Alexander Anderson sat in a refugee camp twenty miles from the ravaged British capitol. Of the more than 2400 Catholic warriors that had descended on London, fewer than 200 survived. Most of those were members of Section XIII. We know how to fight hellspawn better than any. He thought with wry pride.

He was fatigued to the depths of his soul and every time he closed his eyes he saw Alucard's accusing finger and heard the shout of "Apostate!" He could not turn his back on the commitment of service he had given the Morrigan. He didn't even want to. It was still very hard to live with himself when every aspect of his life before today had been governed by his dedication to Church and God.

She had told him to worship as he wanted. She had commanded him to continue his crusade against the minions of evil. Had She really changed things so drastically for him? He remembered again to the stories his gran had told him. Every Goddess had her partner. Every God had his Goddess.

If for now he couched his dedication to her in prayers to Mary, he thought She'd understand. "Believer yet not believer," he murmured and took comfort in his heresy.

ooo

Walter sat outside the door to Integra's hospital room. He hadn't moved since they had brought Integra in from surgery. He was in both mental and physical agony.

As soon as they had touched down in Birmingham and gotten out of the glider, Seras had attacked him and thrown him to the ground. He had thought she was going to kill him and submitted without a struggle. He'd long ago resigned himself to death and he didn't know how he could live with himself and what he had done to the woman he loved like a daughter.

The pain when she clawed open his back was enormous. He hadn't expected sweet Seras to torture him first, but he did his best to not fight it. He owed her for what he'd done to her with his wires. He didn't understand why she climbed off of him soon afterward and helped him to stand.

Then she showed him her hand. There were a dozen of Millennium's chips covered in his blood. She explained that she hadn't had a chance to remove them before but that she wanted to make sure that Millennium couldn't incinerate him when they realized he had gone rogue. She apologized for hurting him and held him and cried.

His back was healed now, but still pained him. His guilt was worse. Integra would live, but he had maimed her and she would never be the same. If he didn't think suicide the coward's way out, he would walk into the sun and hope that it would burn the taint from his soul.

Instead, he would serve. He would serve the Hellsing family until there were no more vampires or no more Hellsings. It was all he had.

ooo

Seras was sitting watch in Integra's hospital room. At least, she was trying to sit watch. The activity of the last couple of days had caught up with her and she was having a great deal of trouble staying awake. Every time she nodded off, though, she had to face the Doc and that was enough to keep her from sleeping for a while.

Pip had come up with an idea she thought might work. The lounge where she and Pip had first faced the Doc was completely real to all three of them but was contained within her. Pip had suggested that she could construct a cell for the Doc that would be just as real and would keep him shut away from the two of them unless he was needed.

They had just finished talking out the plan for how to do it. She was going to settle in to try to construct the cell and confine the Doc before she just couldn't stay conscious any longer and he was allowed to roam free in her brain. She wondered how her Master achieved control of his captive souls. She wasn't sure she'd ever see him again to ask.

They had heard that London was obscured by some sort of impenetrable darkness. Integra had refused to get immediate treatment at the hospital and had instead bullied all and sundry until she had a phone line and access to military intelligence. Eventually Seras (with Pip's help) had been able to argue Integra into getting medical care. She had asked the doctors to keep Integra sedated for a while, explaining that otherwise Integra would no doubt be up and preparing to storm London when she came out of surgery.

Integra would have to adjust to some new limitations, but she would live to lead Hellsing. Seras didn't doubt that Integra would soon be pushing the envelope in prosthetics as well.

Well, are you ready to put the Doc in his cage? Pip interrupted her thoughts.

Yeah, I'm tired. Let's get this done. Seras' attention turned inward.

ooo

Integra opened her eyes and tried to focus. She was so tired. Even her eyelids were almost too heavy to lift. What had woken her? Seras thought Integra hadn't heard her asking the doctors to sedate her. Silly girl. Her head felt very strange and she kept remembering odd things. The drugs must be having some side effects. Integra hated the feeling. This is why she had never felt the desire to "experiment" with drugs and didn't even like drinking too much.

There was someone standing at the end of the bed watching her. She blinked, trying to make her eyes work for her. The drugs and blood loss were making it impossible. She fought on anyway.

The smell of roses filled the room.

I see what he sees in you.

Integra fought harder to clear her mind. She fumbled around trying to reach the controls for the bed before realizing she had no right hand to use the control if she found it.

I'm not here to harm you or yours. I'm just here to return something you lost. A weight settled on Integra's feet. The figure she couldn't bring into focus faded out completely.

The seals are restored. Tell him when he wakes that his punishment is to serve.