Author's note: I do not own Hellsing, X-men, or their characters. I want to thank everyone who has reviewed this story. I appreciate your comments and support. There will be a sequel to this story, but it won't be out for a little while.

Homeward Bound

Integra did her best not to roll her eyes. She had been ambushed upon arriving home from school. At least it seemed that Rogue had a hand in the planning of her birthday party, and things hadn't gone too overboard. She had been impressed by the cake though. Someone had the novel idea to get a cake frosted with black frosting and there was the design of bats against a full moon as well as a number of red eyes. Integra would have been interested to hear the conversation with the bakery that produced this result.

Truthfully, it was not the worse party that she could have been thrown, and some of the birthday gifts had been quite thoughtful. Rogue and Kitty as well as Kurt had all gotten her gear to go with her motorcycle. While Integra doubted she would have as many opportunities to use the machine when she got back to Britain, she fully intended to use it when she could. Though some of them had been quite silly as well such as the copy of The Vampire Survival Guide. Most of the things in the book were not all that helpful, but it was amusing to some extent. Walter had sent her a new set of hand guns engraved with her name and the Hellsing motto. Integra had yet to see her gift from Alucard yet, but knowing her vampire, something would turn up.

Thankfully, the surprise party took care of any obligation on the Xavier Institute's part to celebrate her birthday leaving the evening free for Integra's own plans. She was treating herself to a nice dinner out and some very decadent desserts. It was the least she could do for herself. Still, Integra was in a fairly good mood. Her birthday meant that she had five more weeks here at the most. It wouldn't be much longer before she was back where she belonged. While Integra would admit that it had been an interesting and informative year, she was more than ready to get back to work. Walter might have kept her up to date on what had been happening in England, it was not the same as being there. She would have some catching up to do.

When Integra exited the restaurant that evening, she found her vampire perched on her motorcycle waiting for her. Integra simply raised an eyebrow. Alucard smirked.

"My master looks quite pleased with herself. Have you had a good birthday?"

"What do you want, Alucard?"

"I have a gift for you."

Integra would admit to being mildly suspicious when it came to Alucard's gifts. Sometimes they ended up being quite helpful, and sometimes they were more trouble than they were worth.

"Oh?"

The smirk widened, and he beckoned her closer. Integra came reluctantly. From somewhere behind him, Alucard produced a sheathed sabre. Integra reached for the grip and found it fit her hand perfectly. Without hesitation, she drew the sword. The blade came cleanly out of the sheath with barely a whisper of sound. The sword was perfectly balanced, and when she tested the blade against her thumb, she found it was razor sharp. It was a magnificent weapon and one that serve her quite well.

"Thank you, Alucard." She didn't say more than that, but then, she didn't really need to. Alucard understood.

The school year was clearly winding down now. Integra found that there was yet another hoop to jump through before she could go home: graduation. Integra probably would have skipped it if she had the choice, but unfortunately, attendance was mandatory for Institute students. Integra found it rather redundant, but at least it didn't require too much on her part. School had a fairly simple wrap up. Besides graduation, the other major event was handing the yearbooks. Once that had been done there was a school wide yearbook signing party for the last thirty minutes of that day. A surprising amount of people actually wanted to sign her yearbook.

Integra was less than pleased to find several pictures of herself in the yearbook. The ones from the prom and the Halloween dance were fine, but why did they have to include the ones of her in the ridiculous pink dress for the play? Surely there had to be better pictures from the play than that. The school year coming to a close meant that Integra was busier. She had arrangements to make with Walter for her return and needed to tie up any left over loose ends with the Bayville Police Department. It also meant taking an inventory of all of things she had accumulated over the year and figuring out what she was taking back with her and what needed to be gotten rid of.

She found graduation to actually be rather boring. Their keynote speaker was not especially interesting, and the valedictorian and salutatorian spouted the standard graduation speeches. At least they were outside rather than being stuck in a stuffy gym. When the whole ordeal finally ended, Integra quickly got away from the celebrating throng. She didn't exactly have the same sense of exuberating and celebration as the rest of the students here. That was all right though. Integra had other things to do, and she could really use some peace and quiet for a change. Walter had chartered a private plane for her flight back, and she would leaving next week.

As Integra started her packing, several of the other students at the institute began dropping by her room, often to give her things. For the most part it was photographs they thought she would like. However, Rogue put together a collection of Integra's sketches from their art class and had them bound in a notebook. The extra items were added to Integra's luggage. She was grateful she didn't need to worry about commercial baggage limits. Somehow in her time here, Integra had accumulated much more stuff than she had arrived with. As it was, she had to get a few boxes to pack some of it in. However, most of the clothes she had bought while here would be donated to charity. She had no need of them anymore.

There were, of course, some things that she couldn't get out of. A final interview with Xavier and a farewell party were some of them. Xavier seemed to have mixed feelings about her leaving. On the one hand, it was clear that he could do without the headaches she had caused him. However, he was still convinced that she was a mutant, and he truly wanted to help her learn to control her powers. The man truly had good intentions even if Integra found him rather ineffective. Integra was just thankful that the man realized he had no chance of persuading her to stay.

The party was also tolerable. Truthfully, it was more of an excuse for the students to have a party than anything else. Integra accepted people's well wishes and nibbled at the cake. Logan came over to join her.

"Well, kid, it's been interesting, but I have a feeling that you're glad to be going home."

Integra nodded. "I have appreciated your help over the last year. It has made living here much more manageable."

"Not a problem, kid. Just do me a favor and don't relocate permanently. We have enough excitement around here as it is."

"I do not think that will be a problem." Integra smiled. There was no way that Hellsing would ever relocate to America.

Once the party had wrapped up, Integra returned to her room to make her final preparations. She would be leaving first thing in the morning. Walter had located a small airport nearby, so she need not go all the way into New York City to catch her flight. It meant that she didn't have to be up at the crack of dawn the next day to catch her flight. Integra's last night at the Institute was not anything special. She slept well, and the next morning found her supervising the loading of her luggage into the Institute's van. Another benefit of having a private flight was the ability to dispense with such things as customs. Walter had taken care of arranging that as well.

Logan drove Integra out to the airport then took his leave of them. It didn't take Integra long to get settled on board, and she pulled out the latest dossier that Walter had prepared for her. She wanted to know exactly what the current state of things at Hellsing was when she landed. Alucard stopped bothering her after she had thrown several things at him. Despite her concentration on her work, Integra dozed off at some point and woke only when the plane began its decent. It was close to ten in London. Walter met them at the airport.

Integra greeted her butler with a warm smile. She had missed the man greatly.

"Welcome home, Sir Integra."

"Thank you, Walter."

"I've arranged for dinner for you once we arrive back at the mansion as well as a briefing with your commanders. I know that you have been kept informed of Hellsing's activities, but I knew you might have some questions for them."

"Very good, Walter."

Alucard disappeared once they reached the mansion. Integra assumed he'd gone to his quarters. As long as he wasn't bothering her, she didn't really care right now. Integra headed straight for her office. She seated herself behind her desk and reached for the report waiting for her. Walter appeared moments later with a cup of tea and to inform her that dinner would be ready within twenty minutes. Integra smiled. It was now good to be home. She turned her attention to the report of Walter's findings during the time she was gone; hopefully, he knew just who had tried to have her killed. She had some ideas about what to do about that. Integra sipped her tea and began to read. It was time to get back to work.