(Note: The title of all posts have been retroactively changed to reflect this title)
Soo, I caught some inspiration the other day and spent the last couple days writing this! Be warned: This update is very long. A lot of important plot stuff vis-a-vis Claude happens.
Thanks again to @herushingu / @scintillant-h (Not sure how you wanted to be tagged, sorry!) for sending me the ask that gave me some ideas for some of these plot points.
Also, if you’re able, I’d really appreciate feedback, critiques, questions, anything to let me know what you think of the story so far! I greatly enjoy reading everyone’s thoughts about it! 🙂 Hope you all enjoy!
London burned. Countless souls perished under an unstoppable onslaught. A trio of zeppelins burned through the sky, their sides bearing the Nazi swastika. Alucard, lost at sea, lured by a trap, unable to prevent the slaughter at London. Did he even want to stop it?
A legion of souls, sons of the Vatican, guns borne skyward as they marched, clad in their capirotes, to the beat of the drum of an egomaniacal madman. Joining the chaos they fight, expanding the war in London ever-greater.
Death, the likes of which had never been seen.
Claude awoke in a cold sweat, bolting upright. His body was stiff, torso constricted. He threw off the thin, scratchy blanket covering his body. His torso was bare of any shirt, covered by a series of pads and bandages across his chest.
What happened? Where am I? He looked around, head throbbing from the dream.
Claude was on a small, metal-framed bed in a cell. Meticulously clean, furnished with a sink and toilet. Above the sink was a small mirror. The door to the cell looked like it belonged in a prison, a solid metal door with glass window and port for food, painted the same off-putting cream color as the walls and floor of the room. The bed in which he sat had to have been some sort of military bed, judging by its olive drab sheets and nonexistent softness.
And the smell. His senses adjusted to the new environment and he noticed the smell. A sickening mixture of raw disinfectant and embalming fluid. It brought tears to his eyes, the strength of it all. This room must have been cleaned mere minutes before his arrival for the stink to linger this long.
The room was depressingly small. Less than three meters in length, only about two meters in width. Claude guessed if he laid flat, arms above his head, his toes would touch one wall and his fingers another.
He stood, head still aching, and made his way to the mirror. Had to be made of metal. No glass to be broken here.
A cursory examination revealed nothing changed about his appearance other than the bandages on his torso and his legs clad in… green shorts?
Whatever magical painkillers that had been coursing through his body, numbing the ache in his chest, were wearing off. Claude winced as he felt the dull ache of freshly-repaired broken bones.
Memories of last night came flooding back. He remembered his capture, the short catboy standing on his broken chest and the beast of a woman who broke it in the first place. They took him for his ability. They wanted to use his power for their own purposes.
I suppose that’s fair. That seems to be my only real purpose, these days.
How long had he been here? It couldn’t have been long, much less than a day. Did anyone at home know he had been captured?
Or… Or do they think I’m dead?
His bedroom was doubtlessly a mess. He remembered what happened to his roommate. It wouldn’t be a poor assumption to think the same had happened to him. His mind wandered to Pip. How would he react?
His unpleasant thoughts were cut short at the sound of footsteps outside his cell. From the sound of it, had to be five people. Lots of uneven footsteps, out of synch with each other. Claude turned from the mirror, facing the door and whatever was about to come through it. He backed himself against the wall. The footsteps got louder, and he could hear a key turning in the door.
It opened, in stepping two guards, adorned in full Wehrmacht regalia, each soldier wielding what he recognized as old Sturmgewehrs. They pointed their weapons at him once each soldier was in position. His muscles tensed. If they were here to kill him, he wouldn’t go down without a fight.
“Oh ho! Our little var prize is avake!” The voice threw him off. It belonged to a man, slightly shorter than Claude himself. Blonde, bright yellow eyes, glasses. A rotund man, in a white suit with white jacket. He opened his arms as he walked into the room, as if sarcastically asking for a hug.
Behind him was a much taller individual, with blonde hair, robed in a white labcoat and bare stomach, with strange-looking glasses. Even though Claude couldn’t see his eyes, he resented the way the man looked at him; a sense of sick curiosity, as though Claude was an attraction to be perused in the halls of a Ripley’s museum. The taller individual spoke next.
“Ja. He is lucky to be alive, much less avake. Obersturmführer Blitz nearly killed him. Even she doesn’t know how he still breathes.”
The shorter blonde man held up a hand.
“Ah, small miracles, Herr Doktor.”
“Yes, my apologies Major.” The Doctor spoke.
The Major continued, a grin spreading across his face that Claude desperately wanted to introduce to his boots. Were he wearing boots and not barefoot.
“My sincerest apologies for ze brutality vis vhich you were captured. I assure you zat Miss Blitz has been severely reprimanded.”
“I should hope so…” Claude winced, interrupted as a random jolt of pain went through his chest. He rubbed a spot on the bandages softly, desperately wishing for some more of those painkillers. “Where’s the fifth one? I heard five separate footsteps.”
“Und very astute! Ohhh, it’s like Christmas!” The Major brought his hands together dramatically, grinning more widely. “Our fifth member vaits outside for vhen ve leave, do not vorry. Ze matter vis vhich you SHOULD concern yourself, is vhy are you here?”
“Because you vant… Want…” Dammit, that stupid German accent is getting stuck in his head. “Because you want to use me as a weapon. Turn my precognition into something you can use for your own gains.”
The Major tittered, nodding his head. “Yes! Zat is correct!” As his laughter subsided, he walked closer, eyes deliberately meeting Claude’s. The Major seemed to sober up a bit. “I can assure you, you have my promise zat if you cooperate, you vill not be harmed.” Claude severely doubted that. “Und who knows? Maybe, vone day, you vill have a place at my side like Herr Doktor here.”
Claude wanted to be sick. He knew what this was; a bullshit ploy to gain his cooperation. He opened his mouth, wanting to tell the Major to fuck off, that he’d never get Claude’s help. Then he looked at the soldiers with their guns, at the Doctor who eyed him with the same fervor a burglar might look at a safe to be cracked. He could only imagine the sick experiments running through the Doctor’s mind. It occurred to him, that resist all he might, these were obviously very capable people. They would get what they wanted whether he agreed or not.
Claude looked at the Major, deadly serious. “I don’t agree with what you’re trying to do. Suppose I don’t want to help you.” He needed to press his luck, to see if he could crack the aggravatingly cheery veneer the Major seemed to have. To Claude’s great surprise, if his words had any effect at all, the short blonde man did not show it.
“I can promise you, ve are much more capable zan you think ve are. Assist us, und be revarded for your cooperation. Defy us, und be strapped to a table, limbs removed und fed to our vampire soldiers, head locked into a machine zat tells us every thought zat passes through your head, every image that pops into your precious little brain.” He stepped back, clasping both hands together. “You make ze decision, Herr Grey. Captain! You may enter!”
So, Claude was right.
With his dramatic statement, the Major stepped out of the room, followed by the Doctor and both soldiers. The door did not close, however, as in stepped a monstrously-tall man, draped in a dark green coat, with hat and pants of the same color, carrying a tray. Over the collar of his coat, Claude could see a pair of dark red eyes peering at him. The Captain paused at the sight of Claude, now seated in the bed, hugging his knees to his chest.
Claude paused, staring back at the Captain, who was still just standing in the doorway. He grimaced at the much taller man, distraught from the previous conversation.
“Are you gonna give me what’s on the tray or not?” This seemed to snap the Captain out of his trance. He nodded and walked over, crouching down and setting the tray in front of Claude.
Two slices of rye bread, a piece of dried sausage, cheese, greens, and a plastic mug of water. Claude sighed.
“These are combat rations, aren’t they?”
The Captain nodded, still silent. For some reason, that just pissed Claude off further.
“Look, I’m your prisoner, I get it. You can say whatever the hell you want, I don’t care.”
At that, the Captain rolled his eyes. He pointed to his mouth, then wagged his finger. Ohhhhh…
“You can’t speak.” The massive man nodded, seemingly aggravated.
Claude took a bite of the bread. Like the rest of the food on his plate, it was dry, tasting strongly of salt. He suspected he was probably the only person here who ate normal food.
“Look, big guy, Captain or whatever. I didn’t mean anything by it.” What the hell? Why was he apologizing to one of the people holding him captive? Then again, he supposed this guy hadn’t done anything to wrong him.
The Captain nodded, closing his eyes. Does that mean he’s not mad? Whatever he felt, the Captain reached out and took Claude’s free wrist, turning his hand so that the palm faced the floor. He began tracing words into the back of Claude’s hand, letter by letter.
“EAT WELL. EXAMINATION TOMORROW.”
The Hellsing agent nodded. “Okay. Thank you.” With that, the Captain stood to his full height, exiting the room. Claude sighed quietly, finishing the last of his heavily-salted rations and drinking down the water.
Plastic cup. Plastic tray. No chance of a weapon here.
Time moved slowly in the cell. Absolutely nothing to do. Claude found himself repeatedly changing positions in bed, staring at the ceiling, the wall, the mirror, counting his toes.
He figured about three or four hours had passed when the Doctor came in again, flanked by two guards. The Doctor motioned for him to sit up and face the wall, whereupon the labcoat-clad man began changing Claude’s bandages carefully.
Claude looked down, his eyes finally able to see the extent of his wounds. What had once been broken bones under his skin were now a set of six ugly surgery scars. That was… Disheartening.
“Oh, don’t look so glum. Zey’re very becoming of a soldier like yourself.”
Claude suppressed a sigh. “What all was wrong with me?”
“Five broken bones, a punctured lung, und various internal wounds. I did ze best I could vis vhat I had, but it seems you’re still healing as fast as you should be.”
“Yeah, well, I’m regrettably still human, so it’s gonna take a while.”
The Doctor let out a giggle. “I could fix zat in a day, mein freund. Just say ze word!” He sounded so eager.
“I’m gonna have to take a rain check on that, Kevorkian.”
“Tsk. You humans und your sense of self. So… Boring.”
After a few more checks on the healing of Claude’s wounds, the Doctor exited the room. The rest of the day passed with a very tall, bespectacled woman bringing by food for what Claude could only assume was dinner. Once he couldn’t stay awake any longer, the soldier laid back in the uncomfortable bed and fell asleep.
——————————————————————————————-
Hellsing Manor, assaulted. A zeppelin destroyed, spitting forth its horde of vampires. Pip, hit in an explosion. Badly wounded, fighting. He carries a wounded Seras on his back. That… That woman, Zorin. A scythe through Pip’s back seals his fate. He falls. Seras drinks of his blood. Pip… Pip dies.
Claude woke up in an instant.
“No…” He whispered softly, hot tears dripping down his face. “No, no, no…” He curled up, hugging his pillow closely.
Why? Why did he have to be here?
He wasn’t quite sure how long he was there, crying. Was it because he loved Pip? Or was it because Pip was just the first man to return his affections? Was he more than just a passing interest to the Frenchman, just an eager font for the mercenary to drink from before he moved on? Did… Did Pip even care that he was gone?
By the time the Captain and two guards had arrived to pick him up for the examination, Claude was silent. He still closely hugged his pillow, curled up on his side, silent, eyes red and face stained with tears.
The Captain saw this, helping Claude to his feet with an unshakable stoicness.
They walked through the halls of… Wherever they were. The whole world around them seemed to have an underlying stink of blood. He could smell it everywhere. In his neighboring cells, on the guards, in dry patches on the floor that he had to step to avoid. One door, he guessed it to be their cafeteria, stank so furiously of blood and decay that he had to force back the bile rising in his throat.
And the temperature. It was colder than it had any business being.
Why couldn’t they at least give me a damn shirt?
All of the guards eyed him hungrily. Literally hungrily, as though they saw him to be little more than a walking London broil. He ignored their gazes, instinctively sticking close to the Captain, who towered over him. Claude barely came up to the officer’s stomach.
They arrived at the examination room.
Okay… Okay, there are far too many people here.
The bespectacled woman from last night, Zorin, the cat boy, the Major, the Doctor, some guy in a suit with a whispy mustache, and now the Captain. No guards. Claude guessed it was because of these people. He could practically feel their power, it radiated in his bones with a sense that any one of them could turn him to meat paste in an instant.
It was the first time in his life he’d ever felt so utterly trapped.
The Doctor gestured to a plain gurney furnished with little more than a sheet. Claude sat awkwardly, under the off-putting stares of everyone in the room. The Doctor walked before him, a wide smile on his face.
“Now, Herr Grey, ve are going to begin ze examination to determine ze extent of your powers. Now… About how long vould you say you’ve had zese abilities?”
Claude sighed. May as well cooperate.
“About three years.” The Doctor scribbled something, nodding.
“Vas zis before or after your rescue by ze Hellsing organization?”
“Now hold on, how the fuck-“
“Before. Or. After, Herr Grey?”
Another sigh. “After.” This seemed to freshly energize the Doctor. He clearly had some theory working in his head, and it was pissing Claude off. The Doctor looked up.
“I am going to have First Lieutenant Blitz read your memories-“ Claude opened his mouth to object, but the Doctor held up his hand flatly. “I do not care for your consent. Zis is going to happen no matter vhat you say.”
Zorin walked over, grinning at the dirty glare Claude gave her. He remembered the other night, when she beat him within an inch of his life. He remembered his vision, seeing the sick look on her face as she killed Pip. She removed the glove on her right hand.
As the First Lieutenant moved the hand to his forehead, Claude could see an eye open in her palm. In an instant, everything went black.
And suddenly, it’s like he was there all over again. With the images flashing across his eyes, he could hear Zorin’s voice, talking to the others.
The woods around his grandfather’s house were aflame. The whole neighborhood was. There had been a vampire attack, and when Alucard arrived to stop it, the vampire decided to cut his losses and start a fire in an attempt to escape. The vampire had taken refuge in his grandfather’s house following a gunfight with Alucard, had taken everyone inside prisoner. When Claude tried to resist, he was shot, kicked through the front door of the house. The boy coughed, shot in the lung, bones broken from the impact with the door. The tall, enigmatic, red-coated vampire approached, walking past Claude. More gunshots echoed from inside the house, and Claude closed his eyes as he realized what happened to everyone inside. Alucard and the vampire continued to exchange gunfire, when finally the no-name blood-sucker died where he stood. Integra spoke up, bringing Alucard’s attention to the still-breathing Claude, lying on the floor. Something about how he knew too much, but they couldn’t let him die. They’d have to take him in.
Claude stifled a sob, his throat aching with the effort not to cry, even as tears flowed as he remembered losing his family.
“Vat’s zis?” Zorin paused, digging further into Claude’s mind. “I see two sets of memories, of ze same event. Vone in vhich he is rescued by Hellsing, und vone in vhich he dies.”
She began digging through more memories, more recent ones. “Zere are two sets of memories for everything he does. A vorld in vhich he lives und breathes, und a vorld in vhich he does not exist.”
Her hand withdrew, and his vision returned to the world around him. Claude wiped his eyes, in control of his senses once again. After pondering for a moment, the Doctor piped up.”
“Major, I have a theory. I believe zat Herr Grey is not too unlike our Schrodinger. His powers draw from a flaw in ze universe.”
“Please elaborate, Doktor.”
“In zat moment three years ago, he vas supposed to have died. Ze universe shows him vhat occurs in ze ozzer vorld. Zat is vhy he sees events as zey may be und not as zey vill be.”
The Major let out a chuckle, looking at Claude.
“Ahhh, Herr Grey. Two roads diverged in a burning vood. Und you took ze road less traveled-by. Und zat, zat has made all ze difference.”
Supposed to have died. That phrase echoed in Claude’s mind like cannon fire. Supposed to have died.
I should be dead. The thought that crossed his mind every waking moment for the past three years was now confirmed, here, in front of all of these… These freaks.
I shouldn’t have survived. I knew it.
The Captain’s stare seemed to soften at what the Doctor said. Even Schrodinger and the woman in the glasses looked different. Claude hadn’t really paid much heed to what happened after the Doctor’s announcement. Some more discussion, a drawing of his blood for testing, and then he was unceremoniously marched back to his room.
Claude sat on his bed, silent. He turned to the Captain, face wet with the tears he’d shed on the walk back, throat sore from the quiet sobs he’d let out when the others were out of sight. The Captain looked as if, for all the world, he wanted to speak so he could say something to the soldier, but he knew he couldn’t. He walked over, gently taking Claude’s wrist, and wrote on the back of his hand.
“I’M SORRY.”
Claude nodded once, still silent. The Captain left slowly.
Claude laid down. He wanted to be anywhere. Anywhere but here. He wanted to be at Hellsing Manor. He wanted to be at his grandfather’s house three years ago, so he could throw himself at the vampire one more time. He wanted to see Pip, Integra, Seras, even Alucard.
More than anything, Claude wanted a hug.