Author note: I don't own any part of the BPRD, Hellboy, Liz, Kate or anything else in the "Hellboy" Universe.
Last note on the story would be that "Owsgmina" is a combo of words. "Ows- is the first half of an ex-boyfriend's name. "-gmina" is part of a Polish word meaning township, or at least some bastardized version of it that I remamber hearing from said Polish boyfriend. I did a search on Google "Owsgmina" is written no where else on the web.
Melting shadows
Liz stopped near the crest of the hill and stood in the middle of the street. Her fire burned weak, the only light around her that of the half-moon. She looked ahead, straight into the sky. The corpses moved in closer. She felt weak, tired and unable to carry on. She stood in the street, trembling weakly and staring upwards. Where was Hellboy?
"Who is Hellboy?"
"My friend."
"The bearer of the end." A cold shiver ran down her spine, through her soul.
"My friend." Liz shouted in her mind. "Him and Kate will save me. I know they will."
Hellboy stood, staring at the red figure. "Get the eye, Katie."
He quickly withdrew the Samaritain from his belt and fired four rounds into the corpses' chest, shattering the bones and splattering blood through the entire cavern.
"That's very unceremonial of you, Red. You didn't even give him a chance." Kate mocked.
Hellboy grunted discontent. "What am I supposed to do? Let him toss me around for twenty minutes before whipping his ass? Not in the mood for that." He wrapped the cheerful sun around the shell of the corpse. "The Gods can finish him off."
Kate retrieved the eye from atop a mound of horse bones and tossed it to Hellboy. He balanced the small glass orb on the end of a stone finger before smashing it into dust with a large flat stone. To destroy it with his own right hand would be exactly what that creep would want. Like hell he'd do it.
"We'd better get out of here before we're buried alive." Shouted Kate, pushing Hellboy toward the exit.
The corpse was already beginning to disappear into a growing swirl of black dust. Kate held onto Hellboys' tail as they ran down the steps of the convent and away from the growing dust cloud. They stumbled at the botton of the steps, falling into a swirl of dissolving stone and choking dust.
Liz stared at the lone moon, it's light getting brighter as her flames died. Suddenly, another formed, much larger than the other, closer and more detailed. She walked slowly and weakly to the peak of the hill. A group of lights loomed over the lowered horizon. Liz turned away at the bright flash of light which followed. When her eyes returned to the sky, only one remained, the one that had the small white light on it. It was now a rich glowing haze of yellow and white.
The corpses around her stood still, neither retreating nor advancing. She could hear Hellboy's shouts, his hooves pounding on the stone, racing toward her. The moment seemed to drag, each hoofbeat minutes apart and echoing through her. She didn't turn around, but stood with her eyes fixed upwards. Suddenly, the hoofbeats stopped.
A cloud of dust began to grasp the sphere in the sky, like a claw. The sphere began to spin on it's axis, graping the claw of dust and drawing it around itself. It spun in the sky, drawing the black dust around it, yet becoming brighter with each revolution. The air remained still despite the apparent suction. The world was fading away from around her.
Hellboy and Kate stood, mesmerized, as the sphere grew lighter and larger, drawing thousands of white shadows and black stone dust from the city around them. The light grew in intensity. Kate covered her eyes, leaning into Hellboy. Hellboy stood, his hooves firmly planted on the dissolving cobblestones. His yellow eyes remained fixed on the giant light sillouetting Liz. A flash of fire surrounded her. Hellboy crouched over Kate, the flames passing over him. "Duck and cover", he whispered into Kates' ear. After several moments, all was dark.
The stars and half-moon slowly reappeared in an early-morning sky. Hellboy looked at his watch, it was 0300. Kate trembled in his arms, not from fear but from cold. He gently woke her up with a stroke of his left hand.
"Ready to go home?"
Hellboy and Kate stood alone on a grassy knoll, under the pale light of one moon. They walked forward to Elizabeth Sherman, who lay on the grass with a strange smile on her face. They lifted her up, waking her from her apparent slumber.
The BSRPA van sat at the bottom of the hill, unscathed. A churchbell was all that remained of the town, it was rusted, cracked and alone in the tall grass. The sole survivor of the sanctuary. Dr. Corrigan picked up a cheerful sun from the grass, it's rays now dulled and worn.
"Ethera. Her name was Ethera." Mumbled Liz. Kate supported her weight while walking her toward the lonesome and uncomfortable, yet welcoming, van.
Hellboy lingered behind, kicking his hooves through the soil, releasing fresh white bones from the earth. He tossed them into a sturdy burlap sack. The two BSRPA agents would be returned as promised. The Eye of Lin was better left as dust.
Epilogue
Abe sat in his library, near the end of a much dog-eared and scratched book. He folded the page down as Hellboy and Kate Corrigan stepped in.
"How did it go?"
"No souvenirs. Few scratches."
"Where's Liz?"
"She didn't come back with us." Hellboy grunted, tossing an oversized sweater onto the floor next to the coat rack. "Gonna need to put an order in for a new coat, again."
Abe shook his head briefly, then resumed his novel, ignoring Hellboy alltogether. He anxiously waited to hear Red's toes clicking out of the library.
"He dies in her arms and they both turn to dust."
Abe threw the book to the table, it's dog-eared pages causing it to fly open as a fan.
"She'll be back, you'll see." Said Kate. "Don't worry. Manning just went by with a new case folder." She walked out of the library, leaving Abe alone in with his thoughts.
Abe leaned back into the great armchair, stretching his arms and legs into the comfort of the Lazy-boy. Hopefully this next case would be his. He couldn't take the boredom much longer.