Midian Evolution

Wow. Okay. Thanks for all the support, guys! You all give me ideas within my mentally written plot, and I think you're what makes the story so flexible. You have no idea how much it helps get me creative. Thank you.
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We had a bare hour before daylight, and only a few hours afterward before getting back on the train. Master stretched out on the large bed and I wearily sifted through the refrigerator for more juice. What I found, I’d take with me.

Anderson rather loomed his way into our rooms, wearing freshly cleaned clothing. His cassock bore no sign of having bloody vomit spew all over it. “Yeh reek of earth,” he said accusingly to us both, his green eyes displeased. “Gathering up native soil, were yeh?”

“Why bother?” Alucard rolled his head to flash Anderson a grin. “Soil doesn’t really go bad, paladin, not when it’s used for a bed and nothing else.” He lifted a finger and pointed it upward. At each twitch, a line appeared in the air. “Still, I enjoyed walking on my own ground.” He was drawing his castle, I realized.

I obeyed temptation and tried a grape juice. Oh, mmmmm…

Anderson turned on our television and sat down. “What’s this nonsense about you havin’ yer own fan club?” he asked, shooting Alucard a filthy look. “It was on the news earlier.”

“I have a fan club?” Alucard’s hand stilled and his drawing vanished. “Do tell?” He didn’t sound a bit surprised. “What does this group of people get up to?”

Anderson scowled. “Coyness don’ suit you.”

“You have a fan club?” I mimed, thinking people were quite insane.

“I have several,” he admitted. “One is stationed right here in Bucharest. They have a little get-together at Borgo Pass every year in May.”

“Because that stinkin’ book opens up in that month,” Anderson surmised. “Don’ yeh get tired of yer legacy bein’ interpreted by Stoker?”

“At least he attempted to treat me respectfully,” Master answered, sitting up. “He made me famous as well as infamous.” Smiling, Alucard flung his hat toward me. It landed on my head perfectly, and instantly obscured my vision.

It smelled like him. I felt the brim of it and smiled. I liked his playful mood. It was welcome after so much emotional upheaval and the slam-bang of arcane power. Sliding the hat back, I met his orange eyes. He winked at me.

Anderson, flipping through channels, grunted. “Yeh might be interested in knowin’, I saw Dolneaz eatin’ about a half bottle of aspirin a few minutes ago.”

“His headache,” I murmured. “It isn’t normal to have a headache this long.” I worried that Walter’s regeneration wasn’t stable, or that it had hurt him in ways Doctor Kayne couldn’t predict. “Do you have headaches, too, Angel Dust?”

“Nothin’ that warrants twenty-six aspirin,” he replied brusquely. “He’d better be careful not ta start bleedin’.”

Alucard frowned and looked at the carpet a moment, his arms resting loose and easy across his knees. “Something’s not right.”

“I know.” I felt it, too.

“It isnae his transformation, I’ll wager,” Anderson said. “I got nothin’ ta back that up, but ah know it.” His green eyes drifted to me. “What about that dream yeh had, lass?”

“I can’t talk about it.” It made me sick to even remember meeting my Other Self. “Walter’s not a Nazi.”

Anderson lifted an eyebrow, his usual response when I said something he couldn’t fathom. “Ye dreamed he was a Nazi?”

“Yes, and I confronted him about it.” I clenched my fists and got up to pace. “I believe him, damn it. I believe in Walter. He wouldn’t betray Hellsing or his country.”

“They tried to take him,” Alucard said softly. “He made a lovely, bloody mess of those fools.”

Anderson turned to look at my master, his eyes suddenly very piercing. “An’ at no time were ye parted from ‘im?”

I changed my view to Alucard in an instant, watching his face for any clue of his thoughts. He frowned again, and his eyes moved left and right as he accessed his long memory. I waited and waited, and I felt Anderson waiting as well. The tension in the room elevated.

“I was Walter’s constant companion,” he said at last. “He slept on the lid of my coffin. We hunted humans together. He never left me for any longer than it took for him to empty his bladder.”

I released a breath of relief, only then realizing I’d held it at all.

“He was a child,” Alucard went on, his voice lowered and softened by the past. “Just a boy. A remarkable boy with a gift finely honed.” He smiled a little. “He impressed me.”

Anderson sighed heavily. “There’s much to be impressed over, I’ll grant ya that. Maxwell, devil take his rotten soul, has footage o’ Hellsing’s finest retainer. I watched it, o’ course.”

“Footage? Someone filmed him?” I asked.

“Aye. Film taken by the Nazi Party and given to the Vatican.” Anderson stood up and joined me in pacing, his long strides making his path much shorter. “The location wasnae clear, but the war zone…” Anderson turned so suddenly we almost knocked into each other. He fixed upon my master. “You were the wee lass with him, then.”

Grinning, Master shrank and became a creepy little girl in a lacey dress and white pinafore. I felt appalled by his appearance. He just didn’t seem right. A cute, innocent face decorated by chilling red eyes and sharp teeth. Nightmarish. “The idea was to seem less threatening until we could get close,” he said, and his feminized voice made it even worse.

“Fail,” I said. “Epic fail, Master.”

“You’d be surprised what humans miss,” he defended lightly, standing to do a pirouette.

Walter chose this perfect moment to enter our room. He stopped dead at seeing Alucard, mouth open and words frozen before exit. Then, he shook his head. “I really don’t appreciate seeing you like that on my honeymoon,” he said flatly.

Alucard smiled with immoral pleasure. “How fleeting is your attention, Walter?” he asked in a sing-song voice.

“Stop it.” Walter’s voice took a quality I’d never heard; absolute menace. “Change at once, Alucard.”

Master’s form rippled. In just seconds he took Walter’s identity, but a teenage Walter. “Is this better?”

Walter inhaled sharply through his nose. “Walking your current path isn’t wise,” he warned. His hand went up to his temple and began to rub. He rubbed so hard that his skin started to turn red. I watched, dismayed at seeing a drop of blood fall from his nose and splash onto his white shirt.

Alucard changed back into himself in a blink. Still smiling that infernal smile, he took a step closer to Walter. “Does your head hurt, my friend?” he asked softly.

“Yes.” Walter discovered his leak and got a handkerchief, dabbing at his nostrils. “It’s hurt non-stop since I awoke on Doctor Kayne’s table.”

I willed Walter to look at me, and after a moment, he did. I saw no betrayal in those plum-wine eyes, no deceit, no secrets. “I’m worried about you,” I whispered, though I felt sure everyone heard me.

“I’m certain it isn’t fatal, whatever causes the pain,” Walter told me evenly. “It’s bearable, at any rate. How could I postpone my wedding and honeymoon?”

“You couldn’t, naturally,” Alucard agreed, backing him up. “But, you should tend to your head when we return. If doesn’t escape my notice the pain is progressively stronger.”

Walter nodded shortly. “I’ll have Kayne examine me when we return,” he vowed. “But, to the reason I’m here; it’s time to go. Everything we need is back on the train.”

“Can I take my juice?” I asked, holding up three bottles.

“Of course,” Walter answered, and a small, real smile settled onto his lips and in his eyes. “Here, give them to me. I’ll put them in my pack.” He held out his hands.

“I’ll carry them,” Master said, taking them and stifling a yawn. “She shouldn’t have too much at once, and you’ll just let her have her way.” He snatched the juice and strode past us for the door. “Come along, sotie, Anderson,” he called back.

Once in the provided transport, I looked at Alucard a long time. “You didn’t want him holding my drinks,” I observed quietly, noticing Anderson attending my words. He sat on Master’s other side. We were the only ones in the back of the vehicle.

“Don’t eat or drink anything from Walter anymore,” he said, his tone matching mine. “We’ll hunt at our next stop.

“He isn’t going to poison me,” I protested. “Walter is my friend.”

“Enemies can become allies, and allies can become enemies, Seras,” he said firmly. “Do as I say.”

“Fine.” I crossed my arms and pushed further back into the seat.

“He’s right,” Anderson added quietly. “Don’ go off half cocked because you don’ agree.”

“I’m not a target of Walter’s!” I hissed. “He’d never hurt me!”

“Lass,” Anderson countered, “the possibility is what to guard against. One twitch of his finger could take your head off. Yeh aren’t betrayin’ yer friend by bein’ careful.”

“He’s correct,” Alucard murmured.

I just stared at the two of them. First Anderson backed Alucard’s play, the Alucard backed Anderson’s. Mortal enemies sitting side by side in the back of a transport, faces serene and opinions in unity. They were able to get along in this small way simply because of me.

I let the matter drop.

Wanting some affection, I got under Alucard’s arm and rested against his side. As always, he not only accepted my desire for closeness, but took advantage himself. His hand threaded into my hair and began a sort of half-comb half-pet motion. He lulled me into a stupor very quickly, since the strong daylight already sapped my energy. I felt surprised when he shook me awake.

“We’re at the train again,” he murmured.

We exited, then made our way back to our cabins. Once again I battled claustrophobia and the desire to reduce the number of people in here. But, when finally alone with just Alucard and Anderson, I felt much better. We all three sat on the couch that served as a fold-down bed, and stared at the dividing wall compartment that held the sink.

I fought a bit of inner turbulence for all of fifteen seconds before blurting, “This is one hell of a honeymoon.”

Alucard chuckled, and Anderson gave a snort of agreement. “One thing,” the paladin said, looking at my master. “What about Integra Hellsing? Should you no’ be concerned for her?”

Alucard nodded, to my distress. “My master is alone with Walter, but if Walter has turned traitor, he knows I’ll be on him in seconds if she’s harmed.”

I dropped my head on the window and sighed.

Goddamn it.

Why couldn’t we creatures of Hellsing get any peace?