Disclaimer: HB, BPRD are not mine. I use them with utmost respect for their creator, Mike Mignola. Significant effort has been placed in keeping close to his creepy settings, character behaviour and subject matter.

I've never been to China, all of this came in a dream. For those who got freaked out thinking this is a "Mary Sue", it is most definitely not. That first bit of the last chapter was definitely a joke. Mary Sue is evil. If there is any romance for Hellboy in the rest of this story, he'll have to go solo because it's just him and the ghouls in this one.

Pools of Water

Hellboy wandered through the thick trees unstream of where he had seen the apple. There was no map available, all he had was a compass. He followed the river for about three hours, occasionally stopping to chomp some stale almond cookies or a cheap cuban cigar.

It was about noon while resting at the mouth of a small stream, when Hellboy saw another apple bobbing along. It was like the others, red small and round. It was quite perfect, actually. Had he not known better, he'd have plucked it from the water as a snack.

Hellboy cautiously followed the small brook through a rocky, densely wooded area. His hooves sunk deeply into the black muck between the trees, soaking his half-boots. The ground was bumpy, with deep pits several feet in diameter and mounds of earth equally large. Water pooled in many of the holes, which lay open and black. The air was thick, damp and rotten.

The brook meandered through the trees for several miles, becoming progressively more narrow. Small red apples continued to bob along, about every twenty minutes or so. It was at a clearing that Hellboy encountered a small man, no larger than two feet in height. He stood by the water and angrily tossed an apple into it, causing a small "plop". The apple sank, popped back out of the water and then settled on the surface for its' long journey downstream. The little man swore profusely as droplets of water struck him, stamping his large naked feet on the damp rocks. It was an elf.

Hellboy watched the elf for several minutes, he was old, wrinkly and clearly ill-tempered. Soon afterward, he charged towards Hellboy and bit at his hooves and boots. Hellboy gently reached down and picked up the small man by his left ankle.

"I'm not what you're after, kid." The elf struggled madly, biting at the stone fingers that held him. "Listen buddy, we can either work together, or I can easily toss you into the river and move on. Your choice."

"Tao has done nothing, demon."

Hellboy dropped the small man into the mud. The elf quickly regained his fighting stance, yet suddenly relaxed. He'd not escape.

"Where did you get those apples?"

Tao grinned. "They are very tasty. Would you like one? I have some here." The elf pulled two from the rock where he had stood. "They are very sweet."

"No thanks, kid. Where did you find them?"

"They are my apples. You cannot have them. I will give you these." Tao grinned once more. "Take these. Very tasty."

Hellboy fixed his yellow eyes on Tao, who began to tremble. "That river looks cold."

Tao, now terrified, lowered his head. "I will not tell you."

An thin iron chain suddenly fell from Hellboys hand, over Tao's head and onto his shoulders. Hellboy repeated himself. "Take me to where you found those apples."

The elf, unable to argue further, walked through the forest with Hellboy at his heels. The shadows were beginning to lengthen as they arrived at the old orchard, where hundreds of aged and twisted apple trees stood.

"I do not own the apples. They grow on their own. They trap me here, Lian holds me here, the dock-tailed horses chase me." Hellboy removed the chain from the elves neck.

"You will no longer be a slave to this forest, Tao. Go home." Tao wasted no time, he quickly disappeared into the trees.

Hellboy walked through the orchard, which was what it had been years ago. A wall ran through the trees, six feet high with circular passageways. Many of the walls had now crumbled away and had trees growing out of them. Moss-covered statues also decorated the forest, a dragon, a demon and a large short-docked horse among them. The demon had horns and a tail, much like himself, but had two normal, albeit large, hands. None of the stones moved, nor did they show signs of having ever been posessed.

No cultivated plants remained, only willow and wild shrubs. There were also the apple trees, hundreds of apple trees. Hellboy studied the leaves and branches, which bore small wormy fruit, unlike what he'd seen in the elves' hands.

Evening began to fall and Hellboy had scanned many of the trees in search of fruit similar to that seen in the river. Every tree in the orchard produced the same wormy fruit. Hellboy sat on an old and broken stone bench, watching the moon rise over the darkening forest. Shadows fear darkness, it is where they lose their mystery.

The moonbeams cast long shadows over the trees and into the many blackened pools of water. Thin tendrils of mist began to rise from the pools, an effect of the sudden drop in temperature. The air was fresh, cold and smelled of Lotus and Jasmine flowers. Hellboy lifted his head at the sudden chill and pleasant smell.

The mist spread outward from each dark pool, enveloping each tree and shrub. As the white cloud spread through the orchard, the moonlight began to reflect off lush foliage and smoothly carved stones transformed by the mist.

Hellboy watched as the bench he sat upon became smooth and intact under his weight. He stood up to inspect what had been broken mere seconds before. Then he heard laughter.