The lost composer of London

    A cold wind spread ashes over the London countryside. Sirens echoed in the distance, helicopters hovered over the skyline. Emergency rescue teams from neighboring cities were pouring in to attend to the survivors before their homes crumbled on top of them. It was all ever so far away, yet always visible from Hellsing Manor. Seras and Annabelle were too absorbed with each other to pay them any mind.

A tense silence followed Seras' initial challenge as the women sized each other up. It was no concern of Seras' what had become of Annabelle's hand, just as it wasn't Annabelle's what had become to Seras' arm. The purpose of each was apparent to them both. Seras let out a single humorless laugh and ran a hand through her hair. Annabelle smirked patronizingly and puffed out her chest.

Another moment. Then Annabelle snapped her fingers, and a monsterous flame lifted its head behind her.

"Burn in Hell, Seras."

The fire Noise shot forward so quickly it sounded like it was coming from a high-pressure hose. Everything burned in its path, both the ground and the air around it. Eyes widening, Seras disappeared behind the wall of fire. The conflagration devoured everything up to the manor itself, dead bodies and abandoned weapons.

A crack and pop sounded beneath Annabelle's feet, and out came Seras from the ground with teeth and claws bared. She intended to rip out Annabelle's throat in one swift motion. Annabelle reacted quickly, grabbing Seras' face with one hand to hold back her vampire fangs, and thrust her other arm toward her heart. Seras grabbed the sharpened bone, and the two struggled against each other for several moments, wrestling to eviscerate the other's vitals first. The Noise looped back and roared behind the combatants, opening its maw to swallow Seras whole. A Familiar tendril shot out and dragged Seras out of Annabelle's grip before the Noise reached them.

"Careful, mon cher!" Bernadotte said from behind her brain. "Let this inferno flank us and we're done for!"

The fire regrouped with Annabelle as she stood and scowled in frustration. "What's the matter Seras? I thought hellspawn liked fire!" Annabelle began to float off the ground, stretching her hands and straightening her back so she could look down on Seras. Utter hatred glowed in her sickly green eyes. Wires of flame danced around her form, practically turning Annabelle into a shadow.

"Tsk." Seras wiped some dirt from her chin. "Take a look at yourself Anny."

"Shut up!" An explosion knocked Seras off her feet as the Noise threw a fireball where she had been standing. "You don't get to lecture me, vampire! I played the Game! I followed orders! I did everything that was ever asked of me! I EARNED my status! My power! You couldn't even know what I've had to do to get where I am today!"

Seras grit her teeth and dashed into Annabelle, swinging her fists. "I know exactly what you did! You ripped me away from the only family I had left, you bitch!" Her knuckled audibly cracked against Annabelle's jaw and ribs, but Annabelle wouldn't let her see her flinch. She bore into her just as ferociously, deflecting blows and stabbing with her exposed bones wherever she could land a hit. Meanwhile all around them fire and Familiar energy twisted like a violent tornado, Noise and Bernadotte biting into each other.

"I cannot hold it, Seras!" She growled and retreated again, and Annabelle gave chase with her fire close behind her. The two darted across the field and into the sky, landing blows against each other like peels of thunder.

Inside the manor, Integra lied in bed with a pillow wrapped around her head. The shocks were causing ash to sprinkle onto her from the floor above. "I don't care, I don't care, Seras can handle it, I don't care..."

Seras rolled away from the Noise's burning grasp. She stood back up with a discarded assault rifle and unloaded the clip into Annabelle. She didn't even have the fire burn the bullets away, they simply passed through her ineffectually. Seras threw the gun away and cursed. "Damn Nazi's couldn't even get blessed fucking bullets?!"