Chapter Four: The Reason for Return

Mitchell Riley may have been a teenager struggling to make ends meet, what many students at Dalmaska scorned to be a world for a typical commoner. He was actually lucky to get a scholarship and attend. Dalmaska was a very expensive academy but it was also a very exclusive one. Mitchell wasn't a particularly bright student nor a slacker yet a lot of his professors would say to him that he was fortunate to have luck on his side.

His abilities weren't very spectacular either and the scientists who invested their time and research on him said that he was useless. What good was it to just see the auras surrounding every living thing? It had to do something else. Then after his parents' death, after the scientists had given up on him, the men in black gave Mitchell that case of green vials. The liquid heightened his seeing ability to extents that he never quite imagined them to be. With the liquid, he found that he could be useful, that he could use this harmless ability for something.

It was only until his last moments did Mitchell Riley realize that he was just their test subject.

He arrived at a small alley near the school, climbing a ladder where he was told that there would be a weapon for him to use in a niche on the roof. Mitchell wasn't that well-versed in firearms as, say, the military, but the men in black deemed him capable enough of aiming and accurately hitting the target. Years of practice on the hunting ranges with his grandfather had given Mitchell a sense of confidence in this field.

Mitchell found the sniper rifle soon enough, although he had no idea how to reach the Hellsing twins fast enough to stop them if he could at all. Their auras were like blurs weaving in and out of the crowds of London's streets. He could see them moving even faster in his mind and wondered to himself if they were actually human. And then as he unzipped the bag to make sure its contents were ready for use, a small black box caught the corner of his eye. Mitchell reached for the tube and then glanced at the note imbedded inside.

------------>For your use against them. --SPAWN

"So that's what their name is," he murmured to himself and glanced around to see if anyone was nearby before popping off the cap of the tube.

This liquid was of a different color than the ones that he was used to drinking. It wasn't green; it had more of an aqua hue this time. Yet Mitchell shrugged and doused down the liquid, noting its strange aftertaste, and set the tube down.

Only a few seconds passed by before his body convulsed involuntarily and he could remember no more.

"What's happening at home that's making you hurry?" Anastasia asked her brother as they raced down London's streets.

"I don't know but Uncle Max was shouting over the phone to come home. It sounded like a battlefield there."

"Somebody's attacking the organization? Why?"

"I don't know but I bet that it had something to do with the hack this morning by SPAW--"

The twins jumped out of the way as a bullet whizzed between them, shattering the shop window nearby. The crowd around them fell into a panic, rushing to various areas for safety. They glared in the general direction where the bullet had come from at the roof of one of the nearby buildings.

"Who's there?" Daemon demanded, noting the reflection of dark metal in one of the corners of the rooftops.

The dark shadow of their attacker rose from its hiding place, his blond hair shining brightly against the sun. Because his back faced the sun's rays, it was hard even for the twins' vision to depict any facial features because he was looking down. Only the insignia of his uniform on the left shoulder stood out.

"Hey, that's our school, isn't it?" Anastasia murmured.

Daemon's eyes narrowed to thin slits as the blond man looked up, his lips curled in a feral smile and his hazel eyes filled with psychotic delight.

His eyes...they're glowing...

Disregarding any fear of heights, the unknown blond jumped off of the five story building towards them, laughing maniacally in the process. The crowd already running for safety dispersed and panicked even further as the Hellsing twins again jumped out of harm's way. Daemon cursed to himself as a bullet grazed passed his cheek, leaving a thin line of blood to trail down his face. Anastasia fared a little better, being more agile than her brother but nearly collided into a civilian who reluctantly accepted ammunition to pierce his body.

They had no weapons, no time to call for aid and a crowd to protect as they ran away from their enemy. The mystery man -- assumed to be from their school -- seemed to have no sense of what he was doing as he continued to shoot wildly about with the gun in his hands. The glow in his hazel eyes seemed to gleam more brightly in delight with each life he dissipated before reloading and setting his focus back onto Daemon and Anastasia.

"Is he a FREAK?" Anastasia asked as she nursed the leg which she clumsily smacked into the corner of a mailbox.

"...I don't think so," Daemon muttered, his eyes switching between the mystery blond -- now he saw that he looked around their age -- who just stopped and stared at them and looking for a decent object to use as a weapon of some sort.

"But what else could he be? There's no way that a normal person can jump off of a five story building and think they're fine and dandy."

A gunshot echoed in their ears as they watched in surprise at their unknown possible classmate's head spray out blood, his hazel eyes shocked at the impact and returning to normalcy, before falling to the ground.

"The hell..." Daemon managed to say before another shot rang from behind, hitting the teenager square in the left shoulder.

Before he or his sister could react, the building exploded next to them, hurdling them across the street with debris following after. A car softened Daemon's fall a bit as he smashed into the windshield, but he couldn't seem to move his body and his ears rang and echoed the deafening noise of the explosion. The last thing he remembered before darkness overtook him was seeing his twin sister's limp body being carried away by men in black into a van. And the last words he saw were SPAWN.

He awoke with a start, nearly choking on the air that filled his lungs as he frantically looked around the unfamiliar room. Daemon's crimson eyes slowly adjusted to the dark as the reality began to set in. A hand covered his eyes, focusing on the words that immediately came to mind.

"A dream...just a dream..."

Six years had passed since the day his life completely changed, four since he had sent his sister back to where she belonged and discovered SPAWN's true intent at targeting Hellsing, three since his focus went in a different direction other than finding more about SPAWN and its creators, and just a few months since he found out that his life might once again change.

Home. Daemon chuckled bitterly at the word. He hadn't been there for six years and wondered to himself if it really was home. Especially since he left on bad terms, too arrogant to think that leaving would be a big deal.

A hand on his back and the tingling sensation of some of his vision blurring brought Daemon's attention back to the person next to him. His love's violet eyes stared back at him with concern, her dark hair outlining the frame of her pale face in their moonlit hotel room.

"Ça va?"

A small smile crept to his lips as he looked back at her, wrapping an arm around her slim waist and swollen belly, pulling them back down onto the mattress of their bed. He pulled her closer to him, letting her share more of his body heat as she involuntarily shivered. He knew it wasn't much of a help to her odd condition, but it was easy for the half-vampire to relax with her in the safety of his arms.

"I'm fine," he murmured in the dark tresses of her hair, taking in its vanilla scent. "Juste un rêve."

Maria smiled into the crook of his neck, knowing better than to just let it be. "C'est vrai? It didn't sound like one."

Daemon chuckled more at his stupidity than anything. He hadn't fallen in love with her just because of her looks or her assumed frailty because of her blindness. Maria was direct yet patient, strong at heart yet kind. She was the only person that he could actually bear his soul to, even his younger self would agree -- there wasn't anyone quite like her.

"Hmm..." he hummed. "More like a memory than a dream."

"Ta soeur?"

"Yeah. Before those bastards took her away and changed her."

Maria let his words sink in for a moment, letting his thoughts reorder itself before saying:

"You're nervous, n'est-ce pas? You're afraid that they'll hate you."

Daemon remained silent as she continued on.

"But from what you say about your parents...I don't think that they'll hate you for finding on your own what happened and what you want to do to prevent it from happening again. Maybe...shocked." She looked up at him, taking a small portion of his eyesight so that she could see. "Isn't that why you decided to come back?"

"Hmmm..."

Maria looked away from him, hugging him more tightly. "It's going to be fine. It might be awkward, but you'll be fine. No matter how much they might see how you've changed, they'll still know it's you. Somewhere deep inside, the son that they remember still exists."

Daemon let her words calm his thoughts, reasoning with them to his own. They made sense in a way, her words. There was no reason to be scared, there was never a need to.

He absentmindedly nodded, sleep overcoming him again, and closed his eyes.

"Yeah, tu as raison."

The truth of the matter needed to be known, and only Hellsing had the power to do that no matter how many times he told himself that they wouldn't.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Okay, I know what you're probably thinking. "WHAT?? You just went full circle!!!" --scratches her head meekly-- Yeah, I know I did. I intended to do that ^^. It's mainly because I needed to give you guys a little bit of background as to why Daemon's the way he is now, why he had to come back to Hellsing in the first place. Of course, this way's kinda unconventional, but oh well. It made sense when I was outlining this out ^^;;;

In all honesty, even though I had a small outline of what I wanted in here, this was really hard to write. I was trying to figure out a way to get Mitchell to play a big part yet not at the same time...especially with those "mystery" voices in the previous chapter and whatnot. Plus, I needed to zoom back to the present time of the story somehow since I don't want to give too much away at this moment. What happens to Anastasia is something that I'll relay in detail in the next chapter. I hope. --laughs--

SO, in order to get some clarity, Chapters 2 and 3 go back six years before Chapter 1, detailing a bit about what Daemon was like before and how this entire matter of him leaving Hellsing came in the first place. The majority of this chapter finishes that six year bit off, with the exception of the leaving part. The last scene of this chapter takes place the night before Chapter 1 where Daemon goes and visits the Hellsing manor. The rest of this fic will continue off from where I stopped in Chapter 1 in the present time where Daemon is 24 years old, not 18. That makes sense? If not, please do say so ^^;;

I also do apologize for this being so short a chapter. It just...kinda turned out that way.

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Glossary of words (If I'm really off in my French, do forgive me...it's been a year since I've spoken it; but see, not only do you read the fic, you'll learn new words too!):

Ça va? - the equivalent (when in the form of a question) is "are you okay?"; when it's not in the form of a question, then it just means "i'm fine" or "i'm doing well"

juste un rêve - just a dream (rêve means dream)

c'est vrai? - an idiomatic expression, the equivalent to "really?" or "is that so?"; literally it means "that's true"

ta soeur - your sister (in familiar form, formal it would be votre soeur)

n'est-ce pas - an idiomatic expression, the equivalent to "right?"; literally it means "that is not"

tu as raison - another idiomatic expression (a lot of languages do that, I figure), means "you're right"; literally it means "you have reason"

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And since I can actually do it this time, shout-outs! (Can't you tell I don't really care how many reviews I get? I used to...then age overcame me...)

blumarshin - I apologize for updating so late! I'm trying to update monthly...just so you know. But thank you so much for being so patient and for your reviews! I hope this fic will continue to keep you interested as the plot further deepens and continues on ^^. And plus, for being my first reviewer, that's always a special spot ^^

lunar legend tsukihime - Hirano taking this story for a continuation of the manga?!? I would be very honored if he did... I remember meeting him at AnimeExpo 05 and he was really cool. What was hilarious was that all the questions about all his characters he answered as "deadline". Sophie is...well, she'll appear in the next chapter. To put it more precisely, Sophie is the youngest child between Alucard and Integra, and perhaps the only one who is...um...the most innocent, I believe. So, she's Daemon and Anastasia's younger sister -- and there's a very big age gap between her and her two elder siblings. I didn't create her, my friend Juuhachigou did.

darkwolvesoverlord - Thank you very much! Hope you continue to read on ^^.