Myers marveled at all the new people he was meeting at his new job, from Abraham Sapien, the aquatic fish-man, to Hellboy, the large red man he would be looking after from now on. They had just gotten back from a mission at the museum involving some creature and Hellboy was in the medical room getting his wound looked at. The room was mostly quiet except for Hellboy's sarcastic comments when there was a loud crash down the hall.
"What do you mean he got hurt?!" a woman's voice yelled and Myers looked at the door.
Hellboy turned to Abraham, Abe for short, "think the boy-scout has met mother yet?"
"Mother?" Myers asked before the door was opened and a woman entered, at least Myers thought it was a woman. She had green skin, pinkish peach colored hair, and was wearing something that looked like peach colored armor that only covered her torso and trailed slightly down her legs. But what really caught Myers off guard was the long green tail that trailed after her with what looked like some kind of fin-like things at the end.
"Hellboy! What happened? I was sleeping when your father came in and told me that you got hurt while you were out!" she said in a kind yet strict tone as she hurried over to him to check the wound.
"Hey mom, yea I got hurt but it's just a scratch! Nothing serious!" Hellboy tried to explain himself.
"What were you fighting?"
"A creature named Sammael, the…" Abe started and the woman cut him off.
"The Desolate one, I know who he is. Why was he at the museum?" she looked confused for a moment before she caught sight of Myers and smiled, "hello, you must be the new agent Trevor was telling me about."
"Yes, I'm John Myers, it's nice to meet you…" he trailed off realizing he didn't know her name.
She laughed, "My real name is too complicated to pronounce, you may call me Rayea, or mother, everyone does around here."
"Yes ma'am." Myers replied as he shook her hand.
"Boy-scout, this is my mom, show some respect!" Hellboy said to the flustered agent.
"Hellboy, you be quiet while Abraham fixes you up. Abraham, please tell me Sammael did not lay eggs in his arm."
"It did, I just finished getting the last one out."
"Thank goodness, may I have all the eggs please?" she asked as she held out her hand for them.
Abe nodded and handed them all to her as Hellboy spoke up, "what are you gunna do with those mom?"
"I am going to put them in stasis, that way they will not hatch anytime in the near future."
"Why not just get rid of them?" Myers asked and Rayea turned to him.
"I am physically incapable of taking a life Agent Myers, and I refuse to watch others do so." She then turned and walked out of the room.
"Wow boy-scout, you really made her mad" Hellboy said right before Professor Trevor Broom walked in.
"I see Agent Myers has met your mother, did something happen? She looked rather upset when I passed her in the hallway."
"I'm afraid Agent Myers has not exactly made it on Ms. Rayea's good list." Abe explained as he wrapped up Hellboy's arm.
Professor Broom turned to Myers, "do not fret dear boy, she is a very forgiving creature, you will not be on her bad side for long."
"What is she?"
"She is an Earth spirit; she controls the very land we walk on. Any creature that is born on this planet, no matter how small or insignificant holds a place in her heart. All of the agents make the mistake of asking her why she keeps so many dangerous creatures in stasis rather than killing them. She believes that any creature, no matter how evil it is supposed to be, if raised in the right conditions, can be good."
Myers thought it over for a minute before asking another question, "Why does everyone call her mother?"
"Well, she is like a mother to everyone at this Bureau. Hellboy calls her mother because she has been here his entire life; he grew up knowing no other parental figures except for me and Rayea."
The Professor was silent for a moment as he heard a voice whispering in his head, "Trevor, come to me my love, I need you." "Pardon me; there is something that I must see to."
"Tell mom Myers is sorry!" Hellboy called after the Professor as the elderly man left the room.
Professor Broom walked down the halls of the Bureau until he came to a wooden door that stood out from all the metal around it. He opened the door and entered what had to be the most amazing room in the entire building. The ground was covered in fresh green grass with flowers of every kind growing here and there. Vines grew up the walls toward a ceiling that looked like the starry night sky outside, bright moonlight filling the room in its bright glow. He looked around and saw Rayea standing beside a vine covered wall that had small niches that held what looked like closed flower buds.
"What did you need me for Rayea?" Trevor asked as he walked over to her.
"Forgive me my love, I know you were speaking with Hellboy and the others but I could not bear my child's death any longer."
Trevor turned her to face him and saw tears falling from her eyes. He watched the decent of one tear all the way to the ground and watched as flowers appeared where the little water droplet had fallen. "I know it is hard for you, Hellboy knows to try and bring them back alive unless he has no other choice." He said as he pulled her into a hug.
Rayea cried into the old man's shoulder for awhile before she pulled away. Her eyes studied his wrinkled face as she rested a hand on his cheek, "thank you for being with me all these years my love. I know that your time on my Earth is drawing to an end but I just want you to know that I am glad you are the only lover I have ever taken in my lifetime."
"You should rest, you've had a hard evening" Trevor said to the Earth spirit in front of him.
Rayea nodded, "yes of course, will you stay with me for awhile? I know you have other things to do but I just want to stay with you, at least for a bit."
Trevor smiled and nodded before they walked over to a patch of tall grass surrounded by flowers that served as Rayea's bed. They lay down and she quickly laid her head on his chest, his arms wrapped around her, just like they had slept so many times before in all the years they were together.
After Professor Broom left the infirmary Myers looked at Hellboy, "how did you know he would be seeing Rayea?"
Hellboy smirked, "'there are things I must see to' has always been father's code for 'I'm gunna go spend quality time with mother.'"
"So Professor Broom and Rayea are together?" Myers asked shocked.
"Yea, they have been my entire life. She has this funky psychic way of talking to people she has a connection with. She does it with me sometimes but mostly just with pops."
"I once inquired on Mrs. Rayea about their relationship and she told me that the Professor is the only lover she has ever taken in her entire existence, which is a rather long time." Abe said.
"How old is she?" Myers asked as they finally walked out of the room.
"She is an Earth spirit so naturally she is as old as the Earth" Abe replied as they walked to the library.
"That is a long time; did they have any kids of their own? I mean besides Hellboy?"
"They did once, but there was an accident and Mrs. Rayea was never the same after it" Abe said before he disappeared only to appear a moment later inside his tank.
"I wonder what happened" Myers said but this time Abe did not supply an answer.
"You want to know you have to ask either her or the Professor yourself, it is not my place to tell you." Was all Abe said before he swam away from the confused agent.
Trevor Broom and the rest of the army searched the ruins from top to bottom looking to see if anything made it though the portal. He and another officer were in what looked like a tomb, Trevor was crudely bandaging the wound in his leg.
"Trevor! What happened?" a worried female voice said as a woman appeared and crouched next to the wounded man.
"Don't worry Rayea, I'll be fine" Trevor said to the worried Earth Spirit.
The officer that was with him heard them talking and turned the flashlight on them, "what the?! That thing has a tail!"
"She, not thing. This is Rayea, she's an Earth spirit." Trevor turned his attention back to Rayea, "a portal was opened, we have been searching to see if anything made it through, have you sensed anything?"
"Yes, but the creature is not dangerous." She stood and turned to face a small ledge behind the soldier to see what looked like a small red monkey.
Rayea smiled at the little boy after they managed to get him down, "I don't care where he came from; he's my little boy now."
The small demon giggled happily as Rayea held him, the smile on her face growing as she looked at him.
Send me a PM with your e-mail address in it if you want to see the picture of what Rayea looks like. I tried to put it as my profile picture but it was the wrong file type. thanks for reading!
~NightStalker