Hellsing, Sir Integral Hellsing, Shroud
Title: Penelope
Author: chickenperson52
Fandom: Hellsing
Characters: Sir Hellsing, Seras Victoria, OC
Pairings: slight IntegralxAlucard, one-sided IntegralxOC
Disclaimer: Hellsing is the property of Kohta Hirano, etc. I make no profit from the writing of this fanfiction.
Description: Set in the thirty year gap before Romancia. Integral wards off one suitor while waiting for another.
6. Shroud
“You know, I was reading the Odyssey recently, and I noticed something interesting. I thought, as a well-educated woman, you might appreciate it.”
Integra looked up. Sir Stanton was the most persistent of her suitors; after becoming a Round Table member in place of Sir Penwood, he’d begun lingering after meeting to chat. This had progressed to invitations to various social events, and when he’d realized she was just going to keep rejecting him, he’d taken to dropping by whenever he was ‘in the area’. He’d made several attempts to get to know her, some of which she had indulged in an attempt to get rid of him, some of which she’d simply ignored.
“Did you now, Sir Stanton?” She deliberately used a formal address. She was not going to let him think for a moment that she was interested.
“Penelope-Odysseus’s faithful wife-spent all of time weaving a burial shroud by day and unraveling it by night. You do an awful lot of paperwork.”
“We’re both busy women. I fail to see the relevance of this, Sir Stanton.” She stressed the word ‘busy’, hoping he would take the hint and leave. While she wasn’t doing anything too important now-it was noon, after all-that didn’t mean he wasn’t annoying and arrogant. But he only gave her a cheeky smile that made her wince inwardly.
“That looks just like the paperwork you were working on last week, and the week before, and the week before...an interesting parallel, isn’t it? Who is he?”
“What are you talking about?” Integral asked, exasperated. She had a feeling he was insinuating something unpleasant.
“Your Odysseus. The person you’re so devoted to that you isolate yourself, living your life shut up in this office, only coming out at night to hunt monsters...come on, Integral. Tell me. I can keep a secret.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “There is no such person.” She wasn’t married to Alucard. “Don’t you have something to do beside impede me at every turn, Sir Stanton? And do not be so rude as to refer to me by my first name.”
“There’s a very nice world outside of this building, Sir Hellsing. Let me show it to you.” He came closer, standing behind her chair. She wondered if he thought this was romantic, or even remotely appealing. All she could think of was the budget report she was working on and how difficult it was to focus when he kept interrupting her.
That his words struck a chord in her, albeit one that invoked completely different emotions than the ones he had intended them to, she ignored entirely. Those feelings, of loss and hope, weren’t going anywhere. They could be analyzed alter, preferably with a cigar in her mouth and a gun and target at her disposal.
“Sir Stanton. Since you have proven yourself to be extremely dense, allow me to explain something to you as directly as I can. Your behavior is at best annoying and at worse highly offensive. Get the hell out of my house, and don’t come back without an invitation. And hurry, my patience runs deadly thin.”
“There’s no need to be rude, Sir Hellsing.”
“You’ve been rude since the day we met, Sir Stanton, and I am a proponent of fighting fire with fire-now leave or I will have you forcibly escorted out.”
He accepted his defeat then, leaving, and she heard his footsteps as he made his way downstairs. Satisfied that she would be left alone, she turned her full attention back to her report. The time passed swiftly, and before Integral knew it, the sun was setting, bathing the room in an orange light.
Seras knocked and then came in, looking cheerful as ever. She was adjusting well to her new life, her new powers, and her new self.
“Sir Stanton was here today again, the guard told me, Sir.” Seras had met the other knight once and taken an immediate disliking to hm. She said something about him made her think his blood would be nasty, and she stuck by that first impression despite his attempts to win her over the few times they’d talked. She was also aware of his intents towards Integral, although she knew better than to voice any of her ideas about it.
“He was irritating, as usual. I don’t think he’ll come back. I suppose you never will know for certain how he tastes.” Integral teased.
“Ew. He’s disgusting, I really think he is. Master wouldn’t like him, either.”
“No.” Integra agreed. “Alucard was the jealous type. He would hate Sir Stanton just for existing near me.”
“Master will come back, Sir Integral.” Seras said, as she’d said everyday since they’d come home, as she would say until the day he finally did. “I know he will.”
Integra nodded, thinking of Penelope and her burial shroud. What was ten years, even twenty? She had a good fifty years left in her, and she would lead Hellsing til the last. She could wait that long; she could wait longer. She was a patient woman.
But she still hoped that Alucard would hurry.