Red stormed down the corridor of the BPRD, his boots slamming against the concrete floor as he went; his red tail twisted agitatedly and a half chewed cigar butt was being shredded and ground to death between reds teeth. Hellboy threw open the vault door to his room slamming it shut behind him, the wall shuck with the force and dust from the previous cracks floated through the air. As soon as the door was shut and locked however Hellboy lost all of his anger, his shoulders slumped, he felt defeated. Red sat down onto the side of his bed, one of his cats called pascal who looked more like he should have been named Mr Hyde jumped up next to him. The cat began rubbing up against his arm in a soothing manner, red stroked him gently with his stone hand while staring at the wall and he sighed loudly, trying not to let tears sting his eyes.
Red had never really had much of a love life, don't get me wrong there has been an odd boyfriend here or there but in his line of work he only really came across agents … and it was the same story each time. The novelty of dating a demon would wear off; they would eventually grow tired of him and begin wanting a partner that would grow old with them, being a demon that wasn't an option. So over the years Red had given up on finding a mate and perfected his tough game face, for years he has soldiered this way until one cute little brunet had become his 'nanny'. His inner demon was instantly hooked as soon as he had smelt his new caretaker, his demon liked him so his brain kicked into overdrive to protect himself and so the harsh words had left his mouth before he could stop them, reds the barriers went back up. And Yet John was tough to shift, John challenged him, infuriated him, cared for him and red knew he could rely and trust the younger agent, but the most important thing to Hellboy is that john never flinched from him. So over time John started to win his human side over and Red became complacent and comfy with their close relationship…which led him to his current predicament
- - - 24 hours ago - - -
"You're going to leave me here?" John ignored Hellboys attempt to block the door, having learnt to slink past him with ease despite Hellboys size.
"It's witchcraft john" red tried to grab him with his tail which john managed to catch and tugged lightly in an almost flirting manner "something could go wrong" red insisted.
"I've been on plenty of missions before, besides you're not worried about the other agents" John almost huffed as red made three large strides away from the door and easily caught up with him.
"You're my partner" Red spluttered to try and defend his position moving his hands wildly to explain.
"Exactly I'm your partner, we work TOGETHER" John grinned like a cat that had got the cream.
"Not on this one we aren't!" Hellboys gruff voice got deeper with his anger and frustration, seeing the hurt on Johns face pained him and he went to explain but Clay beat him too it .
"Come on love birds" Clay rolled his eyes as he checked off a list standing next to the garbage truck.
Red tried once again to stop him "Red this isn't going to be what kills me" John sighed running a hand through his hair.
"Look we need someone stay with the van and the new recruits in case we need back up if something dose go wrong and we need an experienced agent to do it" Clay gave John a stern look as he went to complain.
"But Clay"
"No arguing it's a fair compromise"
John nodded, at least it was a compromise, John climbed into the truck closely followed by Hellboy who sat next to John on the ride; his tail unconsciously wrapped around Johns ankle loosely, it was comforting for both of them.
But it didn't calm John as much as it usually would; John had always been there for Hellboy by his side through ever fight, on every mission. Hellboy had never questioned his ability …well other than the pancake incident… and he had to pick this mission to do it … in front of all of the other agents, John looked at the floor unaware of Hellboys amber eyes trying to catch his and the blue eyes of Abe who watched him with worry.
The ride took about half an hour till they had reached a large forest on the outskirt of the city, they followed an off road path to reach a large open stretch of grass where they parked, it made it easier to see any enemies coming as the forest was so dense.
All the agents pilled out of the truck Clay with giving orders to his agents, Abe jumped out next with Hellboy and John in tow. Hellboy joined the agents and John rounded up the newbies explaining that they would need to monitor the agents and keep track of them via computer; he then posted three agents outside the van to keep a survey lance. Clay's team made steady progress into the forest, Red was careful to make sure that no one noticed when he turned to look back at John, who smiled back at him despite himself.
Turning back he carried on walking deeper into the forest following Clay, Abe piped up quietly next to him "You shouldn't treat him like that Red"
"He could get hurt" Reds voice carried through the crisp night air
"He could get hurt crossing a street, this is his job" Abe ignored Hellboys frown
"And what he's going to leave if I don't let him get hurt?"
"He wouldn't leave you red, not by choice anyway" Abe sighed.
"And what's that meant to mean"
"God your so dense sometimes" Abe would have rolled his eyes if he could Hellboy almost growled when Clay shushed them with a wave of his hand, they had found what they were looking for.
The BPRD did regular scans of the surrounding area and anything with a magical trace was investigated and sometimes they came across witches, some were your lovely white wiccans and others used black powerful magic, they had lost a lot of good agents that way, they were unpredictable and hard to defeat. They usually traveled through this forest in order to go unnoticed. Continuing slowly Abe scanned the people he could feel moving on the other side of a few trees, smiling at the result "They mean us no harm"
Clay nodded but entered the witch's cavern with his gun drawn never the less.
There was a witch awaiting them on the other side, her long golden hair framed her pale face, rosy lips, green eyes and adorable freckles "Hello, I've come to take you to our mistress, will you please follow me?" a large glowing orb hovered around her which clay seemed nervous about but he nodded anyway "yes that would be agreeable" He lowered his weapon.
The blond witch nodded and turned, her blue dress billowing around her "Don't worry about the orbs, we use them purely as a light source" she smiled at them and then set her gaze to Abe who was walking alongside her "You must be Abe, we felt your presence" she held her hand up to him and he held one webbed hand up to her in a peaceful gesture. She led them to a small clearing with one large tent and a fire outside it, which other witches where gathered around, she lead them through the group and into the open hatch in the tent.
She bowed "I have brought you the ones you seek"
"Thank you Aria" a slim and tall woman sat on a chair with a young lady behind her brushing her hair, she looked more like an elf than a witch with her pointed ears and long ebony hair, more royalty than any witch they had seen before. Abe bowed urging the others to do so with a tilt fo his head.
"Please there is no need" she smiled and stood waving away the woman brushing her hair "would you like to sit and have tea?"
"Doesn't sound too bad" Red grinned realizing his worry was for nothing.
The eleven lady twisted her hand elegantly making their hair almost stand on end and seats appeared with a small table and a pot of steaming tea.
"My name is Helana, we expected you to come" she smiled as the agents took their seats "You protect this city well and make it safer for us to pass through, many of the dark witches now fear to pass through here" she watched as the tea pot poured tea into each cup and handed them out to each agent.
"Thank you for your warm welcome, I'm agent Clay may I ask how long you will be in the area" Clay took his cup sniffing the contents before taking a sip.
"Only for the night we have a long journey ahead of us"
"Will you give us your word than no one will come to harm while you are here?"
"You have my word" she nodded "Do I have yours that no agent will harm a witch in our coven?"
"I give my word and that of the BPRD" Clay nodded back
Helana turned to Abe and Hellboy "I am sure there are questions that you have about us, please ask away" she smiled gently.
- - - Back at the truck - - -
Back at the truck John had become impatient, nothing had happened and the newbies where becoming restless, the group will have made contact by now. Hearing a noise outside John frowned, no doubt one of the newbies mucking around. Again he heard the sound, drawing his weapon he made his way outside, only for there to be nothing… there was no sound, no rustle in the trees, no wind.
For the second time that night he wished he with Clay and the other agents. Looking around he saw the newbies asleep on the ground by the truck, John frowned carefully walking over to them and giving them a Sharpe nudge with his boot, no luck. Again John looked out into the darkness until he noticed a small gold floating orb no larger than a golf ball, it was trying to hide in the grass only for a little girl to shout "Gotcha" and grab it with a smile on her face chuckling she let it go only for it to wizz about her merrily, in Johns confusion he lowered his weapon slightly.
The girl turned to look at John, illuminated by the orb John could see her clearly; she looked like a small eleven child dressed in a black cloak with long red hair, carefully and quietly she stepped through the grass towards him. As she edged closer John could see one eye was green and the other was amber, her small freckles made her seem innocent but John knew better and raised his weapon "please stay where you are"
The girl stopped and looked at him quizzically "I'm not here to hurt you John" she smiled sweetly "I'm here to help"
"I don't need your help
"Yes you do. My mum told me not to help strangers, but I know your name John so were not strangers…. right?" She smiled sweetly up at him.
John frowned but played along "and what's your name?"
"Agatha"
"Agatha did you hurt those agents?" John gestured to the agents asleep against the van.
"No I just put them to sleep, they pointed guns at me … so I made them sleep" John nodded in relief
She stepped closer still but John felt he could no longer point the gun at her and placed it back in his holster "you said you wanted to help me, what did you want to help me with?"
The little girl stopped in front of him, her small figure only reached his waist "Your ill John, you have been for a while" Johns shock overrided the fact that the small girl had taken his hand.
"No I'm…"John tried to stutter out
"You went to the doctor last week to confirm it, but he can't save you" tears pooled in Johns eyes "But your meant for grate things John and I'm here to help, cos that's what friends do" she smiled again and John began to panic, he couldn't move. Bright blue light engulfed their entwined hands as Agatha began to chant and hum, the blue light grew burning through Johns vaines, he was unable to scream at the feeling of being burnt from the inside out, the blue light continued to crawl though his vaines until it reached his eyes, John managed to grit his teeth.
- - - Back at the camp - - -
Helena stood in shock tipping over the tea she had in her lap.
"Do you have other agents here?" she looked at them in fear as they thought about what to say "Quickly! Do you?"
"Yes we do"
"Oh god, quickly!" with a speed that only she seemed possess she began to run quickly followed by Hellboy, the agents and the rest of the witches. Helena crossed the fields before Hellboy was even half way through them "AGETH NO!" with her magic she threw Agetha backwards severing the connection between her and John, John dropped like a rag doll to the floor. The witches that had followed behind rushed around the child while Helana rushed to John checking for a pulse, she rested her hand on his forehead and closed her eyes, she frowned deeply with saddened eyes and stepped back to look at the child "Agetha, what have you done?!"
"I only wanted to help" she looked up with tears streaming down her face as Hellboy finally reached them immediately Kneeling down next to John in a panic "He was very ill, he was going to die …. I had to try" Agetha cried into one witches cloak. Hellboy checked Johns pulse before pulling him into his arms.
"You can't save someone who is meant to die Agatha, you leave magic behind in them and you could have killed yourself!"
"What do you mean die?" Red raised his head in question.
The girl went to speak again but Helana cut her off.
"He has cancer, he was riddled with it, no human could have saved him" she looked back at the seemingly lifeless figure of John "Agatha was only trying to help"
"But she saved him right"
"Theres very little chance that he will live and if he does…. He won't be the same" Hellboy held John tighter as the BPRD agents finally caught up with him. "I'm extremely sorry, all our coven will be confined to our tent and we will be gone by the morning, we will pray for him" With that Helena ushered Agatha away from the group and back to the tent, tears streamed down the young girls face as she was escorted back through the crowd of witches and back through the forest.
Clay stood next to hell boy stunned, even at his full high with Red kneeling down he could only just see over Reds shoulder at John, Johns pale skin almost seemed grey "What do we do?"
Abe was busy waving his hand over John; his webbed hands stretched wide "We need to get him back to base, I can't read him, but he's not dead, I need medical equipment!" Red lifted John up in one swift movement and climbed into the van with ought a word, he rested John comfortably in his lap with Johns head resting against his shoulder, he could hear John struggling to breath and his shallow breath left goosebumps against Reds neck. Red had unknowingly become close to John and he was now about to be ripped from him, if it wasn't for the girls spell slowly killing him then it would have happened later on from the cancer; Red dint know which was worse. Red ignored the sounds of the agents pulling their unconscious comrades glanced up to look at Abe who was obviously having an internal battle with himself while staring at John that was never good; he could always rely on Abe to know it all. Red felt dread was over him as Abe looked guiltily down at the floor away from Red and Hellboy held John even tighter in those last few moments before they reached the base.