Hellsing Fan Fiction ❯ Amoare ab Hostis ❯ Chapter 15 ( Chapter 15 )

******

"Ursula Madison! Stop right this instant!"

Father David's voice boomed in the hollow white space of the laboratory. Alexander jumped slightly and immediately winced. Moving was bad, very bad, for at least thirty minutes after one of his treatments. This one had been particularly grisly, involving small pieces of him removed as the radiation and chemical infusions were steadily increased. As the intensity grew higher, larger portions were severed, until at one point Ursula had used a heat-intensive laser to lop off his entire right leg. It had taken him the last twenty minutes to fully regenerate himself, and the effort of the process combined with the blood loss, as well as the usual nausea and dizziness from the treatments, had left him rather lethargic.

Father David swept into the room, robes billowing furiously, as Father Nathan trailed behind him. Being the quieter of the two, Nathan's gray, angry face proved more threatening than David's shouting.

"What's going on?" Alex asked, his voice still a bit slurred with exhaustion.

"Oh, nothing." Ursula muttered, disinterested. "The priests are just finally figuring out how low they are on the food chain."

Alex stared at her, uncomprehending, as the two priests came to a stop next to him.

"What is the meaning of this?" Nathan bristled. "His final treatment was scheduled for one month ago! His transformation was complete thirty days ago. Explain yourself."

"There was one final step in the process that had yet to be completed. Now it has been." Ursula told them, her mouth thinned in irritation. Dismissing them with a turn of her back, she casually flipped her long brown hair over one shoulder as she leaned over the computer screen. "You're free to go, Alexander. It was pleasant working with you."

"Wait... I was done a month ago? Then why-"

"Your treatment, as these two gentlemen understood it, was to be completed last month. However, I had orders from higher up to continue on with the final stage of the process, which you underwent today."

"What final stage? Whose orders? I demand you answer me. Nathan and I are to be informed of every-"

"You," Ursula snarled scathingly. "Are nothing more than puppets. You know only what you need to in order to maintain the secrecy of this operation."

"How dare you!" David gasped.

"David," Nathan interjected quietly, his mouth set hard. "This isn't solving anything. Ms. Madison, understand that Alex is like a son to David and myself, and we wish to be involved in the process of his treatment here. We would appreciate it greatly if you would kindly explain to us why you proceeded with treatment after the final session one month ago, when we understood the transformation to be completed."

"Of course," Ursula smiled sweetly, a gesture that looked obscene on her face, aided by the manic gleam in her eyes. "My orders came from your superiors, who passed it down from their superiors, and on back up to the Pope himself."

"Impossible!" David fumed. Nathan hushed him with a hand on his arm.

"Today's treatment involved a revolutionary turn in the same process through which we've been running Alex all along. I'm actually very bitter that I was not the first to think of it. It is so very simple in its logic." She shook her head and gave a short bark of near frightening laughter. "This whole time we've been infusing these chemicals into already existing cells, and only experimenting with the regenerative process afterwards. This new treatment involves removing old cells and creating new ones while simultaneously putting the subject through the process of chemical and radiation mutation.

"By creating new cells under the metaphorical magnifying glass of the radiation, coupled with the chemical injections, the cells are taught that those chemicals are actually an integral part of themselves. You see, before we were trying to force this change into Alex's DNA, and with mild to moderate success. This new process, however, completely reconfigures the DNA in these new cells. What's more, these cells are far superior to average human DNA cells, and by natural selection, will replace the old cells completely, given time."

Nathan's face paled. "Oh, sweet Father..."

"I see you've figured it out." The cruel brunette smirked.

"Figured what out?" Alex and David asked at once.

"That you're no longer human," Ursula told them. "Or, at least, you won't be by tomorrow morning once the new cells have devoured and replaced the pre-existing ones."

Alex stared at her in numb disbelief. No longer human? It didn't seem possible. He still felt like himself. His skin was still warm, and his heart was still beating. No. No, she was definitely wrong.

"You're lying." He accused, lowering himself from the table slowly.

Ursula laughed. "Why would I lie? It would be cheap and insulting to my work here. Which I'm rather proud of, actually."

"You're lying!" Alex screamed, stumbling ungainly as he advanced on her. Ursula merely smiled, the same innate cruelty he'd sensed in her before and felt a kinship with was now mocking him.

"Congratulations, Alex." She told him with a cold softness. "You're immortal."

***

~~Later that night~~

The barrel of the gun in his mouth was cold and tasted bitter. A few tears slipped past his open lips and ran down the barrel and onto his tongue, their saltiness only serving to fuel his misery. Did monsters cry...?

As much as he'd known that he would change, as much as he'd hated what he was turning into, he had never expected nor wanted this. To no longer be human. To never have a chance at entering Paradise. To defy and challenge God by stealing that which only He possessed: eternity. He didn't know if Ursula had been completely truthful. He didn't know a great many things, it would seem. But he knew that if not this, then nothing else could save him.

He pulled the trigger.

He didn't know how long it took, after. Long, disconcerting moments of strange, disjointed impressions passed. He felt nothing, but sensed so many things; odd, unconnected things. Later, he would know, that his brain knitting itself back together, reforming the intricate network within itself, had caused the confusing mass of sensation. But then, all he knew was color; light and dark, bright and dull. Emotions came and went, making him laugh and cry and smile and scream. Things like pain and humiliation returned and were remembered there in the dark. His senses returned, unfocused and unfiltered. He heard voices muttering anxiously around him, past the rushing, ringing white noise filling his ears.

Brief flashes of memory were last, and as he finally opened his eyes Brian's face swam briefly before his vision before being replaced with the hovering, panicked faces of Father Nathan and Father David. The sound of the gun blast must've drew them.

"We're so, so sorry, Alex." Father Nathan murmured, stroking his cheek, not knowing that the newly formed sensory neurons in his brain sizzled unpleasantly at the touch.

"We're sending you away," Father David told him shakily. "You'll be safer, and happier, away from all this. An orphanage, nearby. You can teach, and become a priest, like you've always wanted. Not-not far, so we can still...still visit." He turned away, clutching his mouth.

"We're so sorry," Nathan repeated, tears dripping down onto Alex's cheek.

His last coherent thought before he fainted was of Ursula and her last words to him. "Congratulations, Alex. You're immortal."

***

~~Twenty years later~~

A lone figure stood at the landing of a staircase. His back was straight, his posture impeccable, his chin lifted regally, and his wrists were crossed elegantly behind him. He could have been a statue were it not for the slight rise and fall of his black-vested breast. Long years of servitude had made him patient. However, patience be damned if Miss Integra and that blasted vampire didn't come up out of that dungeon in the very next minute!

As if in answer to his increasingly anxious inner monologue, shapes began to shift in the shadows at the bottom of the stairway. Two white-blonde heads poked out of the darkness and Walter released a long, relieved sigh. When they reached the last topmost few steps, Walter hid a smirk. Integra looked to be more than mildly irritated, and no less than very confused. He imagined that meeting Alucard for the first time would do that to a person. And Alucard...

Walter took a deep, fortifying breath. Twenty years had passed since he'd last seen the vampire. Things would be different between them, he knew. Yet as much as his brain understood the implications, there was a certain other organ which refused to see reason. Ah well, he thought. His feelings would always remain, he supposed, as would those of any person who had the misfortune to fall in love with the unattainable Alucard.

"Miss Integra! So good to see you again, safe and sound. You shouldn't go disappearing like that," he said jovially, his tone completely belaying his inner thoughts.

"Walter," Integra's voice was hard- harder than he'd ever heard it. He sighed. Children must grow up at some point, after all. "Uncle Richard is dead."

"Ah, such a pity," he said blandly. "And I see you've brought a friend back with you... Master Alucard." He greeted him with a nod of his head.

"Angel." The vampire acknowledged him in return. The lines on Integra's forehead deepened as they drew together in confusion.

"How was your awakening?" Walter asked amicably.

"Good," the vampire responded with a smile. "Best meal I've had in twenty years."

Walter hid his grin behind a cough. "Well then, I'll arrange a debriefing for you on the events that have transpired in your absence. There have been some remarkable advancements in the field of automatic weaponry in the past two decades which I daresay you'll find quite interesting..."

******

The End.

Author's note: Yup, that was the last chapter. Thanks for sticking around, guys. If you haven't read the sequel, "A Taste Of Darkness" you're more than welcome to. Also, I will be writing another sequel to "A Taste Of Darkness" that I haven't titled yet, but it should be out within the next month or so. Thank you for reading, and for the lovely reviews.