Chapter 8: Nuada gets nasty

Whilst Merida and Nuala were busy hurrying to the library, Hellboy and his friends were going the other way, back to the friendly demon's room. By this point, Hellboy and Abe had ran through a massive amount of beer cans, and subsequently were a bit clumsy as they entered the room, accidentally bumping into one of Hellboy's many TV sets, and staggering a bit.

The only people who weren't drunk were Liz(who was asleep), Toothless(because dragons don't drink), and Jack, Bunny and Hiccup(Bunny for the same reasons as Toothless, Jack and Hiccup just because they knew better- also Hiccup just preferred the Yaknog of Hellboy's own making). Hellboy was busy rummaging through his beer pack, until he found a single can.

"It's the last one," he slurred numbly, before resignedly chugging back his booze and turning to look at his beautiful sleeping girlfriend. A collective "awwwww" swept through the bunch of friends. Bunny then produced a large egg from his backpack(Jack had no idea where he'd got it from), and cracked the top off with his large incisors, eating it and then tipping the egg backwards to pour its contents(liquid chocolate) down his throat. A good swallow, and then Bunny started making gargling noises(although, as far as Jack was concerned, it was more like didgeridoo noises). Toothless growled at him for ruining the tender moment.

"Look at her," Hellboy continued softly, gazing down at Liz. "She is it. She's my whole life, you know?" He nodded towards Hiccup. "She's like your shieldmaiden(Hiccup blushed)…and your Princess(he turned to Abe), and everyone else here's special one." He then walked over to Toothless and nudged him in the ribs. "I bet it won't be long before you've got your own girl-dragon, right, Toothless? Just reeking of feminine beauty…"

"Are you quoting Shrek now, Red?" Jack sniggered, but the joke was ignored by Hellboy, who had returned to the topic of Liz again.

"I would give my life for her," he slurred, before darkly muttering, "but she also wants me to do the dishes."

"I would die," Abe drunkenly responded, "and do the dishes."

Jack and Hiccup sank against each other's shoulders trying to restrain laughter.

Hellboy then asked, "Why is she mad at me, Abe? It's not 'cause the room is dirty and I've got too many cats. It's something else."

"Well, why don't you just ask her, then?" was the psychic fish-person's response.

"No, he can't, ya fishy drongo," Bunny jibed. "Listen, when a sheila looks like she's mad about something, but she's really mad about something else, ya can't ask her, cos otherwise she gets angry…"

"Because you had to ask," Hellboy finished for him. "Do you know what we mean?"

Abe looked as though he was about to agree, but Hiccup said, "No need to answer the question, Abe. We're just saying, you need to…you know, find out what your girlfriend's mad about."

Jack then hissed to Bunny, "And how is it you know so much about women all of a sudden, Bunny?"

"Well, us Guardians aren't all free spirits, Frosbite, know what I mean?" Bunny replied deftly, before then displaying one of his furry fingers- around its base was a silver ring sculpted to resemble two rabbits running, with a heart-shaped gemstone in the centre.

Jack's chill-blue eyes widened at this point. "Bunny, you sly old lagomorph… You actually popped the question? Who to?"

"The who and where's me own business, Frostbite," the Easter Guardian replied. "You keep off my girl and spend more time with your own."

Abe then spoke out, "Listen, Red. Me and Rapunzel… we know what's going on with Liz."

Unfortunately, by this point Liz finally woke up and sat up in her bed, looking around slowly at Hellboy.

"Red…" she murmured, her voice soft as if wondering why her boyfriend was with her instead of with his other friends, but then she turned to see who had spoken and her eyes narrowed. "Abe…"

Sensing an argument was about to break out, Hiccup warned the fish, "Abe, maybe we could continue this conversation some other time…"

But the drunken Abe refused to take a hint. "I'm sorry, Hiccup, Hellboy has to know," he said.

"ABE!" Liz snarled at him, desperately attempting to stop him from revealing her pregnancy.

"Know what? Why?" was the oblivious demon's own question.

But before Abe could speak, Jack quickly shoved past the fish and said quickly, "She's been making outfits, Red!"

Hellboy frowned.

"Outfits for… horses!" Jack continued, clearly trying his best at improvising. "She's been hired by the Grand National to make clothes for the horses there! That's why she moved out! She needed more room to work on her outfits!"

Had the security alarm gone off a moment later, the likelihood is that Abe might have picked holes in Jack's poorly-fabricated lie, but as it was, a loud ringing and red flashes from the wall interrupted them.

Hiccup first felt relieved, but then he felt alarmed, for if the alarm was going off, then…

"We've got an intruder," Bunny growled, drawing one of his boomerangs and then stamping twice on the floor; a rabbit hole opened beneath him and he dropped inside the hole and disappeared.

The previous conversation forgotten, Liz got out of bed, Hellboy and Abe left quickly, whilst Jack picked up his staff and Hiccup unsheathed Inferno.

"That outfits story, Jack; where did you get it from?" Hiccup incredulously remarked, as he got Toothless saddled up again.

Jack glared at him. "You, obviously."

Hiccup nodded. "Oh, yeah, I'd forgotten that."

Meanwhile, Merida and Nuala were quickly running through the corridors of the BPRD headquarters, trying to find the third crown-piece before Nuada got there. As they ran, Merida's mind was filled with a brief image; Nuada, his spear stained with blood, bending down to pat the muzzle of one of the security guard's Alsatians. "Good dog," he murmured.

Then she reawoke, and Nuala pulled her through the doors into the BPRD library.

"If Nuada gets the map, he'll know where to find the Golden Army," Nuala warned. "We need to destroy it, Merida."

"Right, let's get tae it, then!" the princess of Dunbroch replied.

Nuala detached the crown piece from her belt, then pulled a book of poetry from the shelf. She quickly slipped the crown piece in between the pages, then replaced the book.

Merida, at the same time, opened the map cylinder and quickly threw both the blank parchment within and the metal container into the library's hearth. She had little time to watch the parchment burn, however, for just then a hand grasped her by the shoulder, forcing her to turn and look into the face of the man who had been haunting her dreams for three times now.

"Hello, Merida," Prince Nuada said.

The Elf Prince had a cold smile upon his face as he looked upon Merida with his golden eyes. Stood directly behind him was Pitch, looking disturbingly smug. Merida looked back at him, her eyes wide with panic.

"Nuada," she murmured. "But.. how do ye know me?"

"My sister knows you," was his reply. "And therefore, I know you as well. There are no secrets between you and I, are there, Nuala?"

Nuala made no response. Pitch then brushed past them to look into the fire.

"Burning the map? Very creative, princesses." Pitch slowly passed his left hand over the fire. "However, the parchment itself is of no importance. What is interesting, however, is the cylinder…"

With perfect ease, the Boogeyman leaned over and lifted the metal cylinder out of the fire. He then walked over to a wooden desk, and pressed the cylinder onto a sheet of paper there, rolling it over and leaving what looked like illustrations on the desktop.

Merida's jaw dropped at the sight of what lay before her. It was an ancient illustration of the globe, with a sun, two moons and a cloud indicating the four cardinal points. The rim of the globe was surrounded by runes, and in the middle, an image of England, with a sea serpent dancing through the water somewhere off the south coast. And off the coast of England, Ireland- with a tall, column-like shape acting as another indicator.

"The map's on the cylinder itself?" Merida said, looking incredulously down at the image.

"Correct, Merida," Nuada continued. "And we will find the Golden Army…here." He tapped the column sharply with one white finger, before then turning towards Nuala.

"And as for the crown piece," he continued softly, reaching out to smooth back some hair from Nuala's cheeks, "I know it's here somewhere. I can feel that much in you. Father always tried so hard to shield your heart from mine."

Merida gagged silently at the sight of this. From what Nuala had told her about her brother, Nuada, partially thanks to the Bond of Souls between them, had always sought to be closer to than as a sibling; Merida herself disapproved of a lot of crimes, but incest was the one which really made her feel violently sick to the pit of her stomach.

Nuada then released Nuala before walking over to the bookshelves. "You've hidden it in one of the books here. And I shall find it," he said to them, before reaching forwards and producing a blue book. Fortunately, it wasn't the one Nuala had used.

"Blue," Nuada mused, before glancing over both his sister and her friend. "You both always looked so beautiful in blue."

Merida raised her eyebrows at this point, not expecting such a compliment from her enemy.

"For a human, of course," Nuada added with a smirk, before then opening the book and running through its pages. "Love lost and found."

Pitch shook his head, clearly uninterested in the sentimental content of the book.

"Only words," Nuada continued, discarding the book and now filtering through numerous other blue books, still not the one he was after. "I will find it."

"Nuada!" Merida cried out, running over to stop him. Pitch tried to grab her shoulder and restrain her, but she simply elbowed his hand off and stood by the Elf, curbing her usual fighting attitude and trying to be reasonable with him, just as Elinor was. "Dinnae do this. Ye cannae wake th' Golden Army."

"And why ever not?" was his cold reply. "You humans have brought only terror and desolation upon all other forms of life which are not like you. Your greedy hearts will never have enough!"

"Look at a' this loss!" Merida persisted, her accent becoming more pronounced with her strong emotions. "Ye killed over 70 people wi' yer Tooth Fairies an' ye terrorised many more wi' yer Forest God, an' whit for? So ye cuid become unstoppable? So ye cuid rule th' world? Ye betrayed yer ane family, Nuada."

"A trivial sacrifice, when all my people shall finally reclaim their birth-right from the tyranny of mankind."

"An' then will ye finally feel satisfied? Will th' subjugation of a' my people make ye feel any better, Nuada?"

Nuada glared at her. "It's a start. I might also think of cutting your venomous tongue out, should you provoke me any further."

"Ye think ye're doin' Bethmoora a favour through yer actions, Nuada," she retorted. "But all ye're doin' is makin' the same mistakes as Mor'Du."

"Do not compare me to Mor'Du!" Nuada hissed, getting hold of Merida's face between his fingers. "Mor'du was human! He was too arrogant to accept that he should have shared his kingdom's power with his brothers, and his pride led to his downfall!"

Merida might have made a biting remark, but she still bore Nuada's threat about her tongue in mind.

"And what of me?" Nuada continued heatedly. "Mankind calls me a tyrant and a warmonger, Bethmoora calls me a dishonourable traitor. All because I respect nature when mankind defiles it, and because I am willing to fight for my homeland, unlike the rest of my people!"

He continued shakily, "When I first saw my father sign a treaty with mankind, I was enraged. I knew, even then, that mankind would not keep that promise, and I kept asking: Why could I not have been given command of the Army? I could have led them far better than my father, and then all those Bethmooran lives lost beforehand would have been avenged!"

Pitch then spoke forth. "Once we find the crown piece, we will reawaken the Golden Army. Nuada will send them forth into the world of men to kill all those who have oppressed our people. Those who are wise will stand down before us and be our subjects." He smiled fiercely. "And then I will finally be reunited with my precious daughter, Mother Nature."

"Yeah, about that," a voice interrupted. "Your reunion's gonna have to wait, Pitch."

Nuada let go of Merida's cheeks, turning to face the speaker. It was Eugene, with Rapunzel stood behind him as well as the rest of the Big Four and the BPRD.

"Let Nuala go!" Abe shouted, attempting to shove his way forwards through the crowd.

"Abraham, no!" Nuala cried to her new boyfriend. "He'll kill you!"

"Abraham?!" Nuada hissed. He then grabbed his sister and pulled a dagger to her face. "You speak to him like that?!" he angrily added in Gaelic.

"Get back!" Hiccup shouted, restraining Abe from running forwards.

"I will kill you, Abraham," Nuada warned, pressing his dagger into Nuada's cheek, fully aware of the impression in his own skin at the same time. "And anyone else if that is necessary." He then jerked the dagger sharply away, cutting Nuala, and at the same time, a similar wound opened in his own cheek, releasing blood. Merida grimaced at Nuada's dangerous nature; if he could even afford to injure Nuala, despite knowing that he would also injure himself, then he was even more determined than she thought.

"Why don't you start with us?" came a challenging voice. Hellboy then shoved his way through the crowd, Jack Frost close at his heels. Hellboy had his fists clenched and Jack was wielding his staff; both were determined to fight back, fortunately.

Unfortunately, Hellboy was still drunk.

"Your royal nastiness," he drawled tauntingly, before staggering forwards down the short staircase towards the Elf.

Merida curse inwardly. Now that he was drunk, Hellboy wouldn't stand a chance against Nuada! She just hoped Jack could take care of him.

"And your weapons of choice?" Nuada asked, taking the challenge seriously.

"Five-fingered Mary," Hellboy replied, displaying his stone hand(which only had four fingers).

"And my staff," Jack added, swinging it for effect; gusts of icy wind started blowing around him.

"Fair enough," Nuada noted, before then drawing his own weapon, the silver spear.

"Jack!" Toothiana called to the Guardian of Fun, pulling him over to her and looking deeply at him. "Whatever happens, don't underestimate this guy. He's dangerous."

"And so are we," Jack replied smugly, before finally gathering the icy wind gusts around the head of his staff and forming a club-head.

"Bash the livin' daylights out o' him, Snowcap," Merida passionately encouraged, before running back to watch the fight.

"And they're gonna fight," Hiccup remarked dryly.

Jack was the first to make a move, swinging his staff in a neat arc. Nuada swung back, and the two weapons blocked one another. For a few moments, they pushed against one another, but then Nuada ducked and let Jack slide over his head. He then straightened up and twirled the spear, before pointing it straight at Hellboy; the shaft extended to its full length, now long enough to give even a big demon something to worry about.

"Red, whatever you do, you mustn't hurt the prince," Abe warned, just as Jack jumped Nuada from behind. Nuada performed a neat gymnastic flip, throwing the Guardian off his shoulders, before then grabbing him by the shoulders and throwing him across the room; even with his ability to control the wind, Jack was still shocked by the surprise agility of that attack.

"What?" Hellboy asked incredulously. Usually Abe wouldn't be advising him not to hurt his opponents(unless, of course, they were the annoying kind like Sammael, which could reproduce themselves each time one of them was killed).

"Remember, Red," Abe repeated. "Nuada and Nuala are connected by a magic link. If you hurt him, you'll also hurt Nuala."

Merida cursed inwardly. Now she wished she hadn't been so keen to encourage Jack to fight Nuada. If things went wrong, one of the two people she most cared about in this time would be seriously injured.

"But if I don't hurt him, he'll hurt Jack!" Hellboy protested, and sure enough, Nuada managed to pole-vault into the air and knock Jack from the air with a kick to the face. Tooth and Bunny visibly winced at this point; no-one could interact with the Guardians or even hurt them unless they believed in them. And Nuada, whatever else he may be, clearly believed in Jack.

Unfortunately, he also believed he could defeat him.

Nuada lunged at Jack, who repeatedly tried to block his strokes with the staff. Each time Nuada's spear chipped away a piece of the wood, Jack felt as though pieces of his own being were being cut away instead. Finally, he created a huge blast of icy wind and blew Nuada away from him. However, the Elven prince had clearly taken up some kind of elemental resistance training, for he quickly got back up again and glared hard at Jack.

"Pitch told me all about you," he said thoughtfully. "Jack Frost…the Guardian of Fun, aren't you? Well, I hate to tell you this, boy…but the fun is over. From this point on, I fight to kill."

"Good luck with that," Jack sneered, before then coating both his fists with ice.

However, at this point Hellboy charged into the fight and swung at Nuada with one fist. The Elf ducked in response and quickly hit Hellboy's stone arm with his spear several times. Then he cut open the left leg of the demon's trousers, making him fall to his knees. Nuada's spear was instantly at his throat. He looked up at Nuala.

"Now will you give me the crown piece?" he asked, his tone sharp.

"No," Nuala replied.

Nuada quickly forced Hellboy to his feet. Hellboy tried to grab the spear and pull it away from his throat, but the prince just moved it to his right shoulder. Then he dodged Hellboy's fists and used the spear's flat edge to flip him over to the ground.

"The piece," Nuada insisted again.

"No," Nuala still replied.

Pitch glared at her from his place in the corner of the room. "The rules are simple, Princess. Give us the piece, and we won't have to kill him."

"And then what will you do with the crown?" Nuala replied. "You will kill countless innocent people. I refuse to let that happen, Pitch Black."

"So be it," Pitch replied darkly(as dark as can be expected for a king of shadows).

With a furious yell, Jack threw himself forwards and dived at Nuada with his staff held like a spear. Nuada was undaunted and simply kicked him backwards, before then shoving Hellboy after him. The demon fell on top of the Guardian and they both fell through a solid wooden desk. Immediately, Nuada jumped overhead just as Hellboy got back up, clipping him across the back with a stroke of his spear. Jack got to his feet and released a massive blast of ice, shielding both himself and Hellboy, whilst the Elf prince simply stabbed at the ice repeatedly, trying to break through it. For a moment, it looked as though the fight was over, but then Pitch waved his hands, creating a huge hammer from black Nightmare sand, which he then smashed through the ice with. Nuada immediately jumped forwards and kicked Hellboy away from him. His next kick knocked Jack backwards into the ranks of the Big Four.

The worried Four started to help Jack to his feet. Rapunzel rubbed her hair against his bruises, whilst Toothless licked him tenderly. Even Bunny looked mildly concerned for his former rival. But Tooth was the worst affected; she was so worried, she might have been biting her fingernails if she wasn't so obsessed with her dental hygiene.

"Abe, this is not going well," Hellboy said tiredly.

"I'm sorry, Red, but they are linked," Abe reminded him.

And then, to make things worse, Liz pushed her way through the crowd to see her boyfriend. "Red!" she called.

"Liz," Hellboy called back.

"Red, behind you!"

And then Jack looked over Hellboy's shoulder to see Prince Nuada about to strike.

A lot of people called Jack impulsive and reckless. But the truth of it was that he was willing to give his life for other people. That was the reason he first became a Guardian; for sacrificing himself to save his sister from falling through a frozen pond.

And for those same reasons, Jack abruptly ran between Nuada and Hellboy just as the spear was thrust forwards.

All at once, violent, agonizing pain tore through Jack's body, the kind of pain he hadn't felt since Pitch first broke his staff and threw him to the bottom of a chasm back in Antarctica. His eyes slowly travelled down his body until they met the spear, now embedded several inches deep in the flesh beneath his ribcage.

Smiling coldly at his pain, Nuada quickly pulled the spear out and next drove it into Hellboy's ribs, looking almost lazily down the weapon's body at them.

"Perhaps you may have wondered, in the past, 'can we be killed?'" Nuada asked, before jerking the spear-shaft; with a snap, the tip of the spear's head came off, and was left in Hellboy's ribcage. Nuada then held up the spear, and a new tip grew out of the spear's head, almost like a retractable blade. "You can now."

And then, with a thud, Hellboy fell to the ground. Jack fell a few minutes later, his staff dropping uselessly from his hands.

Almost immediately, the room became alive with screams; Rapunzel screamed in shock and broke away from Eugene to run over to Jack's. Astrid screamed in fury and tried to run past Hiccup and attack Nuada, so he was barely able to hold her back. Tooth screamed in grief and flew over to Jack, cradling his head between her hands and looking down to him with tear-filled pink eyes.

Liz, Merida and Abe ran over to Hellboy's side, holding on to the wounded demon and holding up his head. Merida painfully looked up at Nuada, her vision blurred with tears just like Tooth's. The prince had his sister's arm in a fierce grip; on his left flank stood Pitch, examining Nuada's spear.

"Intriguing," he said softly, stroking the metal with his fingers. "This spear's metal is enchanted to kill even those who cannot normally be killed; demons, spirits…even Guardians. What I could do with more of these…"

Nuada was the next to speak, glaring across at the psychic fish-person and the red-haired princess.

"Listen to me, Abraham," he said fiercely. "And you, Merida. Many people have died for this crown. They will too. If you want to save them, and see my sister again(he pulled Nuala violently by the arm), you will find the missing piece and bring it to me."

And with those words, Nuada walked over to Pitch, and the King of Fear created a huge ball of shadows around all three of them. It dissipated, and as it disappeared, they were all gone.

Then, with a deafening bellow, Toothless slumped to the ground next to Hellboy, shedding tears onto the big demon's face and desperately licking him.

Shortly afterwards, Hellboy and Jack were moved to the infirmary; they were both attached to several machines and bandaged underneath their wounds, which had been cleaned around the edges. Both Abe and Rapunzel were working desperately to treat their friends' injuries, but they were not having much luck; mainly due to the fact that this was the first time ever that a Guardian had been seriously wounded, not counting the time when Pitch had shot the Sandman in a fight, for Sandman had been killed straight away.

Deprived of his shirt and his blue hoodie, Jack looked surprisingly pale(not that that was a surprise, given that he was the spirit of winter); even his few small chest hairs were white. But the wound Nuada had given him was a horrible, vivid red. It was thoroughly resisting any attempts by Rapunzel to heal it; the only results were that white sparks flew from his skin and he cried out in pain.

Abe's own attempts to treat Hellboy were similarly frustrated; lacking the ability to heal with the touch of his hair, he simply bent down to try and pull out the spear-head with a pair of tongs; but Hellboy just yelled in pain and writhed before him.

"JUST PULL THE STUPID THING OUT, ABE!" Liz screamed in a choked voice.

"I can't!" Abe replied. "Every time I touch the spear-head, or even come near to it, it moves closer to his heart."

"And I'm having no luck with Jack's wounds either," Rapunzel added sadly. "Whatever Nuada did to him is too strong for even my healing magic to counteract."

"I don't know what else to do," Abe sadly continued. "Red's wound will not heal until the spear-head is removed, and Jack requires healing magic to treat his own wound. We are running out of time."

"Then we go after Nuada and Pitch," Astrid said firmly, her own hair let down out of its usual braids. "And then we make that pointy-eared scumbag save Hellboy and Jack."

"I'm with you, babe," Hiccup said, and he and Astrid walked off to get kitted out for a fight.

"Hey, Liz?" a weak voice asked from one of the medical beds. It was Hellboy, obviously.

"Ssh, don't talk," she gently replied.

"No, no, let me tell you," he persisted. "You asked me what was important to me. I know now. It's you guys…all of you guys… but most of all, you."

"Red," Liz whispered feebly.

"I could turn my back on society, all of it," the demon continued, raising his head weakly. "All I need is you by my side."

"I'll stay with you," Liz said croakily, slipping her hand into Hellboy's huge palm. "You're the best man I've ever met."

"Same here, Red," Eugene added, walking over to take Hellboy's other hand, admiring how impressively smooth it was as he did so.

Rapunzel smiled warmly at her husband's touching behaviour. Pascal gave him a thumbs-up from her shoulder and Maximus whinnied proudly.

At the same time, Tooth leaned over Jack, softly stroking her fellow Guardian's face.

"I'm sorry, Tooth," Jack replied, wincing at the violent pain in his left flank.

"Don't be," she replied in her soft, sweet voice. "You're one of the bravest spirits I've ever worked alongside all these years."

"I got overconfident," Jack replied. "I knew Pitch well enough to take him on, but even I didn't know an Elf could fight like that." He chuckled dryly. "Seems I'm not that well cut out for this job."

At this point, Bunnymund then walked over to look down on Jack from the other side, grasping hold of one of his hands.

"We're not finished here, mate," he said in a low voice. "We're not gonna let you die. We're gonna fix you good, and then we're gonna find that Nuada, and Pitch, and then we're gonna kick his b****y ass."

Tooth slapped him over the head. "Bunny!" she lightly teased. "Not in front of the kids!"

"Hey, all of us are adults here!" Eugene protested.

"Yeah, but we Guardians are hundreds of years older than you," Bunny replied. "Therefore, you're kids."

Back in the BPRD library, Abe Sapien, wearing his black bodysuit again, was busy scanning through the bookshelves with his psychic powers. As he did so, he finally found the book he was looking for.

A blue book of romantic poetry, by Tennyson.

The same book he had heard Nuala reading from earlier that day.

"Be near me when my light is low,

When the blood creeps

And the heart is sick

And all the wheels, of being slow…"

The same book into which she had slipped her crown piece to prevent Nuada from finding it.

As the small gold ornament dropped into his hands, Abe was once again threatened by the all-time nightmare of a psychic creature; that of painful choices. He knew full well that should he give the piece to Nuada, he would reawaken the Golden Army and declare war on mankind. And since Abe had sworn to defend mankind from evil, he would be one of the first whom Nuada would send the Army after. The consequences of such an action were too horrible to imagine.

But then he remembered Nuala; brave, sweet Nuala, with her gracious touch and her sweet mind, who had risked her life to help them in their battles, and had no-one to turn to except him; he remembered Nuada's threat to her well-being. Although Nuada did not sound likely to really threaten his sister's well-being, knowing that killing her meant killing himself, his actions earlier had shown that he was a deadly man to run afoul of. Should Abe refuse him, would he lose the only woman he had ever loved with his whole heart for always?

"Forgive me, Merida," he whispered, as he slipped the crown piece inside his pocket.

Back in the BPRD meeting room, the Big Four were suited up for action. Hiccup was wearing his black and red dragon rider's outfit, whilst Astrid wore her red top and brown furs. Rapunzel and Eugene wore their jumpsuits, and Merida was outfitted in her own teal jumpsuit, with her bow slung over her back.

Unfortunately, they were being forced to endure more excruciatingly tedious talk from Manning and Krauss as to the information they had gleaned from the map produced from the surface of the metal cylinder.

"Ze cylinder's coordinates have proved most useful," Krauss smartly remarked, pointing to the map with his ectoplasmic fingers(fortunately, his suit had been given quick repairs after Hellboy damaged it in the locker room fight). "Ze Golden Army is located in ze County Antrim, Norzen Ireland(Hiccup briefly thought he meant a part of Ireland inhabited by Vikings, thanks to Krauss' German accent). Directly beneath ze Giant's Causevay."

"Giant's Causeway?" Rapunzel asked.

"Yes, it's a huge formation of rock columns in Ireland, Princess," Manning filled in for her. "The ancient Celts who lived there thought it was created by a giant to cross the sea between Ireland and Scotland, and the name stuck."

"Great, so now we know where it is, what are we waiting for?" Liz interrupted. "We should get going."

Krauss turned to look at her. "If ve do zat, Agent Sherman, ze Prince vill demand ze crown piece."

"So we give the crown piece to him!" Liz replied fiercely, her determination to save her boyfriend making her reckless.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple," Manning replied. All the Big Four glared at him at this point. It was as though the temperature of the room had dropped a few notches.

"What are ye sayin', Manning?" Merida asked, her arms crossed defiantly.

"Ze Golden Army must not avaken, Agent Merida," Krauss replied. "You of all people must understand zat."

"Oh, I understand," she agreed, her eyes hard with anger. "What I dinnae understand is why ye're not gonnae help us save Hellboy an' Snowcap."

"Is that it?" Liz continued, her temper threatening to get dangerous at this point. "Are you just going to let my boyfriend die?"

"I'm sorry," Krauss replied. "Ve called Vashington earlier, ve have our orders."

Flynn got up and walked over to Manning.

"What about you, Tom?" he asked, and his tone was dangerously sharp(that, and the fact that he'd addressed the BPRD director by his first name). "Hellboy and Jack saved your life, remember?"

"I know," Manning replied uncomfortably. He hated to be reminded of the time they had gone to fight against Rasputin in Moscow. After a spat with Hellboy, he ran into the cyborg Nazi swordsman Karl Ruprecht Kroenen in a chamber of the mausoleum. Manning was nearly killed, but Hellboy and Hiccup managed to defeat him by blowing a hole in his body(with the help of Toothless), and then crushing him under a huge gear in a spiked pit. Afterwards, Jack helped Manning avoid being killed by an old villain from Hiccup's own time period, Dagur the Deranged. Manning and the two former reprobates had come to respect each other more afterwards, but due to their attention-seeking behaviour recently, Manning had become distant with the two again.

Dr. Krauss interrupted to add, "Look, agents, I know zis is difficult for all of you, but…"

Liz abruptly cut him off. "Well, you can stay here if you like," she said coldly. "But I won't let Hellboy and Jack die."

"Neither will I," Toothiana added, beating her wings fiercely. She and Liz then turned and began to walk out of the room.

"Agent Sherman, may I remind you zat I am ze leader of zis team!" Krauss snapped at her, tapping his chest with one finger.

"Then perhaps we need a new leader!" Merida growled back at him, getting up from her seat and walking over to join the departing pyrokinetic and Tooth Fairy.

"Yeah, there's no doubt about that, sir," Liz spat sourly at the ectoplasmic German. "That is what you are, Dr. Krauss, the leader of this team, but you are nothing more to us; and if ever there was a time when you were human, that time is long gone."

And with those words, Liz and her two friends left the room. Straightaway, Rapunzel and Eugene got up and went after them, followed by Bunny and Hiccup. That left only Astrid in the room with Manning and Krauss.

Manning desperately walked over to Astrid to put his hands on her shoulders. "Ms. Hofferson, if there's at least one person in this room who can understand where we're coming from-"

"I DON'T TAKE ORDERS FROM YOU, MANNING, YOU SON OF A HALF-TROLL MUNGE-EATING RAT BUCKET!" Astrid shouted back at him, before shoving the BPRD director backwards onto a desk and storming out to see her boyfriend.

Manning got up from the desk, completely bewildered by what Astrid had just said to him. "What did…what did she call me?" he asked Krauss incredulously, but the German made no reply. It seemed as though Liz' own words had shocked him deeply as well.

"Do you want me to call them back, sir?" Manning asked Krauss.

"Let zem go," Krauss replied, his voice for once sounding not so robotic and uptight as it usually was. "I understand."

Manning then turned as a BPRD agent entered the room, who had been sent to look for the crown piece. "What about you?" he asked. "Have you anything yet?"

"No, nothing yet," the agent replied.

"Well, keep looking!" Manning insisted, before then shouting to the rest of the agents, "All of you!"

"Absolutely, sir," the agents agreed, before walking off.

Manning turned to face Krauss. "Don't worry, sir," he said firmly. "We know the crown piece is here. And we're gonna find it. When Tom Manning gets on the case, things get done. THEY GET DONE!" he added, a lot louder, as if trying to convince himself more than Krauss. "They get done!"

But Krauss was no longer listening. He reached into a small pocket on his clothing, then opened it to reveal a small red bag which he began stroking gently.

"What do I do now, Gretel?" he thought aloud.

Elsewhere, Liz was busy trying to relax on top of a metal fitness pole. She was, due to her bad temper, on fire. Rapunzel, Merida, and Hiccup were around her, each doing different things; Rapunzel was busy braiding her hair, Merida was sharpening her arrows, and Hiccup was giving Toothless fishes. All very good ways of feeling destressed.

"Even without the piece, we still have to get them out of here," Liz said.

Merida looked up at her. "I know, Liz, but I meant it when I said that we cannae gi' Nuada th' piece."

"Who said anything about giving Nuada the piece?" Hiccup pointed out. "All we need to do is go to Antrim and find him and Pitch."

"And then we'll save our friends," Liz agreed, just as Abe came in. She got up and put a hand on his shoulder imploringly, turning off the fire as she did so. "Abe…"

"Just the five of us," Abe agreed.

"Not five of us," an Australian accented-voice interrupted. Bunny had entered alongside Toothiana. Both of them were fully-armed; Tooth had two pink-bladed swords drawn, while Bunny carried numerous large boomerangs on his person.

"We're coming as well," Bunny said firmly. "So are your fella, Blondie, and your sheila, Peg-leg. And you're not leaving without the pets either."

"Thanks, Bunny," Liz agreed, giving the Easter Guardian a knuckle-bump. "One thing, though…what are you helping us for?"

"Pitch is my enemy as well as yours," Bunny replied. "And I'm gonna give him what he deserves for what he's done to Frosbite."

Toothless warbled proudly. The Big Four were getting together again.

Minutes later, the Four had finally managed to pack up a plane to head out to Northern Ireland. With food for the journey, locations equipment and weapons, now they just needed to move out their friends. Keeping Hellboy and Jack's bandages well-tied, they got the two injured heroes to their feet and escorted them slowly out of the medical centre.

Hiccup and Astrid were now fully kitted-out for the journey. Astrid was wearing her red jumper with fur leggings and metal shoulder plates, as well as a spiked leather skirt and fur ruffs around the neck. Across her back, she carried two axes. Hiccup was wearing his dragon-riding outfit, complete with the ridged helmet that went over his face. At his side hung Inferno and his quill-sharpener(or dagger, depending on who you asked). As they walked forwards, one could almost hear dramatic music playing. Then it was revealed to be Eugene, listening to a stereo machine.

"Sorry, sorry," he said, as he put the record he'd been listening to back. "These modern items, you gotta love them."

Having finally packed all their supplies, the group were finally about to move their injured friends aboard the plane.

"Let's leave now," Abe said, "Before they run our clearance upstairs."

And then a familiar person walked in front of them.

"Guten abend, meine freunden," Dr. Krauss said to them nonchalantly. "Do you have authorization to take zat plane?"

Hiccup drew Inferno. He didn't want to use it on another BPRD agent, but if Krauss was going to act like a bureaucratic pain in the backside again, he might have little choice.

"Don't bother trying to stop us, Dr. Krauss," he said firmly, and Toothless growled alongside him.

"On ze contrary, Agent Horrendous Haddock ze Third," Krauss replied. "I'm not going to stop you."

"What?"

"I'm coming viz you."

Everyone's jaw dropped at this point; even Toothless' jaw, exposing his retracted teeth and making him look funny.

"Yes, I've been giving it some thought, and I think ve should be able to save Agent Hellboy and Jack." The ectoplasmic German produced a red bag of rich velvet and threw it to Rapunzel. She slowly opened it, emptying two small gold rings from within. Her green eyes widened in surprise.

"You see, Agent Sherman," Krauss continued, "You sink zat I am not human anymore, but you are wrong. I understand your pain- and Fraulein Toos Fairy's pain- all too vell."

The mechanical tone of his voice broke, and if Krauss had a face in his ectoplasmic body, the likelihood was that his cheeks would be streaked with tears by now. "A long time ago, Agent Sherman, I lost ze voman I loved, Mrs. Gretel Krauss. My wife."

"You were married?" Liz murmured, equally taken aback by what Krauss was telling them.

"Yes," he agreed. "My wife, she vas a great voman. I lost her in a freak accident in India, vhen ve vere out to banish a formidable spirit, and she vas killed by a hungry Kirata."

"A what?"

"A man viz ze upper body of a tiger. And my Gretel's death vas, in fact, ze source of my present misfortune."

Hiccup's mouth widened. "You mean this is why you're made out of…" he gestured to Krauss' ectoplasmic body in an unspecific way. "All this?"

"You just gestured to all of him," Astrid pointed out.

"Yes, it is," Krauss continued, as though he hadn't heard the shield-maiden's remark. "I vill tell you about how I became like zis some ozzer time. But for now, ve have ze tactical advantage! If you consider zis, Ze Prince Nuada and Pitch Black lack ze crown piece, and vizzout it, zey cannot avaken ze Golden Army. Zey are no threat! So ve vill go to visit zem, but ve do not need to bring zem ze crown piece. Hopefully, zey vill have a means of removing ze spear-head from Agent Hellboy."

"And Jack?" Hiccup asked.

"I have heard zat zere are powerful spirits dwelling vizzin the Giant's Causevay," Krauss replied. "Elemental beings like ze Forest God ve met last night. Zey vill know how to treat ze injuries of a Guardian."

"So, have we got clearance, then?" Liz asked, looking up at Krauss with a newfound admiration. Everyone was glad to have the ectoplasmic German on their side now.

Krauss laughed cheerfully. "Agent Sherman…Liz…forget ze clearance! Ve vill take zat plane, and ve vill go to Ireland, and kick Nuada's-!"

Toothless let out an overjoyed roar, though it was largely to drown out the rude German word that was next to come out of Dr. Krauss' mouth.

The Big Four were going to Ireland!

There you are, my fans! One of the longest chapters I've ever wrote so far. Sorry it took so long, but from this point on, they're going to Ireland, and this is where it all gets….exciting!

Rate and review if you like this, especially you, PrincessLuka.

Sammael29