Maybe I should feel how you felt it. You live way too long now, don't you?" You shot back a weak attempt to cover your uncertainty for once. He brushed a strand of hair out of your face with his long, pale fingers. "I do, and you never did notice it," he replied, and for a moment everything around seemed to stop. The ghouls had been only a red mess on the ground. The rest was burning and calling for help, but Iscariot would take care of it below. Here on the roof, it was quiet. The tang of blood still clung to both of you now. "You always look at me as if I disappoint you, and now you look at me as if I would be worth every sacrifice you could make. Tell me why. You're twisted... I know that. In a way maybe not even I might understand. But why?" These words were a whisper as you looked at him through your lashes. "You had betrayed me once. You made me love an imagination of mutual understanding; what remained had been a blood sport." He spoke, his arm cradled along your form, and you felt he hadn't talked with you now. But it did not feel foreign.

"You made loving me a blood sport," he added, and his thumb had been on your chin. "Who am I to you?" you asked him as you felt a trickle of blood coming out of your mouth. He wiped it away and smeared it along your skin. "You had been a friend, you had given me knowledge, you had taken my hostage. A friendship bordered on obligation. Not always, but at the very end, wouldn't you say that too?" What he saw was your face; the feeling was real. 

"You remember a time I wasn't born, Alucard," you told him, feeling your body growing weaker as he cradled you closer. "Your body was not born, but you have his mind; you speak his words. Just the time is wrong. You feel wrong as you feel right, my dear," he murmured before he actually licked your blood off his thumb. That raven hair in his face as he stood up with you. "Is that the reason you avoid me? Because whoever you had been, that human part of you remembers it?" you asked him then. "I know I'm not fair, not to you. Yet I do care. Tell me, do you feel something there?" he asked you as his red eyes traced down to your heart.

"I feel a void of something that no matter how much I try to fill it will only grow hollower with every time I fail or even every time I win. This world is not made to let me be great. Maybe I was not made to be great," you confessed in your bleeding state as your hand trembled when you laid it on his hand. "You forget something..." he told you then. "Maybe you already had lived a life where you achieved that greatness you yearn so much for, my dear. And your mind, as your soul just searches for something to hold on to. As mine is holding onto yours..." and with that your eyes fluttered shut as if for the first time in decades someone told you to rest. Maybe a part of you had been a Mehmet in another life. Maybe you had already achieved greatness and didn't want to lose that one twisted soul that was anchored so deep in that undead being that carried you to safety. 

"Sleep now, my dear. Because when you wake up, you will be a version of yourself that you couldn't be when I was feeling the air in my lungs," he murmured to your limp form. And the look on his face was truly tender. No avoidance from now on. You had lived a life before you were born; he had watched, and he had felt a bitter betrayal of loyalty. But humans can change, right? And as much as Alucard adored humanity, he had always been afraid of yours. Now he would try not to be...because in the end this was your rebound chance. And you still had been stuck with him, no matter if you knew it or not.

Just like now. When he walked through that door, just to be totally smug about it. "Told you I'd be back, cherie, no?" speaking with that French accent. What was so satisfying to hear, especially with the smirk in his voice, was the trouble it caused. "You always say that, but I need to make sure you're whole." You laughed at him before you felt how his strong arm wrapped around your waist. The other joined in too, pulling your body closer with a reference that made clear he missed you. Pip is more the guy to let his feelings speak through physical touch. Drawing you closer, stroking the apples of your cheeks. Tilting up your chin or even when he just massaged some circles in your soft thighs. All ways that spoke a little "Je t'aime" (I love you).

"Oui, wohle? Do I look like I'm missing a limb?" he asked you before grinning down at your smaller frame. When you laid your hands on his broad shoulders. "Let me test that myself, Romeo," you said with that teasing tone and the little glint in your eyes, before your hands felt up my arms.

Feeling some tense but warm muscles through the layer of his coat. "When you continue like that, ma belle, I'm not quite sure if I really don't want to lose a limb," he murmurs, the tone just a little softer. Flirty and cocky, but he meant it and not just in the way that, he said he wanted you in his bed.   

Watching how your delicate fingers traced his frame. You were glad he was back, maybe not for long, but he was. And he was yours, as you were his. And this was what mattered.

"Lose a limb and you can learn to make your favorite drink yourself," talking back with a drawn-up eyebrow. Before he then grabbed your waist and picked you up just to twirl you around the room, but of course you're not so easily off the hook, are you?

Not with Pip Bernadotte. "Wrap your legs around me, cherie. And give your man a smooch; I earned it," before he grabbed the back of your thighs.

Holding your weight up as if this were nothing. He just wanted to feel his pretty girl in his hands after that time. He showered; you could tell it. Just so you would not see the sprinkles of blood or smell the metallic note of guns. Pip smelled like sandalwood and, somehow, cinnamon. Just so you buried your face against his neck. Red hair tickling your skin. How you missed it, this feeling. This warmth.

"A smooch? How should I not when this man here went showering before coming here?" You chuckled before lifting your head, and then his lips were on yours. 

A kiss with him was like an autumn breeze, warm and prickly, making you have a chill down your spine in a good way. With that longing he first tried to suppress. But rough lips are growing needier. A groan came out of his mouth. So touch-starved when away from you, just so in love when feeling you so close pressed against him.

Your arms crossed behind his neck as he held you like this. Lips smacking together, and his breath caressed your cheek. Just one second when you both needed air before his tongue traced your bottom lip. And as soon as you let him...his tongue tangled with yours.

"You are too good to me, cherie. I love to come home to this. To you," mumbling against your lips before he started walking. Safe steps in the direction from the kitchen counter. Before placing you down there.

"Babe, we can't make a mess in the kitchen again. Wait at least until we go upstairs." You giggled before, and with a last greedy smooch, he let go of your lips. Kissing the corner of your mouth, then your cheek. "I learned from my past mistakes. I am here for my welcome home drink. You said you will make it, ma belle," flirty and teasingly with his calloused hands on your thighs, right by the counter next to the fridge. "I said you can make it yourself when you lose a limb," you corrected him. 

"Oh, I heard what you said. But I didn't lose a limb, no? So let me have a drink made with the pretty hands of my woman. And then just exist in your lap. You do that for me, ma petite?" His voice was rough, but you heard how masked it was. That man, with his eye patch and his sarcastic remarks, missed you. Just wanting to have a moment of peace with you.

"I see, sooo your usual Vieux Carré? Although I really don't understand what you have with this drink," you meant then before hopping down the counter and getting the stuff for that cocktail with the French influence of Cognac.

That drink always reminded you of his hair, that color, even when it shone a little gold, but somehow it framed the vibe of this man perfectly. That eyepatch and the hat? This long auburn hair, the ruffled coat used on the edges. The smell of gunpowder and smoke. That was him. And yet the tenderness that was layered underneath...