The Days of Christmas

Ketti: Uhm... Yeah. This all happened because I was rereading some of my fav'd stories looking for one in particular. Be warned! Probably going to have some OOC moments, like... maybe a lot. Pff, I don't know. I just felt like it. This was meant to be a one shot, not a thirteen-shot. Baha. Shows what I know. Might be a chapter or two longer, depending on my muse. This is going to be angst and fluff and probably some blood. Yay, blood!

It was snowing. Not very unusual in London, in December, nearing the end of the year. Alucard sighed, his breath not steaming at all in the frosty air, as he walked beside his fledgling, both wearing more weather conscious clothing to avoid attracting attention, keeping half an eye on the clumsy blond as she trudged along listlessly. Something was wrong with his fledgling, for the past week she had been growing steadily more dreary and silent, which was odd, as she had been so excited during the first week of the month. Without even really thinking about it, his hand grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side so that she would not walk face first into the pole. Honestly, how his childe could be so graceless was beyond him.

They stopped for a moment to wait for the light to turn green for them to cross, too packed into the crowd of humans to draw needless attention, and he caught her eye wandering to the brightly lit storefront. Her lips trembled in the beginnings of a smile before she turned away, expression blank. He frowned as he peered into the window to observe a decorated tree and brightly colored boxes. Ah, that was right, humans celebrated Christmas this time of year. Hellsing had stopped celebrating when Integra was thirteen, it had been eight years since the last attempt tp heed the season properly.

It was not as if he cared, but it seemed to bother his fledgling. He could not hold back the second sigh as he observed his childe glumly plodding along. Her depression bored him, so, he decided, he would have to do something to fix it. It should prove amusing, if nothing else.

Seras woke slowly, grudgingly, and pulled the covers over her head in a useless attempt to fend off the coming night. She couldn't help it, December always made her depressed, ever since she was sent to the orphanage. The one time of year when they were supposed to get psyched up over a present from Santa, and warm cocoa – rather than tepid tea – to warm them after coming inside from building snowmen and making snow angels, and general joy and cheer and off key holiday carols. But year after year her hope dwindled and faded to nothing as the holiday came up with no tree, or merrymaking, or anything of the sort.

So, foolishly, she had gotten her stupid hopes up that maybe this year it would be different. Of course not, you idiot. How could she think that? Vampires weren't human, and the Hellsing Heiress could be as cold as ice sometimes, so what reason did they have to celebrate some stupid holiday that revolved around spoiled children getting free gifts?

She sighed, burying her face in the pillow. It was obvious, there was no tree, no dramatic clearing of space next to the fireplace, no frivolous lights, no nothing.

Grudgingly she groped around her mattress for the switch, and hit the button with a groan. If she didn't get up in time, her Master would come get her, dressed for the night or not. So, imagine the little Draculina's surprise when, instead of darkness, she was greeted by a dim colorful array of light emanating from the corner of her room. She shot up in bed as though the sheets were electrified and launched herself across the chilled stone floor to land in front of the miniature tree with an awestruck expression.

There, fully decorated, with a carpet of fake snow at its base, was a miniature tree, no taller than three feet surely, but a tree, a Christmas tree! Her face lit up with the biggest grin ever, so wide it was starting to hurt her cheeks as she shrieked with sheer glee, spinning and dancing in place like a lunatic.

"Omigawd, omigawd, omigawd! A tree!" Tripping over her own feet, she fell to the ground in a laughing heap. She was so excited! Christmas was only thirteen days away, and she couldn't wait to go out and buy some small gifts for her Master, Walter, Sir Integra, and maybe even Pip.

Her improved mood was almost painfully obvious to the members of Hellsing as she skipped through the halls with a renewed bounce in her step, baring her sharp teeth at any who came near in her too wide grin. The blonde little vampire even went so far as to ignore most of the Wild Geese's taunting during training as she cheerfully blew the head off a shooting target from five hundred meters.

In fact, after sneaking off to the city, Walter found her holed up in the lower kitchen, struggling to put a gingerbread house together from a kit she had nabbed on her way home. Arching a brow, he coughed into his fist in an attempt not to laugh at the rather pitiable sight she made. It was a lucky thing she hadn't broken the thick cookie sheets yet. The poor Draculina was near to tears as the walls fell over for the umpteenth time.

The butler gave her a kind smile as he pulled a small length of wire from its spool to wrap around the structure to keep it intact while the frosting dried into a more sturdy glue, taking a plastic knife from the drawer under the table to scrape off the excess and neaten up the still blank house. "Might I suggest letting it dry until tomorrow night, Miss Victoria? The sun is near to rising, and keeping it chilled in the freezer will only help."

Seras gave him a thankful smile, and stood on tiptoe to plant a quick peck on his cheek before darting off down the hall, shouting her thanks and farewell as she fled to her room to sleep out the upcoming hours of daylight.

Walter's cheeks flushed a faint pink as he tidied up and made certain the blonde's gingerbread house would not collapse during the long hours of sunlight, before leaving to take his own brief nap before taking up his day time duties.