Written by: Outsidersproxy

Anime: Hellsing

Genre: Mystery

Chapter 1:

...

Integra was awakened gently by a whisper. A cold hand on her arm shaking her- normally she would've jumped out of bed with a gun pointed at whatever it was trying to wake her. But because it was so gentle, it was more bewildering than startling.

"Master...?" A familiar voice squeaked. Integra finally cracked open her eyes to the still dark of her room, light spilling in through the cracks of the drawn curtains of it. Startled by how close the girl's face was to her own and the blue eyes staring into her own.

"Gah!" Integra managed leaping back into her bed nearly toppling over the other side. Catching herself before doing so "My lord, Seras, what is so urgent that you need wake me in my own chambers?"

"Well..." She started obviously nervous and fidgeting with her fingers as she spoke. "I... I can't find Master."

"What?" Integra forced at the statement.

"I can't find Master." She said again.

"Alucard?" Integra clarified coldly. Seras nodded quickly and nervously. "What?" She asked again sternly.

"I went to his chambers to ask him something, but he wasn't there. So I came here wondering if you knew where he went..." Seras said. Integra shook her head finally peeling out of bed and already getting dressed.

"No." She said. "No, I don't." Stripping out of her nightwear and into her day clothes, not bothering to ask Seras to leave, who was blushing and turning her gaze from Integra as she proceeded to find her clothing. Before Seras could get another word- Integra had already bolted out of the room.

"WALTER!" She shouted across the manor. All the guards instantly stiffing knowing that the master of the manor was awake and already upset by something they had yet to know about. Seras tumbling after her from the still dark room.

Walter emerged from the downstairs hall, obviously preparing Integra's morning tea, just about to head up to wake her. He was as startled as everyone else in the manor. The morning light poured in throughout the massive windows strewn throughout. She still fastening a button as she sped down the grand staircase. Her hair tangled having skipped brushing it.

"Walter!" She demanded. "Walter, where is Alucard?"

"Sir." He bowed, "is he not in his room?"

"No. According to Seras, he isn't. So, where is he?" She asked, Seras popping out from behind her shyly as she inquired.

"I'll... I'll be right back Sir while I verify young Sera's claims." He said turning on his heel and darting down the hallway. Meanwhile, Integra mosied into the kitchen, realizing that her makeup and hair and her morning routine had gone astray. She leaned over the counter with the freshly brewed tea Walter had been making, taking the cup she held it in her hands. While Seras spied from the corner of the kitchen.

She wasn't doing nothing, she was instead reaching out to Alucard mentally, usually sharing a bond with him wherever he usually ended up. But this time there was nothing- silence. Not even the usual tickle she would get when even attempting to reach out to him. She huffed a breath of irritation. Turning to look at the blue eyed girl still in her nightwear peeking at her.

"Seras. When did you notice he was missing?" She finally said. Seras moved towards her to greet her in the kitchen...

"Just before I came to you Sir." She said. Integra nodded.

"I knew something was off." She muttered. "I felt it the moment you woke me."

"Er- what?" Seras asked bewildered, obviously having heard her.

"Your master and I have a sort of..." She started rolling her eyes, "connection. Similar to how you have a connection with him. When you woke me, I knew something was missing."

"Is that why you didn't call for my Master like you usually do?"

"I did actually."

"And he didn't answer?"

Walter suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"Young Seras is correct, Alucard is missing." He confirmed.

"You went all the way down there and all the way back that fast?" Seras asked bewildered. Walter leaned forward slightly,

"I am much more spry in my age than I may appear young Seras." He answered. Integra set down her hot tea not having drank any.

"I have no connection on my end either Walter." Integra answered coldly.

"Then..." Seras asked darting her eyes between the two, "then where is he?"

"That is something we must find out now isn't Seras?" Integra replied.

"A better question remains of how he left the manor without orders." Walter posed. "He is bound to the estate unless otherwise ordered. So wherever he is, he is so without orders, and therefore against his binding. Which may pose quite a problem for many involved."

"I am highly aware of that Walter. It's why we need to find him." She said scuttling out of the kitchen grabbing Seras's hand as she did so. "And you're going to help me." She added pulling her out of the kitchen leaving Walter behind.

"And I expect you to look as well Walter!" She called from ascending the stairs.

Integra swung open the door to her office and pulled Seras inside. She finally let go closing her door and rushing to her desk. Seras closely behind.

"So where do we start finding him?" Seras asked her.

"Unusual deaths, or a trail of murder…"

"Do you really think he would go on a rampaging murder spree while on free to himself?"

"What the hell are you insinuating Seras?"

"Ah! Nothing! I mean, when left to himself… Do you really think he just kills just to kill? I just don't think he is like that is all..-" Seras stopped mid-sentence after spying the angry scowl of her master's master.

"Are you suggesting that he only kills when I order him too? That I'm the one who kills them all? What about the men he killed after he woke up? Hm? No one ordered him to do that!"

"Right… but… to be fair, your uncle was trying to kill you… and he hadn't eaten in twenty years.." She buttoned her mouth as Integra spitefully glared. "-it's just…" She continued, "I don't think he's like that at all. He's not a killing machine. He doesn't just kill to kill for the kill of it?" She stammered.

"Do you know what he was like before my family bound him? Huh? Seras? Your master has slaughtered mountains of mortal souls who got in his way."

"Right… but-"

"NO BUTS!"

"Okay… but... What about the people who didn't get in his way?"

"What?" Integra rolled her eyes.

"In public…" She started, "when he's just left to himself. And everyone is just minding their business and going about their day, not interested in him at all? Does he still kill them?"

"Fine." Integra hissed at her servant's fledgling. "I'll look for other patterns aside from sporadic and irrational killings."

"What about credit cards?" Walter added entering the room with the morning tea Integra had left downstairs. "If he is running, or attempting to remain out of sight, he would need to use our money to do so."

"Okay…" Seras added piping up her finger as a thought entered, "but what if he's using cash?"

"If he used an ATM machine for that we could still track where he-"

"No no…" Seras interrupted. "As in, what if he grabbed cash here at the manor? So he couldn't be tracked?" She posed, her former police training kicking in. She looked to Integra, "is there any missing?"

Integra was already rushing out of the office into the hallway- nearly toppling Walter over as she did. Seras and Walter quickly following her behind.

She vanished into her room and re-emerged just as quick.

"Well my stash isn't tampered with." She said with a relief. Seras rose a brow.

"What stash?"

"Er- Nothing-"

"Well, the fact that you checked tells me that Alucard knows about it." She crossed her arms, "why don't I?"

"There are just some things Seras that your master and I agree to keep from you. Better for everyone."

Walter peaked his own brow pointing to the young blond next to him.

"I'm with her- what stash?"

"None of your business Walter." She says moving through them back towards her office. She paused turning, "let's check elsewhere in the manor. Alert the guards, don't tell them Alucard is missing, that will make them nervous. Just mention that someone may have been stealing our money and to have them help look for anything that may be missing."

"As you wish Sir." Walter says still bothered that Integra was keeping things from him and yet Alucard of all beings knew about the secret. It really bothered him.

…

"He can't leave the country…" Seras pointed out at the screen from behind Integra's shoulder, "he doesn't actually have a viable passport that would allow him through traditional means of flight transportation. That's why you always had him take the private jet…"

"Wait! The jet…" Integra started.

"Is still in the loading bay headquarters untouched," Walter answered pushing in Integra's office door with the afternoon set of tea in hand. "And you were right Seras, the guards have indeed found money missing rather in great quantities from the estate."

"How much?" Integra rose a brow silently bracing for the reply. Walter chuckled.

"13,666 dollars and 36 cents… exactly."

"Wha-!?" Integra dropped her pen. "How?!"

"The safe."

Integra pinched the bridge of her nose in defeat.

"Well, master's got a sense of humor dunne?" Seras mumbled. Integra flicked her head at the remark.

"Yes! Seras! At least your master has his sense of humor and 13 and a half grand with him doesn't he?"

"Right." Seras replied, "but he didn't take the jet, and he can't get out of the country by traditional means. Depending on where he was going he would either have to be smuggled out, or he didn't leave at all, meaning he is still here." She stated, "and I know my master."

"Do you? I mean really? How well do you know him?" Integra quipped.

"Probably more than you considering you only talk to him when you need something and I spend pretty much my entire time with him."

Integra snapped a pencil.

"I've been with him since I was fourteen years old, you hardly know him!"

"Yea?" She rose a brow, "and how many times did you actually spend time with him and get to know him? Rather than just using him as a convenient tool or weapon? Do you even see him as a person?"

"HE'S NOT A PERSON!"

"HE IS!" Seras spat raising her voice at Integra- startling both Walter and Integra at her doing so. "He has feelings, and emotions and isn't some mindless killing machine you both are making him out to be!"

"Please don't drag me into this." Walter politely requested setting down the tray and attempted to leave the fighting women behind.

"Don't you dare leave Walter!" Integra recoiled. Walter halted in his tracks. "We still have to find Alucard dammit!" She shot a glare at Seras, "we will continue this at another time Seras."

Seras buttoned her mouth, silently imagining her Master saying, "my, I leave for one second and my Master and my Fledging are already at each other's throats. I thought the very least the two of you could get along." Followed by one of his iconic smirks that he would often give Seras when teasing her. She got up and walked around the desk.

"You'll never find him." She finally said quietly.

"What?" Integra asked.

"You'll never find him if you keep thinking of him as a mindless killing machine. He isn't mindless, and he doesn't kill at random. If you keep thinking that, you won't find him. He's a person. Vampire or not…" She turned away from Walter and Integra, "he's still a person."

Seras walked out of the room, leaving Walter and Integra behind her. Walter turns to Integra with a risen brow and a semi-lifted finger-

"She does have a poin-"

"Not another word." Integra snipped. Sitting back down in her desk and pulling the computer back to her. "I know she does," Integra answered Walter's cut-off.

"Mind my asking Sir." Walter started bowing slightly, "if you know she has a point then why are you so adamant about Alucard's mentality and position?"

Integra sighed leaning back into her green chair. Pushing up her glasses, to her now fixed hair. "Walter. Truthfully? It's easier."

Walter rose a brow, "pardon?"

"It's easier for me to send out a machine into battle, non-winnable battles. Things that bring him death constantly, every time I send him. Than as a man, with feelings, emotions. Because it's easier."

"And what if you lost him?" Walter inquired. "What if he didn't come back? Do I sense some attachment to him? More than a servant or weapon?"

"I don't think about that because I don't what I would do if I lost him."

"Mind me saying Sir. But we did lose him. And we don't know if he is going to come back. So what is he now to you?" Walter inquired. Integra sank into her chair at the question.

"I would…" She started- and without another word she rose from her seat and began making her way to the edge of her office, "I would apologize to Seras." She said as she left the office with Walter behind.

Walter moved to seat himself behind her desk pulling up her computer.

"They're right. You are a man. And where would a man go, with thirteen grand at his disposal, and free-will?" Walter muttered under his breath pulling out his phone, silently dialing and placing the piece up to his ear. "He's missing. Find him." He snapped his phone shut. Knowing that he had just placed an armies worth of eyes in London looking for the one person they plotted against.

…

"Vhat do you mean e's missing?" A squirrely voice sprang out into the massive abyss of the blimp. "How can e be missing?! How iz that possible?!"

"I think it means…" A little boy chirped in shrugs, "that he's missing?"

"NO!" The squirrely voice responded, "all of our planning! All of this! To defeat him. And yet, that very person is… MISSING?!"

"I think you need to calm down…" Suggested a softly spoken voice.

"NO!" The squirrely voice responded. "Find him. FIND him. FIND HIM!"

"YES SIR!" A massive unison crowd cheered.

-To Be Continued-

Note: This is not going to be a big fanfiction, just a little side project I started on. It was supposed to be a one-shot, but really wanted to upload at least part of it while I continued on it.