The lost composer of London

The Mysterious Boys

It was just another day at the Hellsing headquarters: Madam Integra stood on the upper porch smoking a fine cigar, watching Seras and the Wild Geese train in the courtyard. And to think, I fork out all the money for their training room, but they just do it out here, she thought.

"No no no," one of the Wild Geese said, "Seras, sweet heart, you're holding that gun all wrong! Here, let me held you." The mercenary smiled and sidled up behind Seras. He decided to back off after Seras flicked him in the stomach and sent him soaring into a tree.

The other men laughed heartily. "Hahaha! You know, her grip on the gun would be much firmer if her tits weren't getting in the way!"

"Yeah," another man said. "You want me to hold those so they don't get in your way honey?" The captain, Pip Bernadotte, laughed with his men, and yet his cigarette never fell from his gaping mouth.

Seras frowned; she was quickly growing tired of the Wild Geese's perverted comments. So focused down the sight of her gun at the man-shaped targets, and with five clean, rapid shots, blew through each of the cardboard men. The mercenaries became silent the moment they saw the large holes where the target's groins used to be. They didn't make any dirty jokes about Seras for the rest of the day.

Seras smiled with satisfaction and put her gun down. Bernadotte stamped out his used cigarette and grabbed a new one when he happened to look into the sky.

"What the..." he mumbled. A few stories above him a swirling mass was gathering. Well, it wasn't so much a "mass" as it was an energy of sorts. The other men were noticing this at the time as well, and reacted in a considerably less calm fashion then Bernadotte had. One particular mercenary would forever deny the future claims that he pissed his pants, but there was a noticable stain running down his trousers at that moment.

"Miss," Bernadotte said to Seras, "you're the one with supernatural experience here. Care to tell us what that is?" Seras looked questioningly at him, then followed his gaze upwards. A slight gasp escaped her, and she held her rifle noticabley tighter.

The thing was growing larger by the second, and darker as well. It seemed as though the thing was seperating the sky itself, opening into a black, swirling void. Integra watched the energy closely, unsure at first just what this disturbance could be.

Suddenly a noise began to eminate from the hole in the sky. Seras heard it first, of course, but couldn't place it for a moment. Then, as the noise became louder and louder, she identified it: something from withing the hole was screaming.

An orange and purple figure fell out of the hole, the source of the screaming. He landed with an excruciating thud in the grass on his stomach, a fall which most assuredly had killed the boy instantaneously. Seras and some of the braver Wild Geese cautioned toward him, but jumped back when another figure landed next to him. This second boy, a particularly lighter colored one, didn't so much "land" as he did "glide" onto the ground, touching down on the grass as gracefully as a bird.

"Neku," the second boy said chipperly, "get up. That's just embarrassing."

To the other's great surprise, a heavy groan came from the orange-haired boy, Neku apparently, and he shakily pushed himself off the ground. His purple and blue clothes were covered in dirt, as well as being absolutely unfashionable, and somehow his giant purple headphones weren't shattered and stabbing into his neck.

"Ugh..." Neku groaned, holding his ribs tenderly. He looked up at the second boy, who seemed to consist of nothing but white: his clothes, his hair, everything except his lilac eyes that overflowed with devious intentions. A small grin lit his face. "What... the... HELL, Joshua!" Neku spat, partially wincing with pain. "What did you do?! Ow... How high was that drop?"

"Well, in actual space, a couple dozen feet," Joshua said, still smiling. "Probably a lot more in travel distance though."

Neku's brow wrinkled in confusion. "Travel distance? What do you mean..." Suddenly his eyes widened as he really saw his surroundings. They were in a courtyard, surrounded by what looked like military.

"Joshua," Neku growled. "Where are we?"

"Well, if I got the directions right, London, England. Not sure why we're in someone's estate though..."

A small metalic object flashed in Neku's hand, and then a small fireball erupted in his hand. "London?" he asked threateningly. "You kidnapped me, dropped me down a hole, and say that we're in LONDON?!" The flames grew in his palm, parts of it turning from orange to white. If the Wild Geese hadn't jumped so far back in their various shocks, they would be able to feel the heat. Some of them still could.

Joshua's smile didn't weaken even a bit. "Come on Neku, what are you doing?"

A second fireball spawned in Neku's other hand, and he flourished them with a look of deep-seated resentment. "Shiki isn't here to keep me from beating you now, Joshua." He lobbed the fireballs toward Joshua's head at a speed only Seras could really follow. They burned like comets through the air, and everyone was sure that Joshua was dead.

Joshua raised his right hand and, in one decisive movement, crushed the fireballs with his fingers. There wasn't even a burn mark on his skin. At that point the Wild Geese had been surprised so many times they were numb to this new scene.

Neku raised his hand above his head, and Seras could properly see what was in his hand earlier: a little metal pin with a fire design on it. As she saw it, more fire erupted from the trinket and coated Neku's arm. He thrust his arm forward and shot the fire at Joshua again. Just like before he simply grasped it in the air and the fire disappeared as quickly as it was created.

Joshua was still smiling warmly towards his apparent enemy. "Neku please, this is no way to act. We are these people's new guests after all!" Neku froze, suddenly aware of all the eyes staring at him. He looked back at Seras and the Wild Geese, and his composure changed completely. He tucked the pin in his short's pocket, making a tiny clink sound when it dropped. That wasn't the only pin he had.

Seras watched the pocket for a moment, but then saw out of the corner of her eyes something that truly inspired fear in her heart: Integra was marching down the courtyard, nearly biting through her cigar with twisted rage. Behind her lurked the tall, dark man in a red trench coat and brim hat.

She had summoned Alucard.

These kids were dead