Disclaimer: I own nothing from Hellboy, Comic/Movie or otherwise.
Flames of Freedom
Chapter 2.) Requite, Sunlight
Laughter filled the cafeteria on the sunny Tuesday afternoon. Clapping and cheering ensued as the smiling faces watched the incredible, and rather humorous, sight before them. The tables had been moved to make extra room for the group of warm family people watching their young one dance, his moves fluid and graceful, a silly grin plastered on his pale face. His sneakers made squeaks but couldn't be heard over the obnoxious music that was being played. The music slowly died off and he slowly came to a halting stop, his family clapped and cheered some more before he went to his lone, thin mother, breathing hard from his exertion. She hugged him back, laughing.
"That was amazing, what the hell do you call it?" The other child of the three present rolled her eyes, brown curls bouncing.
"People call it the 'shuffle', it looks retarded." Her voice was every bit as snooty as her mother's was. Fharryn ignored the girl who was just a few months shy of being two years younger than her 10 year old son. He was still grinning,
"I've been practicing all year! Did you like it?" He smiled expectantly and she nodded, leaning down to kiss his forehead.
"Of course I did, you were wonderful, Nehmain." He beamed and looked around to see his grandparents getting out the chocolate cake. 32 various colored candles were being stuck in it, this year he had wanted one wish for his birthday and that was to celebrate his mother's. His own birthday would be a month later and he'd made sure that his grandma promised to come here for his party like he had every other year. For his mother's birthday he had personally asked his whole family to come, this included his Uncle Trevor's wife and two children, Samantha, his eldest daughter, and TJ, or, Trevor Jr. who was a year younger than his sister. His Grandparents were a given, especially his Grandpa Red, who always visited his mother anyways. He looked up at her now, her eyes sparkling and a small smile on her lips.
"Hope you like it, I remembered you said you were a . . . uh . . . veg head or something like that. . . . and the cake is made of all organic ingredients." Her eyes lit up brighter and she kneeled down to hug her boy again.
"How observant of you, I'm very proud of you, you know?" He put his thin arms around her neck and hugged her.
"I'm proud of you too." She snorted and raised a dark eyebrow at him.
"Oh?" He nodded as he led her to the table as Liz began to light the candles.
"Yeah, never being able to go outside . . . I'd die for sure. Yet you never leave here . . ." He seemed to think of something as she sat next to him,
"Why don't you?" The room went silent and she put an arm on the table and turned to face him.
"Why don't I leave? Well . . . I suppose I'm not allowed to." She said it grudgingly, like a child grounded, a plate, fork, and napkin was given to them both. He wrinkled his nose,
"How come?" Again the room was silent and a bit of nervous tension grew about them.
"Well, I killed a bunch of people and stuff. It's like jail for people with power." Liz dropped the paper plates on the table at the 'matter-of-fact' tone her daughter had used. Trevor seemed to stiffen, his shoulders high and his two children stood with large eyes at their aunt. This seemed to affect Nehmain differently though, he seemed to be confused.
"But . . . why? Did they hurt you?" She shrugged before patting his shoulder.
"Not all of them, but some deserved it and others died for a good cause." A fist came down on the table and Nehmain jumped, Liz exclaimed at her now angered son.
"How dare you speak like that! Died for a good cause?" Fharryn turned and with a straight face looked her twin in the eyes.
"Yes, just as more will die for a good cause." He growled and threw his plate on the table, Debby whispered to Liz about taking the children to the bathroom.
"A good cause! You seriously are as nuts as Dr. Kline claims." She shrugged, unaffected.
"Well, it's not like I said 'good for them' now did I?" She smiled reassuringly at her nervous son. Hellboy placed a red hand to his son's shoulder to keep him from pushing it further.
"Take it easy, you know she isn't in a right mind, hasn't been for years." Fharryn felt a small spark of anger light up but it died away as the drugs in her went to work. Anger was powerful for her and as much as the collar took that power away, the drugs took her emotions away.
Liz pushed the cake towards her daughter and gestured for it but as she leaned forward to blow them out her son grabbed her arm.
"Wait! Grandma, where is the camera?" Liz stood still for a moment before shaking her head to clear her mind and dug in her black leather purse to get out the old silver camera she'd been using for years. She readied the camera and waited for Nehmain's approval.
"Blow them out with me?" Nehmain beamed at his mother's request and on the count of three he helped her blow them. They clapped and Liz went to cut everyone a piece just as Debby came back with her children. They ate their cake and drank hot pumpkin spice tea (at Nehmain's polite request). Nehmain got up and Fharryn's eyes followed him until he returned with a large backpack. He pulled out three wrapped packages and pushed a red wrapped bundle towards her. It had more tape then paper she thought and smiled as she tore into it to reveal a black shirt with a red heart patch in the front and a pair of dark grey jean shorts.
"I hope it all fits, I guessed on a lot and had to have a lot of help from Grandma." Tears grew in her eyes as she pulled her son in for a hug and several kisses.
"I can't wait to wear them." He grinned and pushed a plain flat box towards her.
"It's from me and grandpa." He whispered just in time for her to see a wink from Hellboy. She took the top off and revealed a painting. The frame was a bit shot but it was unique in the way it was put together with heavy staples. The painting itself made the tears that had come into her eyes before fall, her mouth smiling though. It was a painting of a park, a small red painted wooden bench and a cute walk surrounded with lots of green grass. There were trees and flowers and even a little dog.
"I painted it myself, it's not as great as I thought it would turn out but I wanted it to look like a window or something. . ." She wiped the tears away and gestured to the frame,
"You try that . . . Dad?" The room went stiff and Hellboy nodded, a small closed half smile came to him.
"It had to look like a window frame." He chuckled and she grabbed her son's hand.
"It's beautiful . . . you keep this up young man and you are going to be a famous artist." She kissed his cheek and he slid the last gift to her. It was a square box and wrapped in brown packing paper.
"It's from us." Trevor said stiffly, though he watched to see if she liked it. She tore the paper off and saw that it was a shoe box. She bit her lip and pulled the lid off to reveal ankle high black boots. She looked up with surprise and confusion.
"We don't have the best relationship, I know . . . but that doesn't mean I don't care or that I don't love you. Dr. Kline and I talked and he said that if your good behavior keeps up then he will arrange to let you outside for a while. Figured you would need some shoes." She pulled them out to inspect them; they were expensive and very durable, perfection in her eyes. She looked up to him with tenderness in her golden orbs.
"Thank you. I appreciate it."
"Happy birthday, Fharryn." She nodded,
"Happy Birthday, Trevor." Nehmain hugged her and she had a watery smile, the rest of her shared birthday went well.
I couldn't remember the last time I'd worn regular people clothes, pants alone was an ancient myth for me. I had been gifted the use of a mirror and in it I saw a dire person, her form much too thin, skin drawn too tight over bones. She was young, looked no more than early twenties and I knew that she was a lovely woman when she was healthy. The shorts were just a bit too big without the extra weight that I needed and I had to borrow a belt from one of the nurses. I loved my shirt most of all, the black shirt with the red heart patch; it was a large patch over my chest. I turned to look at my 'window' and smiled, I had put it next to the years old crayon picture my sweet boy had done for me; the very same shirt was in it.
"You look dashing my dear." I fought hard to not cringe at his faintly accented voice, instead, I turned around and gave him a small smile.
"Well, not quite dashing. No makeup for dashing. I could be dandy though." His mouth twisted into a smile from my play of words, he knew how I felt about him surely. I looked back to the mirror, my tail swinging behind me.
"Will you wear the boots Mr. Sherman bought for you or will you be barefoot?" I looked to the ankle socks that awaited me and nodded.
"Yes, I think I will try them." I moved to sit on my bed and began to apply the socks to each foot before grabbing a boot and running my strangely colored hand over the top of it. Boots were made for using. I slid my foot into it, adjusted it around and went to tie it up. I stretched my leg out and looked at my now booted foot. With a nod I went to treat the other the same and before long I was back at the mirror. They made my legs look nice.
"Ah, they appear to fit well." They did indeed. I looked just 'dandy' except for the thinness and the bags under my eyes and that damnable collar. I hated that collar second to Kline. He held his arm out for me and I found my insides burning as i took it so he could escort me out to the small yard the Bureau had produced for the occupants that stayed longer than usual.
I should be dead.
My sentence was death; the only way to get out of that nasty draw is to delay it. I delayed it first by scientific discovery my fire and tail. Then after my pregnancy, it was a strange case of hybrid making. I'd been with child for two years and the birth had been . . . even stranger. I had expected some deformed creature and out had come this beautiful pale baby boy. Never had i been more proud.
He hadn't been able to take in anything other than the milk I'd made. Genetically he couldn't eat human food; he had to take supplements in order to stomach it. Nehmain was his father's son by all accounts. He couldn't eat meat and without the supplements he couldn't eat anything from a store that wasn't grown or made from organic ingredients.
Then after Liz had taken him from me he had gotten ill. She had brought him to Kline who had him 'stationed' with me and his recovery was nearly immediate. Kline came out with a theory that we were linked as Mother and Son and was worried that my death would also be his. I went along with this not because I was afraid of dying, far from it in fact. No, I went along so that I could be sure Nehmain was protected.
I had to get him to his father and away from Liz. It killed my spirit more each day that he was with her.
I could see light at the end of the metallic hallway and I sucked in a deep bit of air, I hadn't seen sunlight in person in 10 years.
Fharryn held her palms out as if to catch the rays of sunlight themselves. The light casted tiny reflections from the gold flakes in her skin and made her seem all the more ethereal. The breathe whooshed from her lungs as bits of warmth fell over her skin. She stepped out further, squinting to the point of barely being able to see, the gentle breeze picking through her long black hair. Goosebumps rose on her arms and she gave a small precious smile, letting her arms fall around her as she stood there.
"I've set about 30 minutes until you must be returned to your natural schedule." She blocked his clipped words out the best she could, 30 minutes would be like a blink of an eye to her so she would cherish this moment as best she could.
Shooort, sorry, specially since its been awhile. It's one of those spells where I'm going through a block, bleh.
Special Note: Nehmain is two seperate entities in mythology, a Faery Queen ( I think) and the other is a faery of the Unseelie Court described as a black mass of negativity. I wanted him to have something that kept with Nuada/Nuala's 'culture' haha, Fharryn had the same idea.
